What is it to be a well-rounded musician rather than a plain old musician? While many tend to sway to the ideas of merely practicing and mastering techniques needed for a particular instrument as being a great musician, a well-rounded musician on the other hand is so much more than that and just the notion of it is so much more complex.     

    A musician is best categorized as one who thrives off of music, someone who enjoys being in a musical environment, and one who enjoys the art of making music only. However, a well-rounded musician is one who strives to achieve all aspects of music, which includes performances, music theory, music history and such. This concept is most similar to my school’s concept of a “citizen artist.” We are all artists, but we are not all citizen artists. Being an instrumentalist has taught me how to be a citizen artist along with being a well-rounded musician.

            Perhaps the most important time of a musician’s life is that of the rehearsal process. During a rehearsal whether it be daily, weekly, monthly, etc., a professional etiquette must be present within all involved. With such decorum, the process of rehearsing can flow without any interruptions. Even at the beginning of the rehearsal, this behavior can be modeled. 

    Once in the room, all musicians are responsible to set up their instrument, warm up, and even do a basic tuning. In doing so, so much more time can be conserved for the pieces instead of starting on a bad foot with squeaking and even wrong notes. This minor process before an actual rehearsal takes place can benefit all alike because we aren’t all perfect and we can’t run straight through the piece and not expect to make a mistake—that’s what rehearsals are for. 

    Another aspect of the rehearsal process that should be taken seriously is the tuning process. The lack of proper tuning can result in unintended dissonancy and “funky” notes that will result in a disturbance of the piece. As an oboist, tuning is very important merely because everyone is dependant on my tuning note, whether it be an A or a Bb, which ultimately will result in the overall sound and quality of the ensemble. Not taking careful consideration can often result in a suffrage of the intonation especially if the particular instrument one plays is the saxophone, which needs the most tuning.

     After the tuning, all musicians should wait for the instructions of the conductor. He or she can choose to play warm-ups such as scales or rhythmic phrase or even start with sections of the pieces for further fine tuning. No matter what the conductor chooses to do, the important thing is that all eyes and ears belong to him all throughout the rehearsal. In doing so, a rehearsal can go by much more smoothly with less unnecessary interruption.

            I find it in particular that there have been a lot of unnecessary interruptions during rehearsal time. I try my best to keep my end of the bargain, which is to be respectful of the ensemble as a whole and obtain the best decorum which will allow the rehearsal time to go by smoothly. However, that may not be the case for a majority of the musicians as many noodles, talk, or even divert their attention to somewhere else such as cell phones, ipods, and even homework from another class. They may think it disrupts the conductor for the lack of focus, but it also break the focus of their fellow peers. 

    Also, I have noticed that a lot of students have not usde their warm-up time wisely as they often noodle random notes instead of practicing the hard sections of their music or even scales—things in a mannerly fashion. When they noodle, it does nobody any good except make aloud commotion. That being said, I admire particularly the concert band for using the time for tuning wisely. Saxophones now tune individually rather than as a section which allows for better intonation as also it seem that the notion of “tuning to the one next to you” has helped as well. 

    Nevertheless, tuning is not the only rehearsal etiquette that all musicians should learn, but everything else from proper warm-ups, paying attention, and even staying focused on the music they’re playing are crucial as well in terms of sparingly using rehearsal time for a big performance.  

            After rehearsal etiquette is mastered, all musicians must take in consideration what the word “ensemble” means. To me, ensemble merely means that all players of a musical group must play together as one even if there are varying parts amongst the different instrument; in the end it must sound like one instrument is playing many different parts. 

    A problem I have noticed is that some people are playing as if they are soloists in times when they do not actually have a solo, but rather a unison or divisipart amongst their section. The key to playing as an ensemble is to play together with equal amount of energy as the person next to you. Many lack that consideration that if you’re a section leader, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re to play out over the others in your section and overpower them in terms of playing the piece. Everyone in a section, in an instrument group, in an ensemble is as much equal as the one next to them. No one should overpower anyone and especially if you have an accompaniment line versus the melodic line. The key term, “ensemble,” will definitely appear in everyone’s life again sooner or later, whether in future music classes or even group activities. One will learn that acting as an ensemble rather than an individual will help them greatly in life.

            Another aspect that many of us as musicians forget is the importance of taking a music theory and music history class. These classes are designed to benefit us in terms of actually understanding why what we play is the way it is—the logic behind the music we play. It’s important to obtain knowledge in these fields to become a well-rounded musician and set you apart from those who just play music without really understanding the logic behind it. In music theory, what I have grown to understand more and more is the concept of composing. 

