#capstone thesis

[ezratheunready]

Another day another Geoff screaming in my headphones while I desperately try to write my thesis paper.

[beebelljarstudies]

Finally reading this paper on creativity for my capstone thesis.

[chroniclecapstone]

December Part 1

New month, new song!! And, the best part is that this is the start of a new season and a new EP. Loving this project more and more every single month.

The thing that I've grappled with the past couple of days is whether I should write a brand new song for December or record one that I wrote in late November, when I was churning out songs daily, sometimes even two in one day. I had a surge of inspiration the last week of November, posting some new songs on my Soundcloud and filling up at least 10 pages in my notebook. When the opportunity came for me to write a new song these past few days, however, I was completely out of ideas and words. I decided to take an old song from November and try recording it, and then I did it again with another song. Basically, I have two December songs in my Garageband files, but I've been working on only one of them the past couple of days. I'm liking the direction it's going in, but I'm afraid that they're all beginning to sound the same. Not in terms of instrumentation, but just in terms of structure -- I feel like I keep starting out slow, and then the song gradually builds into a climactic moment. I've done that in the past, especially in October, and I'm afraid that I'm entering some sort of predicatable songwriting/producing pattern. I really want to aim for a slower, simpler song (acoustic and piano only) for the January/February song, and try to do something other than heavy, loud drums towards the end. I've been taking a lot of inspiration from the new albums by Bear's Den and Walk the Moon for some inspiration in terms of melodies and instrumentation. 

This month, I'm listening to Atlas: Darkness and the December EP from Sleeping at Last. While I'm sad that I won't get to listen to a full album, the Atlas EP's are beautiful and definitely geared more towards my seasonal creations. I'm also reading Adele's biography, which I'm hoping will be interesting as well. With Christmas coming, I've been in a very creative mood, making cards, gifts, and new songs. Hopefully I'll be able to get out more music to choose from. I'm thinking that I'm going to write/record demos of a few more songs and see what I'm working with, and then continue developing the one I have now, or to develop another. I'm planning on running some of the songs I have by my dad and my mentor, hopefully to get their opinion on them. However, my gut tells me that the song I'm leaning towards will be the one that ultimately gets put in the album. 

I've also made the Winter EP cover. Making the covers/art is one of my favorite parts of the process -- it gives me an excuse to take artsy photos and play around with effects. I can't wait to begin the development of the album's liner notes and booklet; choosing photos and fonts is one of my favorite things to do!

[chroniclecapstone]

9/13

So I was on a walk today and I started writing a song on my phone and I decided to start recording it this evening. I have a strange gut feeling to completely cut what I've recorded of September already and to use this new song instead. My current September song has been driving me crazy for weeks because I'm never satisfied with it. I don't think it accurately relates to what I've been feeling and experiencing this month, while the new one does. I wrote the new one outside, in my prime element - I tend to randomly come up with song lyrics while walking. 

I recorded the new song starting with some really simply, pretty electric guitar riffs and I thought initially that it would be a slower song, but then I added some tracks from the drum machine and I'm fairly certain I can spruce it up a little bit. I don't want to make it a huge power ballad, with a bunch of instruments, because that's what my previous September song sounded like. I feel like I've been trying too hard in this process to make all the songs sound different, and that's probably why I've been so unsatisfied with the way September has been going. I really just want to write the songs that I feel, no matter if they sound the same as the one before them. I know that musicians whose music all sounds the same get a lot of criticism, like Taylor Swift or Birdy, but honestly, they're making music that really comes from how they feel, despite how similar it all sounds. I really want to try and work on that in the months to come. 

[chroniclecapstone]

Week 1

Tonight I received the email saying that my Capstone had been accepted by the Committee so I can officially begin working on the project and have my work count for a grade! I thought I would start making weekly blog posts so that I would be able to document things that have been going on in terms of the project, even if there hasn't been anything written on paper yet. 

Some ideas I have for the September song from a lyrical perspective are a lot of images of long light, fall, golden-ness - I have this road that I drive on every day after practice to get home, and there's something about that road in the fall that brings back memories and is very familiar to me; it embodies what "fall at home" is. I think I want to write the song with that as the central image/core idea, the idea of a familiar road, familiar light, familiar seasons - just the overall idea of familiarity and how memories can be stirred up in your mind after the events have passed years before. 

Musically, I'm not really sure yet. I think I want some straightforward, dancey-type drums, like I used in my May song. I just want something to give the EP some kick in the beginning, because this is the first song of the Autumn EP, which I think is going to be my favorite because I've come to the conclusion that autumn is my favorite season. Even though winter comes after, I absolutely adore fall. So naturally I think the EP will be the best one - in the fall, I have so much inspiration and everything just feels so crisp and new. I think that will provide me with a lot of material for writing!