opus 5: final post

Ah, wow. We're finally here.

in honor of the final week, i've changed my default font to comic sans.

I'm not super good at making post introductions, so I'll shall start with my TED talk process.

THE POWERPOINT
For those interested, you can find my (slightly excessive) powerpoint right here, although I would not advise looking through it too much because it is over 50 slides long (sorry).

it got a little out of hand, admittedly

a comprehensive list of things that I tried to incorporate into my slides

• The not title slide title slide is gifTED. It has nothing to do with my project, and is solely in there for the pun. The design of it isn't super great, either, because it kind of seems like I decided to put 'gif' on top of TED, which doesn't exactly make sense until you realize they're supposed to be next to each other. (I've accidentally written almost an entire paragraph on something that was completely irrelevant, ahhh)

• My title slide! 'The Final Adventure' is supposed to be a reference to my url, adventureswithjazz, but honestly I haven't referred to this project as an adventure at all during the past few weeks so it doesn't make a lot of sense, either, oops.

• The stars!! Unfortunately for some, the colors may not mean too much (whoops), but I did attempt to keep a consistent color scheme. Why purple and yellow? because they're default colors on MS paint :^) So yeah. A few slides are dedicated to me 'reaching for the stars' on my header (hahaha, full circle ending).

essay topic: analyze the symbolism behind the yellow/purple stars and the yellow dress.
les mis has prepared us for this: yellow is a symbol of me rejecting my past, unable to face it. it's true: I'm an escaped convict that broke a window and stole a loaf of bread. Apparently, I'm also a very old and very French man that died a while ago. 

Alright - now that that's over, let me move onto Actual Relevant Stuff. The TED talk, for me, went... meh. I thought I was okay, but the longer I think about it the more mistakes I remember.

Naturally, then, my solution would be to Not Think About It.

Unfortunately, making a reflection post makes it slightly difficult to completely Not Think About It, so I've been thinking about it for quite a while and have quite a long list of mistakes, which I guess is kind of good for a reflection post.

THE MISTAKES

Now I think I'm sort of exaggerating when I say a 'long list', so I'm just going to go over a few.

I think the biggest thing I would do is emphasize my main idea - I'm not sure if it was obvious that it was more important than the smaller lessons.

(It was 'improvisation is a valuable skill', by the way).

Aside from that, I think I probably shouldn't have included the snippet of my final product at all. It ended up not actually playing (probably issues with my clicker), but I only intended it to play for 2-3 seconds, so it wasn't really important. If I gave the talk again I would most likely just leave it out completely.

But I'm going to move on from the mistakes towards the

THINGS I MIGHT HAVE BEEN OKAY ON
I think probably the biggest thing I'm happy with is just managing to keep the entire project consistent. Now, personally, I know that in general I'm just Not A Consistent Person, so I'm pretty happy that this blog and my TED talk ended up mostly in sync.

figure a

figure b

Actually, I initially just chose to create the drawings alongside my blog post because in a way, I kind of was torn between choosing visual art or music - obviously I ended up going with music, but I decided to find some way to incorporate art.

So that kind of worked out! Also, I do think my powerpoint turned out looking okay (although I also probably should have spent more time on my speech). I'm happy with that, too.

Overall, I don't think it was my best presentation, but it definitely wasn't my worst. :^)

THE ACTUAL PROJECT REFLECTION
I'm... pretty sad that this project is ending - it's probably my favorite assignment I've ever done. If I could choose it again, I definitely would choose a different topic (I regretted choosing my topic about halfway through), but I still enjoyed it a lot!

The freedom in this was amazing - I learned a lot about how to motivate myself, my strengths/weaknesses, and overall just what I enjoy doing.

On my initial rubric-thing, I scored a little over halfway (not great, but oh well). I still, however, learned a lot! 