    Questions I’ve asked myself in the past was somewhere along the lines of: Why did the composer put these notes instead of the others? How does the composer know when to put what rhythms, note values, notes, inparticular spots? How does the composer emphasize a mood? Questio
ns like those seemed impossible to answer because there were no instructions to how composers derived these resulting pieces. 

    However, music theory has guided me to learn about how the composers think when they are writing out their art. 

    On the other hand, music history, categorizes music by time period. In this class, I was able to distinguish differences between the music from different time periods. I always used to think that J.S. Bach was a classical composer because instrumental music has been stereotyped as playing classical music. I’ve learned after years of misinterpretation that he actually belongs in the Baroque time period in the 1600s through the mid-1700s. Althoughit was early in the semester that I learned that he was from the Baroque period, it truly opened my eyes as a musician.

            One particular aspect I admired of the two ensembles I have been a participant in—concert band and orchestra—is the focus they put on during performances. Although the rehearsal days prior to the big performance may be tough and hard to get by, I’ve noticed and admired greatly everyone’s perseverance and strive to put on a great show for the audience. It’s like suddenly all has been put in place. Everything we’ve learned– rehearsal etiquette, being an ensemble, tackling the challenging sections of the music, has entirely been mastered and the only thing left to conquer is to put on our best performance. 

    One memorable moment was NYSSMA ’09.The pieces that were chosen, although seemed hard in the beginning, were pieces that demonstrated our abilities in terms of rhythm, hard-to-reach-notes, and even our ability to watch the conductor. I felt that our spring concert just days before the adjudication really helped us establish our meaning for our position in the ensemble. 

    It may sound weird to think of the spring concert as a rehearsal, but the spring concert was like performing for our home, around people we already know. NYSSMA on the other hand, we had to perform for two judges, practically strangers to us, in a large room where it’s just us and the music that is playing. At that time, we have 99.9999% mastered our music and all that is left was this performance. Everyone was nervous, but at the same time excited that we have reached this climax in our career here in T.U.     

    During that particular day, June 3^rd of 2009, everyone was focused on their music, on their conductor, and no one dared to fool around because obviously this meant something to all of us alike and not just a few. The skills we learned during rehearsal from concert etiquette and tuning techniques really paid off this time. The glorious moment when Dr. B (my band director) walked out the door and said just one word, “gold.”     

    Observing others, while I jumped for joy, was truly a triumphant moment in these two years. Practice was paid off by this plaque that symbolizes our hard work and perseverance throughout rehearsals and our tolerance to the foolish nonsense that has occurred somewhat…many times throughout rehearsals. 

            Having versatility is a key factor to being a musician—a well-rounded musician. Being able to understand the logic behind the music that you are playing is extremely important because it’s just like saying you’re reading a book while you have no idea what it’s about; it just doesn’t make sense. 

    So far, my adding experience at my high school has helped me grow into a citizen artist that I can be and am well on my way to be. Although there have been minor interruptions here and there during rehearsals, ultimately, it has helped me learn about what is expected to occur and how todeal with it if it does. 

    Even if I don’t continue on my music career in college and in the later life, these skills I have obtained thus far can highly benefit me as a person. Thus, I hope to gain more and more experience as the days go by and continue on my success with great focus and determination for my next two years to come. 

 

“You are Invited* To a super elite party at a secret, incredibly UNDERGROUND location with FAMOUS WRITERS, about-to-be-famous-models, OBAMA’S whole family, literary agents, rock stars, a beautiful Spanish sculptor (or two) and other special guests.

* Just don’t Blog, post pictures to facebook, or even THINK about twittering…”

This was the invitation on the front page of the sunday style section of the New York Times August 9th.

It obviously wasn’t the real invitation the article spoke about, just a mock one the gives the basic idea of this new trendy off-the- record parties thrown by Protocol NYC held every two weeks since September in a small private penthouse in Murray Hills. The idea is for guests to be able to talk freely and fearlessly in the present without worry of a scandalous quote or picture popping up to haunt them the morning after.

  When I was finished reading the article I took a moment to think back on the parties and social events I’ve attended. Of course its always common to have a camera handy to snatch a few pre-party pictures or kodak moments. But there have been the occasioal embarassing photos where you wish people didn’t feel the need to catch every insident on camera.

