Masters

Well, I suppose it's official now. Or at least as official as it can be without having any "official" paperwork to back up my claim. Yesterday I turned in my final graduate project to the Office of Graduate Studies at Sacramento State. So, for all intents and purposes, I have finished my Master of Music in Composition.

Going to the Grad Studies office is always something of an adventure, as anyone who has ever had the experience can attest. The first surprise was actually a pleasant one; for some reason they've waived the binding fee you normally have to pay to have your project bound in an ugly green book format and stored in the dark recesses of the library. So, that was a $60 savings right there. Not exactly sure why it was waived, and no one there seemed to offer a reason. I believe it's because they are looking at taking these payments directly, and have stopped having the Cashier's office across campus take them - and they haven't quite figured out how to do it yet. But whatever the reason, I'll take the savings. I actually used it as an excuse to treat us out to Leatherby's for dinner last night...

It wasn't exactly a smooth process to turn the project in. They normally recommend that you print a draft copy and have their office review it - twice - before printing it out on the very nice and very expensive required cotton paper. So, naturally, I printed my first copy on cotton and dropped in to submit it.

Oh, the paper was fine of course. Mostly they just check the margins to make sure that it's 1.5 inches at the top and left, per their requirements. The score, however, as it's an orchestral score printed on standard size paper, did not conform to these guidelines. I suppose it could have conformed, had I set it up that way, but I produced it exactly as I would produce it for a conductor stepping in front of an orchestra.

So, that prompted discussion between the person who was reviewing my project and her supervisor, and for awhile it looked like they wanted me to re-do the formatting. As a minor aside, they also normally want to see the works cited page of your paper at the very end of the paper, after the project, as technically the project is an 'appendix' to the paper. But since my 'appendix' was 88 pages versus the 38 of the paper, I thought it made more sense to have the works cited page with what I refer to as the "paper proper".

In any case, I countered with the argument that increasing the margins would squish the score to the point of illegibility. And it really would - unless of course I went through and changed the number of measures per system (shhh! don't tell them you can do that! I sure didn't...). I did well making it sound like it would be an exceptional amount of work to make this happen. At one point the lady had mentioned that this was what they recommend, and they weren't sure if the library would accept it as is. I, of course, said that I couldn't care less if it was bound and shelved and left to die in the basement of the library. The point was obtaining the actual degree.

They also recommended that the page numbers should continue through the score, without starting over with page "1" on the first page of the score. This of course would be an easy fix, though it would require me to reprint the score. I wouldn't necessarily mind that part of it, except that I wanted the score to stand by itself - after all, THAT is the project, to me, not the paper. And whoever heard of a musical score that starts on page 39??

Well, in the end, they accepted it as is, and it was uploaded to the library's vast attic of internet depositories known as Scholar Works. And, now, I will supposedly get a piece of paper in 8-10 weeks that will say "mission accomplished".

Mid-Summer Report

Well here it is nearing the end of July already; funny how the summer just seems to fly by. We've already had a three-day camping trip to Trinity Lake and a week-long cruise from Seattle to Alaska and back. Today we leave to Reno for a couple of nights to visit with family.

I have finally gotten the weight of my Masters project off my back; I was supposed to have finished it by the beginning of May initially. I've been writing for the last several weeks and have finally produced a finished copy. It is now being reviewed by the Department Chair. Well, really it's probably sitting on his desk biding its time until it seems as if enough time has passed. Does anyone even read those things?? I've had Matt Spiva's project checked out from the library as I was using it as a model example. It's probably the first time anyone had ever checked it out. How nice for it to spread it's wings and get away from the damp dark recesses of the library basement.

But I digress.

With my project essentially finished, I began focusing on the fall Marching Band show. Should be an exciting year! We've thrown out the model of the past couple of years of having 3, set pieces which were a minute and a half each and were designed to stand alone. This year's show is more of an integrated whole, with a mixture of music from classical to old rock/heavy metal to band literature. And it's all mixed together, sort of like a mashup a la Glee. Can't wait to put it in front of the band, although it is a bit more challenging than in previous years. Scary! I'm sure it will be fine, in the end.

In the mean time, we've managed to get out of the house a bit for some bike rides around town and a trip to see The Little Mermaid at Music Circus. And of course I could babble on and on about these things, but I find that I have to pack and get ready to drive over the mountains to Nevada. I spent the morning today re-vamping the Runaway Stage Productions website. Has a modified look which just streamlines things a bit more and make it look a little more professional. Still have some more pages to update though...will the work never end??

There's always lots to do, no matter how much we try to pretend that we're just spending our lazy summers afternoons vegetating in front of the TV.

June Eve

Well, here we are on the eve of June; another spring semester at school has come and gone. I'm about ready to hop an Amtrak train to Seattle, but in my last hour of waiting I thought it was time I put in another post. Once again the semester has flown by; I had brief spurts of productivity this semester as I worked to finish my final grad project. But although the symphony itself is complete, I still have the paper to finish. As such I delayed my graduation till the summer.

It does seem odd even to have a summer graduation; I'm not aware that there's even a ceremony as such for it. I think it was likely created as an excuse for grad student to have an acceptable way to turn in their projects late, while not having to wait for the next semester. And of course they charge you another diploma fee of $28 for the right to change your graduation date. But, hey, I didn't finish on time so it's a price I have to pay. I decided early on this semester that I didn't want to rush my project; I wanted to be happy with it and let it finish out naturally. And in the end, I am happy with the finished product. Assuming we still have enough players to form an orchestra in the fall at Sac State, the piece should get premiered.

