D.C. al Coda: "da Capo al Coda," or "from the head to the tail." It directs the musican to go back and repeat the music from the beginning (Capo) and to continue playing until one reaches the first coda symbol.
First of all, shoutout to Alex, Matt, Jacob, Olivia, Matt, Zoey, and Laura, who all presented their TED Talks today in addition to myself. You guys were great!
This post is going to be a bit of a reflection on the TED Talk and on the overall project.
So about the TED Talk. Overall, even though I was really nervous on stage as I took in the fact that I was very alone, very exposed, and very nervous in the seconds before I began, I am very satisfied with the end result. I felt pretty confident in my script, and made it through with very few errors. I did my best to add tone and inflection to my speaking, but I am still unsure as to how well it translated to the audience. The PowerPoint went pretty smoothly as well, with no technical errors.
My goal with this talk was to not only explain a bit about what I'd been doing, what I'd accomplished, and to show off a bit of what I've learned, but to convey a message to the audience (side note: having an ultimate message/meaning was also a requirement for the TED talk in general). If you didn't hear my talk, that message was to not be afraid to make mistakes - just like in improvisation. I hope that I was able to bring that message to everyone.
About the live performance - personally, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome. I think that I was able to show a lot of the different things I've been working on during the project - in just a minute or two worth of playing. I've also received overwhelmingly positive feedback, so I'm really glad that everyone enjoyed it. Some of my classmates even called me up to a sort of encore while we were waiting for the bell to ring (after the rest of the presentations had finished). Big thanks to everyone who enjoyed, and an especially big thank you to Mr. Conahan, the school's choral director, for lending me a piano to play on.
This project has been a lot of fun, and I've really enjoyed being able to spend so much time immersing myself in music, just playing whatever for an unconstrained amount of time. It was a really great learning and mastery-type experience. I hope that all of you readers really enjoyed following my progress on this blog as well.
I have no idea if anyone really wants them, but for those who really enjoyed,
below is a link to a Google Drive containing Mp3's for my songs - you can download them (they are filed as an album so you can drag it into iTunes or whatever), or you could just enjoy them on YouTube.
Meddlings Album Download
My YouTube Channel
I don't think that I'll be posting much anything else on this blog - as much as I've enjoyed improvising, the time it took to record, film, and upload the videos was a bit much to handle on a regular basis. I will be posting a follow up on this post, Coda, to review my performance when I get back my grade/rubric. I'll also be posting a final little clip of some improv (separate from Coda maybe). It'll be short and concise, and a little less cumbersome than Saturday Revue. It'll try to kind of emulate what I performed at the TED Talk. It's not the same obviously, but I hope it'll gets the point across.We'll see what happens!
- Josh C.
Sorry for the weird highlighting - technical error forced my hand.
Hi, Josh! To start things off, I would just like to say that your TED talk stands out to me above the rest. The actual presentation with your message and all that was good. I enjoyed it and it was certainly above average, but it wasn't what set your TED talk apart. Without a doubt, your piano improv was the most amazing thing I have seen anybody do in this genius project. I can't stress how amazing and wonderful and astounding your playing was. Great work and your end result was phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteJosh, I think everybody loved your piano improv :) As usual, I'm so impressed by what you (and all my friends) have accomplished in these few six weeks. It's an interesting idea to post a second reflection after getting your grade, which I might consider doing as well. I'm looking forward to your Coda's Coda (sort of). Also, did/will you play anything minor? I'm always a sucker for minor keys, so if you did, I'll be sure to listen!
ReplyDeleteNightfall was probably the piece that I used the most minor on, it's track number 9. Thanks for the positive feedback!
DeleteJosh! This is one of my favorite Genius Hour projects, of the ones I have seen. You seemed to pick up the skill really naturally, and your improv recordings are actually something I would go out of my way to listen to (all the way to the end too). Listening to your playlist right now by the way :P You really seem to have a calm presence on stage, which was awesome not only in your TED talk, but allowed you to open up to the audience and really express yourself through your piano improv! Now I want to see how this improves your improvisation on Trumpet!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Glad you've been enjoying!
DeleteI'd like to hear it improve my trumpet improv as well (not nearly as good as my piano improv).
Although I didn't get to see your TED talk, I hear that it was really good! I've been reading your blog posts (but I just never commented because I didn't have much time) and I agree with what everyone else is saying, your improv sounds amazing!! I love the way you formatted your blog to have a playlist; it makes listening to your recordings so much easier and organized. And I felt the exact same way as your first sentence of this blog :D Great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
DeleteHey Josh, your TED talk was amazing! Not only was your delivery awesome, but your piano improv was outstanding! I was completely blown away by the fact that none of that was prepared. I don't know how you do it. This topic was perfect for you because you took something you were already good at, and pushed yourself to take it one step further. I am so glad that you did an encore at the end of class. It was truly amazing. Good work! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
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