Ben Mapes

[benmapes-blog]

A post from my website

On my website, I talk about how mallets are important for a percussionist and why we have so many different mallets.  Check it out!

My Website

[benmapes-blog]

My First Year in College

My first year was so much fun!  I learned a plethora of skills that can help me in the future as a professional musician.  Every Wednesday, the MSU Percussion Studio would get together and we would learn about different instruments and the techniques used to play them.  My favorite was the tambourine.  There are many ways to play the tambourine and get a good sound out of striking it and creating good roll sounds.  It has become one of my favorite instruments to play.

Another event that I liked about my first year at MSU is that we went on a tour around Michigan to showcase the Percussion Studio.  I got to perform a xylophone rag.  I was pretty scared, but I got over it.  It was a lot of fun going to different high schools and playing in different concerts to show the community our talents.  It gave me a glimpse into the future of a performance artist that I wish to become.

[benmapes-blog]

Why I love Music

Music was introduced to me very early on in my career.  I began playing the piano during Third Grade.  I then started becoming interested in drum set in Fifth Grade and in Sixth Grade, I was introduced to percussion.

Music is so important to me.  We can use it ever day to express how we feel.  I feel that it helps explain things that cannot be put into words because music affects the emotion differently than words can.  Each person has a different taste of music that can affect them in a different way.  For instance, my sister loves Teen Pop which she may love, but I don’t like it because I don’t connect well with it.  Personally, I would rather wet my appetite with a Horn Concerto by Mozart.  Again, each person has their own opinion.

[msdrbeat]

[benmapes-blog]

msdrbeat:

Top Ten Things Percussionists Do That Annoy Wind Players

[benmapes-blog]

A Research Summary

I recently did a paper on how to create an effective website that audience members can take seriously.  I listed many things that a person can do to create an informative and organized website that can captivate audiences, whether intended or unintended.  This can help many people who are currently creating a website to create one effectively and draw audiences to your website.

[benmapes-blog]

Academic writing

I think that the job of an academic writer is to create an argument so that a topic can be further developed in the community.  Expert claims are conflicting views of different experts and we decide which view we want to take.

[benmapes-blog]

How does Plagiarism affect students?

People use information in the library to do research and to learn more about a topic.  It can be for academic studying or for personal use.  Plagiarism is the act of duplicating one’s original work or ideas, and calling it your own.  It’s kind of like the Copyright for non-internet work.  It is okay to use another person’s ideas as long as you use quotations and cite where you are getting the information from, giving them credit for what you are borrowing.  To tell the difference between plagiarism and citation, you can look at quotation marks within an academic paper.  If some of the wording is the same or similar to the original host (without citation in parenthesis or quotation marks), then it is plagiarism.

[benmapes-blog]

Website Effectiveness

I found a really interesting article on creating an effective website.  It had some interesting information on knowing your audience, content, and purpose for the website to attract people, rather than a cluster of really cool pictures that attracts people.  If you are interested in learning more, you can read the article.

[benmapes-blog]

How do we use Rhetoric?

Rhetoric is the study of how we use language and how language uses us. It helps us see the relation of language and the world. We use rhetoric to help communicate what we need to say. We always use rhetoric in every day of our life to communicate with friends, family, teachers, students, coworkers and other human beings that we interact with.

[benmapes-blog]

Don't Reblog This!

Copying is not pirating, but recreating what we are given by explaining it differently through our own way. It is a way for the new generation to understand old culture and ideas/concepts. We speak by reusing the tools that were given to us, providing the new generation a type of literacy in which we can communicate our ideas. Copyright laws prevent us from duplicating any information through the internet without permission. When we are allowed to remix in a way we find understandable in our environment, this opens our mind to new forms of creativity.

If you're interested, here a video with more information.

 http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

[philly-prepster]

Coffee at midnight? Mmmmmm

[benmapes-blog]

Now, more often than ever, I have found myself up late, drinking coffee while doing some school work or cleaning my room, etc.  It's probably something that shouldn't become a habit...

[benmapes-blog]

Tips for Collaborative Negotiation

I believe that collaborative negotiation is when two or more people come together with a common interest and and talk about different ways to solve a problem until they find one that everyone is happy with.  One key thing to remember while participating in collaborative negotiation is to not blame anyone, because you will just make matters worse, and possibly not get anyone to agree with you.  Another method you could try would be stepping in another person’s shoes, and seeing how they view things differently.  One more thing would be to make sure that everyone is involved that needs to be involved.  If one person is not debating, then everyone may not be happy with the outcome.

[benmapes-blog]

A Webliography for Creating a Music Website

A webliography of some great websites that I am using to create my professional website as a musician.

  http://www.2createawebsite.com/    

This starts you off with the basics.  It gives you some nice tips about how to start your website.  I would suggest clicking on some of the links on the left hand side for the different topics.

http://thinkvitamin.com/design/5-advanced-photoshop-techniques-for-web-designers/   

This is for some advanced techniques.  It gives you some help on creating a more personal feel to your website.  This requires photoshop though...

http://www.widgetbox.com/  

And here’s just some random stuff.  How to add widgets to your website to make it more interesting.

http://wordpress.org/  

WordPress is a free downloadable source that helps you create a website.  It is what I plan on using to create my professional website in the future.

http://www.4creatingawebsite.com/  

This website also helps you create your website.  It has very useful links that help you set up a domain name, choosing a web host, and creating your website.  I think this will be very useful!

http://www.webtemplex.com/advancedtemplates.html

Here are some templates that you can download for free.  Some of my friends have used them on their websites.  Pretty creative themes!

Dreamweaver

This is another software that creates a website for you.  Similar to WordPress. I have used this program before to create a website.  It does cost a bit of money, but the results are great, and much easier than coding all that HTML lingo...

http://www.ayanokataoka.com/home.html

This is a website I plan on imitating for my own professional website. I love the different links there are, like her videos, audios, pictures, press and much more.

http://www.bravenet.com/webtools/

This is a nice website that has some basic tools that you might want on your website like a photo album, calendar, chat room, or mini blog. Things that can spice up your website.

San Francisco Orchestra Home Page

This is the San Francisco Orchestra Home Page. It has some nice things that I might want to steal for my own professional website.

[benmapes-blog]

3 Useful Links For Creating a Website.

If you are interested in creating a website, whether it is for personal or professional use, here are some good website to check out that may give you some assistance in starting your website!

http://www.2createawebsite.com/    This starts you off with the basics.

http://thinkvitamin.com/design/5-advanced-photoshop-techniques-for-web-designers/    This is for some advanced techniques.

http://www.widgetbox.com/   And here's just some random stuff.

Hope this helps!

[benmapes-blog]

My parents are in Ireland (and i miss them), so I thought that I would find something about Ireland! Just stumbled upon this! Thought it was interesting.

[benmapes-blog]

What type of citizen will I be in the future?

In the future, I plan to be more involved in the music world.  Right now I'm just a student in a college, but when I become older, I plan on being a better citizen in the music society.  Maybe I could be a participatory citizen and start a group, or website like the PAS.  I at least plan on getting more involved in the future.  I also hope to expand my use of media/information literacy in the future to help me become a more active citizen.

[benmapes-blog]

Networked Learning for Percussionists

One way I am involved in a networked learning group as a percussionist is through the MSU Percussion studio.  We all help each other out and bounce new ideas off each other when we are working on pieces, or creating something new for the studio.  A bigger community of networked learning for percussionists is through a website called Percussive Arts Society (PAS).  On this website, you can search for articles that can relate to anything you are working on.  I found an article once on how I can perform a piece better.  This was a big help!