“That party last night was awfully crazy, I wish we taped it…” is a line in the chorus of the popular Asher Roth song “I Love College.” The song, and video, made me wonder why people feel the need to document every popular moment with posed pictures of beer chugging and grinding and hooking up.

Isn’t it enough to have a great time, we have to advertise it to everyone on the web too to prove how outgoing we are?

I wonder how people would act differently if a camera weren’t around. Would they still check their hair every ten minutes, reapply their lip gloss and perfect their dance moves? Or would people let loose more and actually enjoy themselves without fear of finding mean comments the next day?

In this day and age the internet has become this revolution of modrn communication which to a majority has been a blessing. But in a lot of ways it has been a curse too. An opportunity for online bullying, constant remiders of the past and access to gossip way too easily.

Sometimes I wonder if all this technology is screwing us over rather then evolving us for the better.

Did people have a better time back in a day where we could have a good time without having to hold onto it the next day?

Ever since my family and I moved to America, we have lived in the Southern portion of Brooklyn. Visiting Brighton Beach was a tradition. The area’s large Russian population showed with streets lined with Russian bakeries and elderly women selling perogies.

Even though I have never lived there, had no family that resided there, nor do I have overly favorable feelings towards the dirty, over-crowded streets of Brighton Beach, I still find myself in the neighborhood every so often.

It’s the best place to get a jar of pickles and the best place to drink a glass of kvas on the boardwalk.

However, I always find myself ending my trip to Brighton by walking to Coney Island.

Coney Island has always been really close to my heart. I spent my childhood begging my parents to let me go on the suspicious looking rides. It was the place where I ate cotton candy for the first time. Nathan’s was the first place I experienced an all-American hot dog. My dad and I must have spent countless hours, and countless dollars, playing the arcade games only for a little stuffed animal and a few temporary tattoos in return.

I kept returning to Coney Island every summer. What was once a family tradition became a custom hang out with my friends. Not many places can transition like this, but Coney Island held its own even as I saw it diminishing before my very eyes.

Last summer, I volunteered at the New York Aquarium, located in Coney Island and I loved every moment of it.

But the conversation I seemed to have with visitors at least once a day went a little like this, “Coney’s just not like it used to be, huh?”

It’s definitely not. The closing of Luna Park and later Astroland has greatly changed the area’s landscape, while other attractions barely hold on.

Vacant shops and eerily empty bumper car cages are the norm.

Now that there are exceedingly ambitious plans underway to rebuild the area to make it a major tourist attraction, many wonder if it is even possible and at what costs does it come?

Will Coney Island lose its kitschy charm in favor of more modern rides and attraction? Will the people who live in this neighborhood suffer when the planned luxury hotels and high-rises are built?

The future of Coney Island is unsure, but whatever happens, I hope that future generations can still experience this place the way it was supposed to be experienced.

I went to the Woodstock concert revival at the Nokia Theater in NYC last night. It was absolutely wonderful. The concert was filled with hippies! There were even a lot of older hippie couples dancing to the music. They may have been to the original one forty years ago. The music was very relaxing and the bands knew how to keep the crowd interested. My friend and I dance to every song and this is unusual for me. The atmosphere was great. There was a lot of pot but this was normal at the original woodstock festivals. I felt like I’d taken a time machine back to the ’60s. I give the concert 5 stars.

    Friends. Friends. Friends. You make them everywhere. With new adventures and an open mind you’ll meet new people, who later become friends. Once you’ve made them you don’t remember how life operated without them. In second grade I was a part of a Brownie Girlscout club. In the two years that I was a Brownie I learned one song. I don’t remember the title but it went “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold.” No matter what, I know that I won’t forget anyone that I’ve met at College Now.

    I’ve always been an easy-to-talk-to person, who loves to meet new people, but I’ve never became so close to people in six weeks like I have at College Now. I have met so many great people at College Now who I never would have encountered otherwise. In the beginning of the class, I didn’t think I would make it through the six weeks. On the first day I thought of dropping the class, not because of the material or because I didn’t like anyone but I didn’t understand. Didn’t understand how a summer, that is supposed to be spent at a beach, could be spent inside an over air conditioned building. Luckily I didn’t.