I really did love this entire project, though. I'm almost even considering doing something like this on my own when I have time - maybe not a blog, but still writing something up to show progress with a certain topic with a few visuals to add along (actually, I've done something like this before about half a year ago, which is cool).

Did I learn a lot about jazz? Yep, so I think I succeeded for the most part.

(Hey, you never know. Maybe over summer break I'll make that history of jazz video and post it here. Stay tuned).

It's been a long adventure. As you may have noticed, I've put a 'bye' picture at the end of almost every post. I have put them all down below. :)

So now, here is my final 'bye':

Hope everyone enjoyed my blog (I've tried)! Bye.

opus 4, no 1: post five (vlog and interview)

(ididn'tliketheotherheaderssoi'mgoingbacktotheoriginalsorry)

Hello! I am back. I didn't really do much last week (relatively) and I am Very Sorry for that. Oops.

My main issue is I can do something 24/7 for around two weeks, and I can spend so much time on it that it becomes really Great, but then my interest shifts and everything messes up again. (i am so sorry for last week's lack of interest. this is why i can't have nice things, like cool grades and high self esteem. haha)

Do Not Worry. I will fix this (somehow). In certain cases I can push through low-interest blocks with Sheer Willpower. (or die trying T_T)

Also, my last post got a lot of different visitors. Thanks! I'm also really sorry because that was probably my lowest-quality post, most likely. Whoops.

bUT let me just move on from that for now. Haha.

the overview: what will I learn this week? what will I do?

• History: I will be continuing on the idea of different types of jazz. I will focus on the spread of jazz.
• Musician: Probably any cool musician I come across during my history research.
• Actual Playing: A recording of improv, most likely! I've been practicing it a bit at home to a combo of F7, Bb7, and C7 chords. :)
• Theory: Improvisation-related stuff, so probably blues scales.
• Other Stuff: My interview and vlog will be below.

My vlog turned out fairly bad, because I had initially planned to overlay my drawings on top and Movie Maker Would Not Allow Me. As such, it's just me talking and some black screen with piano in the background.

And here are some of the MS Paint drawings I initially intended to put in the video.

RIP Jasmine's Vlog Plans, 2017-2017.

Now, onto the interview. I had a slight mishap with my possible interviewees and now I have two. Oops. 

Anyways, I had ten questions for both of my interviewees and they can be found on this google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPAJEpW5w-ARJdHEo2nmdjBkzZWGT-TCca_37__vSm12Nc0Q/viewform?usp=sf_link 

I shall post the first interviewee's answers now, and the next one in a bonus blog post.

My first interviewee is Mr. Mark Miller, from www.jazzpianoworld.com . He works as an online jazz piano teacher for people everywhere. Several free lessons can be found on his website, which I have used as references for my own research.

(The answers are relatively short, so I have included them in full.)

I have more answers from Mr. Conahan, another experienced pianist, and I will probably include those in a bonus post.

This week I have commented on Arthur's, Chongwoo's, and Ellie's blogs.

opus 3, no. 1: post four

Hello, all! Sorry about the confusion with posts: from now on I'll just label the actual posts "post #". Also, I realized that the intro week was actually more of a week 0 than a week 1, so I pushed it back so that this is week 3 now, not week four. Whoops.

And since we're starting the ~~second half~~ of the Genius Project, I'm switching up the headers a bit. It was getting kind of boring.

On the other hand, this looks terrible. Be prepared for constantly changing headers (or I might go back to the old ones after all).

Anyways, back on topic. This week, I've been surprisingly busy (at least, busier than expected), so I will probably skip the history this time around (I might still have the musician bio). Instead, we will finally get a recording of my Moon River (it is not good) and my improvising (it is even not-ter good).

the overview: what will I learn this week? what will I do?