Today was a pretty productive day, as I had the day off from work to prepare for our trip. Lots of laundry was done, $92 worth of rolled change was turned in to the bank for some spending cash, I helped an old guy finish changing his flat tire in the hot sun, went swimming, had dinner at Johnny Carino's, gave some leftover salad to a man begging for change in the street, finished packing, and am now just awaiting our ride to the station. So all in all, a good day was had.

Now on to further adventure...

Springtime Already?

Well, here we are in the first weekend of March already. The sun is shining high and bright in the sky, and we're expecting mid-70s tomorrow. Just a couple of days ago it was raining with intermittent bursts of downpours. As I walked across campus early Friday morning, after the rains had passed, the world seemed refreshed and cleansed. It was like stepping back in time to when things were newer, simpler. Of course that's just a mirage created the rains having washed the tiredness and staleness away, but still it was refreshing.

This weekend should be a fairly nice one, and indeed it the last few have been fairly nice as well. I actually have my first rehearsal this morning for the musical South Pacific, which opens in Woodland at the end of next week. Which, of course, means that next week is tech week. So my early evenings and fairly leisurely lifestyle will be temporarily suspended as the busy-ness of life returns. But still, it will be nice to play in a show again after quite a bit of time.

For now, or at least after rehearsal, I intend to relax to enjoy the weekend. We'll probably do a bike ride on the trails around here this afternoon, and perhaps go to the gym later for a swim. Sunday should be an even more relaxing day at home, though since it will be my last freedom for a week, I'll probably need to spend it working on my symphony.

Speaking of which, my final grad project is coming along nicely. The first two movements are essentially done and are only being subjected to minor tweaking at this point. The third movement is well under way and should be nearing completion in the next couple of weeks. If all goes well, of course. Then it only remains to write out the last movement, which I've already decided to base in part on a string orchestra piece I had begun years ago but never finished or had performed. So, things are looking good, though the clock is ticking. The project has to be completed and ready to be bound by the first of May. And that includes the written thesis part of it. Plenty still to do!

But for now, time to enjoy the early spring...

New Year: Week One

Be careful not to turn your back; before you know it, not only has the New Year passed but we're already a week into it. Strange how time flies by.

This should be, by all account, something of an epic year. On the one hand, I'm scheduled to be completing my Masters in Composition this semester by writing a symphony orchestra piece. Granted, that's a tall order to accomplish in one semester, though thankfully I had already started working on it in 2009. But now I've started afresh and am tasked at finishing it before the end of March. That should mean working on it virtually everyday, if only a little bit. Well, we'll see how that goes. There's always the fall if it doesn't work out...

I'm about ready to take another mecca to my homeland, Disneyland. I'll be leaving Sunday morning on my tri-annual journey to the Magic Kingdom, for a few days of relaxation and disillusionment. Or at least a distraction from the everyday real world anyway. But it's been over three months since my last trip...this time I'll be arriving for the last day of the holiday cheer before the Christmas decorations all magically disappear overnight. Chirstmas time is always special in Disneyland, even if it is a week into January.

This summer I'll be embarking on another vacation involving exploration to a new (for me anyway) unexplored region. This time it's the tropical islands of Hawaii. Normally I end up going somewhere or doing something in the summer that I've already done before in the past, but this will be a new experience for me as we explore the beaches of Waikiki and Honolulu. I've already begun making preliminary plans for an 8-night trip, and assuming I actually finish my Masters as planned, this will be in a way my graduation present to myself.

It's kind of interesting to consider the free time I'll (supposedly) have once this journey of education is complete. It's been a few years now of slowly taking courses and spending oodles of time reading and writing papers and so forth. I'm sure the fall will be filled with something else; life always get filled with something. Guess we'll have to wait and see...

Thinking...

"While there is a lower class I am in it. While there is a criminal element I am of it. While there is a soul in prison I am not free." Thus begins the novel Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. This is book with which I am now acquainting myself. I have been a Vonnegut fan for a number of years, and somehow this one has eluded me. The quote is actually from a real person, despite this book's fictional character. Eugene Victor Debs did exist, was a union leader and presidential candidate in the late 1880s. I didn't know that. I had to google it.

I like books that make you think, and Vonnegut was a master satirist. His books are rife with commentary on our society and indeed our humanity. I find them still relevant today, even though most were written decades ago. Even Hocus Pocus, one of his "newer" works, is now over 20 years old.

Thinking is a good thing, and is often overlooked by mainstream society. As I was walking downtown this morning between bus stops on my way to work, I noticed from the marquee of the Century Theatres downtown that one of their current filks is "Jack and Jill". This reminded me again that I like things that make you think. I'm not much of a fan of what I call the "stupid funny" type of movie. You know the one. Where the actor (in this case Adam Sandler) players two characters, and they're not of the same gender. Granted this is just one example; it doesn't HAVE to be like that. But I knew when I first saw a preview of this film that I would never watch it. Just not interested.

I like to think, and the quote at the top reminds us that our society is flawed. It's not generally headed in the right direction, although there still is and likely always will be many good aspects of it. If we all stopped to think, just a little, and wondered what it really meant to be alive, to be here on this planet, to be a part of a society, maybe we could collectively decide on different ways to run it. To run it better. To create some sort of utopia, the likes of which we normally only see in fictional accounts in books or on TV.

Some might say that's crazy talk. Am I crazy? Could be. Maybe all of us are, or maybe all of us should be. Or maybe we're all headed in that direction, in our own special way. One could only hope.