    We all had our little groups, Connie hung out with Mariann, the Beacon group hung out with each other (then Brittany joined), Michelle and Stephanie hung out, Polina and Ari were close, Shirley and Linda had a close relationship, but it didn’t matter. Those groups slowly enfolded, until everyone began talking to each other. For example, in the beginning of the class I hardly spoke to “Abda El”, but now we suck our teeth at each other in a loving way of course. It’s weird to imagine not waking up at 7:45 in the morning. It’s weird to think about getting a free New York Times in the morning or the free lunch. But more importantly it’s going to be weird going to school in September without the College Now group. It’s going to be strange reading the New York Times, to friends, talking about how the article’s lead lacked an insightful lead or how the kicker was weak to people who don’t even know newsroom lexicon.

    At 1:54 in the morning, I find myself talking to Alicia and Connie Van. In a way these conversations with them “encapsulate” (what seems to be one of Lauren’s favorite word) the friendships that I have made in College Now. As Connie put it college class “FLEW by.”

 I have spent six weeks coming to Baruch for the summer.  It’s my first time attending a Journalism College Now class and I honestly don’t want to leave.  It was fun meeting new people and listening to their different experiences.  I also think that it was cool that our class was able to visit so many different places that are dedicated bringing the news to the people.

        With Lauren and Silissa editing my stories I started to get a feel of how I should structure my future articles in newspapers. I believe that this class has prepared me somewhat for what I am going to have to face with college professors.

        My favorite part of the class was having guest speakers visit the class and tell us about their experience in the news.  I thank Lauren and Sillisa for their help. Hope to see you soon 🙂

       I spent six weeks coming to Baruch for the summer.  It’s my first time attending a Journalism College Now class and I honestly don’t want to leave.  It was fun meeting new people and listening to their different experiences.  I also think that it was cool that our class was able to visit so many different places that are dedicated to bringing the news to the people.

        With Lauren and Silissa editing my stories I started to get a feel of how I should structure my future articles in newspapers. I believe that this class has prepared me somewhat for what I am going to have to face with college professors.

        My favorite part of the class was having guest speakers visit the class and tell us about their experience in the news.  I thank Lauren and Silissa for their help. Hope to see you soon 🙂

Picture the movie scene: a pregnant women about to go into labor screams like a hormonal creature as she’s rushed down a hospital’s long, brightly-lit hallway to the delivery room, where she gasps for drugs and relies on the doctor to call the shots.

But fewer and fewer pregnancies play out like this. According to the 1999 book Midwifery and Childbirth in America, written by Judith Pence, more than 10 percent of American babies are delivered by a midwife.

Midwife-assisted births appeal to women who are seeking a more natural birthing experience, with minimal drugs and medical interference. This represents a paradigm shift from the days when women took for granted the use of pain-killing drugs and anesthetics such as epidurals.

“Doctors treat women as patients with a condition, whereas a midwife guides you through the labor and is compassionate about this amazing experience,” said Kara Kinsey, a Brooklyn resident who recently gave birth to her first child with the help of a midwife.  

For centuries, women of all countries and cultures have used midwives to successfully deliver babies. But a cultural shift toward professional doctors, along with the development of other methods of medication and hospitalization, pushed midwives into the background.Now, this once-universal birthing method is coming back into style.

Research shows that in countries with the best pregnancy outcomes, midwives are the primary providers of care to women. In fact, the United States has the second-worst newborn death rate in the developed world, according to statistics compiled by Dr. Marsden Wagner, a former director of Women’s and Children’s Health at the World Health Organization. This fact is especially surprising given that the U.S.has the most technologically advanced equipment.

The midwife Adrian Feldhusen has created a timeline to trace the history of American midwifery. The first hospital in colonial America was founded in the mid-1700s. As time went on, doctors began pushing midwives out of the birthing industry. By the early 1900s, physicians were attending about half the nation’s births, including nearly all births of middle- and upper-class women, while midwives took care of women who could not afford a doctor. By 1939, a majority of American women delivered in hospitals.

However, the tide is turning. In2005, nurse-midwives attended 11.2% of vaginal births in the U.S., and this percentage continues to rise according to Feldhusen’s research.

Georgia Rose has been a midwife for more then 20 years. She has delivered over 1,600 babies in her career and taught a later generation of midwives at Columbia University.Rose makes it abundantly clear that her career isn’t about the money. “It’s a wonderful profession,” she said in a phone interview.

She said that her clients appreciate the “close and personal relationship” they develop with a midwife,especially those parents who delivered their first babies in a more-sterile, traditional hospital setting. “I emphasize each detail of the experience to make it as memorable and enjoyable as possible so that the family leaves with optimal memories of that day,” she said.   

Not all women have the option of midwife-attended childbirth. Midwives recommend that only those with low-risk pregnancies, who are unlikely to experience complications during labor should engage the services of a midwife.