• History: Dead. I am caving from Things I Need To Do This Week. It's an unfortunate death, but a necessary one.
• Musician: Should things work out, I will do Bud Powell, since I've pushed him back far enough.
• Actual Playing: Moon River. Unfortunately, I do not have the means to write my own version of the song. Even less fortunately, this means I may have to sing it. All I have to say is that, for your well-being, you should Not Listen to it. I'm a pianist, not a singer.
• Theory: I really need to learn the structure of the blues scales. I've pushed it off long enough.
• Other Things: I will do my interview this week. I will not chicken out. I will be Responsible.

Okay, now let's move on to the Actual Playing.

i'm sorry the header is slightly off center

Now, as you may know, this week's actual playing consists of my halfway project - a shorter jazz piece called 'Moon River'. It's a really simple song, but I like it and I knew beforehand that I wouldn't be able to commit to a huge song.

Consider it a 'warmup' to my final project. So, yeah - Moon River. That is what I'm playing. *insert badly drawn hipster album cover*

Haha, just kidding. I made one.

#1 album on iTried

So. About this song. I actually sing in it, so I'd like to include a disclaimer. Jasmine Han is in No Way Responsible for any damaged eardrums of any kind. I would have invited my other friends who can actually sing, but unfortunately there is an issue of time (and sticking to my schedule).

Okay. I've delayed long enough. here it is (I'm crying it is a Mess). I also had to make a video because Blogger doesn't want to diversify its selection of acceptable file type submissions.

(i strongly suggest you do not listen. even on a good day, i cannot sing and this was not a good day. Please Do Not. especially amanda since she's a buttface.)

blERGH. I'm sorry. On a good day, I can hit that Low C, and obviously today was not a good day. Also, the piano is ridiculously simple - if I had more foresight I would probably have chosen a different song. I consider this step a Major Failure. (I am sorry. AHhhhh)

Aside from that, I will probably be posting the instrumental version later on. 

This is a short post, but since we have a snow day tomorrow (the snow day calculator says 99% and it is Never Wrong), I shall have more time. ;)

(Or maybe instead of making more posts, I'll add to the back of this one. Nina Z style.)

opus 2, no. 2: musician and theory

Hello. I am sick (as of 2/28), which is why I am currently at home. Perhaps I should have gone to school, but then I might have infected the entire gifted program, so I played it safe.

Since I am home, I have some extra time to do stuff. Like catching up on my genius blog posts. So here, for the first time so far, here is this week's musician bio!

musician bio number one

Alright, so admittedly, while choosing this week's musician, I kind of cheated. Ragtime is more a precursor to jazz than it is jazz itself, so Joplin ~technically~ isn't really a jazz pianist. (I also lied about this in my history post. Sorry).

But since he was so important to ragtime, and since ragtime was so important for jazz, then, by the transitive property of equality, Joplin was very important for jazz. And since I just learned about the beginnings of jazz and ragtime, I thought it would be nice to learn a bit about someone who wrote so many famous rags.

This is how I will show Joplin:

I am so, so sorry for my terrible art skills. I can't draw people.

I apologize for my inability to draw people, but this is probably the best I can do. T_T 

By the way, I am using this website for the information here.

Sometime around 1868, Scott Joplin was born. He would have 5 siblings (eventually). Their family was located in northeastern Texas.

His mother's boss had a piano, and Joplin used it to learn piano. His teacher was Julius Weiss.

I don't really know if the picture I found was the actual Weiss, since he never really became super famous, but I think this was him. Anyways, Weiss was pretty important because he tutored Joplin free of charge, and also influenced him towards ragtime.

Teenage Scott Joplin began travelling the country. At one point, he visited Tom Turpin, a fellow ragtime musician.

Around this time, Joplin was playing a huge variety of music styles. He liked to combine western music with traditional African music.

Then, 1893 came along, and with it, the incredible Chicago World Fair.

Now, you may have heard about this fair. My summer reading book was actually about it, and it's fairly interesting - the fair involved a mass murderer, an assassination, a burst of new technology, and a vital moment in Scott Joplin's career.

At the fair itself, Joplin played cornet with a band outside of the fair. He also met Otis Saunders, who encouraged him to write down his music.

In 1894, Joplin moved to Missouri. Eventually, he pursued formal music education there, and learned to write down his music. He published several original pieces and collaborations during this time.

Then, in 1899, Joplin's famous 'Maple Leaf Rag' was published by John Stark, a local music shop owner.

Later on, two years later, Joplin moved to St. Louis, where Stark and several of Joplin's collaborators had already moved.

In St. Louis, Scott Joplin focused on teaching and writing music. He was praised and respected by music critics everywhere. However, due to his race, he faced many obstacles: he was still excluded from white society, and he struggled to publish many of his less-famous and longer pieces. His family suffered great losses as well.

New York, c. 1900

Joplin moved to New York City in 1907. He worked very hard on his music, but struggled financially. Treemonisha, an opera that he worked for years on, was not able to gain enough money for a full production.

He died April 1, 1917 in New York City, poor due to his lack of financial backing.


Today, Scott Joplin is known as "the king of ragtime writers" due to his huge number of well-known rags. His work would eventually heavily influence jazz.

this week: writing jazz melodies

Since it seems kind of sad to end this post with death, here's the jazz theory I've learned for this week. (Note: I have skipped a lot of notation stuff because a, I already know most of it, and b, it's kind of boring. If you want to learn it yourself, the link is here).

WRITING JAZZ MELODIES
Making melodies is really important in jazz - not only for the obvious reason of writing songs, but also for improvisation. Although rhythms are usually pretty strict (as I learned last week), melody patterns vary from person to person, so there aren't any real 'rules' to them. 

hermione granger is back 

Alright, well, that's kind of a lie. There are some rules, otherwise I wouldn't have very much to research.

The main secret (not really a secret, though) in jazz melodies are found in riffs - kind of like themes from last week, but not really. Riffs are usually a lot shorter, and they make up themes.

Riffs are typically around two bars length-wise, and are repeated as many times as needed to fill up a certain part. They were always important, but they were the most most important around the 30s and 40s for big band jazz.

There are several different types of riffs that I will cover below.

a comprehensive list of different types of riffs

• very basic riffs
• slightly less basic riffs
• slightlier less basic riffs

So, let's begin. I've learned (kind of) the art of organizing blog posts, so I should probably begin that right about... now. I'm going to be reusing my highly overused PPAP analogy, sorry.

Very Basic Riffs: These riffs are, as you have probably already guessed, very basic. There is one riff, and it's repeated word for word, over and over again.

This is very simple (hopefully you can tell), but it can still sound great. Take, for example, Jumpin' at the Woodside by Count Basie.

this is repeated throughout the 'A' theme.

Slightly Less Basic Riffs: These riffs repeat over and over again, but every once in a while, change very slightly. It might have a slightly different chord background, or a different ending note to switch it up.

Slightlier Less Basic Riffs: These have the same slight changes, but pretty much every time the riff is repeated. So the repeated section is very similar, but overall still different.

Alright! That's it for jazz theory this week. It's a lot shorter than last week, but as I mentioned before, I'm not feeling the best so I really don't want to drag it out for too long (also, I'm reasonably sure no one actually reads all the posts I make, since I make way too many).

I'm not going to have any actual playing this week (I have to practice for a classical music contest, which is on Sunday. RIP Jasmine).

Instead, I've got an update: as I said I would, I've chosen a shorter jazz piece to work on before I start the final project: Moon River.

If you haven't heard it, it is right here:

I've gotten the sheet music for it. Currently, I've got two versions of it, since I can't make decisions. They are here and here.

They're both pretty simple pieces, but realistically speaking I don't have time to commit to a large piece (otherwise, I'll never start the final project).

That's it for now!

moon river. haha

Okay, that was kind of long. Now I remember why I like to split up my posts.

This week I've commented on Ellie's blog, Olivia's blog, and Evan's blog.