Midwife-assisted births are also appealing because they are less costly than hospital births. The average cost of a midwife-attended vaginal birth in the U.S. is $1,200, whereas the average cost of physician-attended vaginal birth is approximately $4,200, according to Dr. Wagner. In the 2007 documentary The Business of Being Born, Patricia Burkhart, a professor in the New York University Midwifery program said, “Hospitals are businesses- they want those beds filled and emptied. They don’t want women hanging around in the labor room.” Doctors pop in every so often while the woman times her contractions, as opposed to a m
idwife who is by the woman’s side every second. “For a physician to charge more when they have less of an appearance is beyond me,” Burkhart said.

             Roosevelt Hospital—one of the few in New York City with an in-hospital Birthing Center—offers three private rooms for $850 a night, much more affordable than the standard price of a night’s stay in a hospital room. The other rooms in the birthing center are covered by insurance and fit two women per night. At a birthing center, the experience is shorter, with women usually going home within 24 hours of arrival and 15 to 18 hours of delivery. In a birthing center, babies are allowed to room with their mothers. Visiting hours run all day and patients are allowed to have as many visitors as they please, including allowing one to sleep overnight with them in a private room.

At Roosevelt Hospital,the birthing center rooms can be easily mistaken for a 4-star hotel, aside from the bassinet and changing table sitting next to the queen-sized bed. The room is decorated with homey floral bedding, curtains and tablecloth. There is enough room to fit ten people, and there is a small round dinner table, a rocking chair, exercise ball, night stand and in the far left corner a large Jacuzzi bathtub, built for two. 

Elizabeth Boyce maintains a private midwifery practice with a partner and has delivered many babies at the Roosevelt Birthing Center. At monthly meeting, the two midwives invite expecting mothers to stop in at their downtown office to discuss what to expect throughout the pregnancy, along with the services the midwives offer, ensuring that all her patients are fully educated and are able to participate in creating the birth plan. She describes in detail the process of the birth from the first pregnancy appointment to the 6-week post-birth check up, and everything in between. Elizabeth stays with her patient through every moment of the labor, being at the service of her client in whichever way she requests. However, her practice does not offer the option of insurance or Medicaid because the program reimburses midwives at a low rate. “In order to keep giving quality of care, we had to either increase the number of patients or keep numbers low and not take insurance,” she said.

Kara Kinsey, the Brooklynite who gave birth with the assistance of a midwife, stayed for two nights at the in-hospital birthing center at Beth Israel after a long labor during which her midwife checked in every hour. “Pregnancy is a wonderful thing and my midwife embraced that. I wanted a natural childbirth and I was able to stick to my birth plan all thanks to my midwife.”

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    Joseph Gordon-Levitt has come a long way since his childhood acting career in movies like “Switching Parents,” “Angels in the Outfield” and the TV sitcom “30 Rock from the Sun.” Now, all grown up, he Stars alongside Zooey Deschanel in the new romantic comedy “500 Days of Summer.”  

Levitt has been recently praised for his leading role in 2005’s “Brick,”considered the breakout role of his adult acting career. In “500 Days” he plays the role of a modern, hopeless romantic infatuated with a girl who coincidentally doesn’t believe in a soul mate. The movie stresses the point that this is in fact not a love story, but a story about love.

Thefilm is a slow yet wonderfully charming look at a young romance, starting unlabeled and growing into something strong and meaningful. The catch—or shall I say twist–that refuses to make anything easy is that Summer (Zooey Deschanel) doesn’t believe in the love that Tom (Gordon-Levitt) has possessed for her.

 The opening scene kicks off with an old-fashioned ’50s-themed narrator giving the audience a bio on the two people who are about to embark on the story about love, beginning with the classic line “boy meets girl, boy falls for girl.” He continues on to discuss Tom’s outlook on love, describing him as one who would “Never truly be happy until he met the one.” And with that the comedy of his misery and undying lust for Summer begins.

Summer’s effect on Tom lasts precisely 500 days, explaining the title. The movie jumps around in random order of different days he’s spent with her, including days he was simply lovesick over her. But of cours ebefore we reach that final day, Tom gets the chance to understand how their romance was never the same in her eyes as it was to him. 

    Right from the beginning Tom is dissecting their relationship together, taking him the whole movie to transition into himself without Summer

     There are the ups and downs like any relationship and we witness milestones such as the first meeting and the first kiss. But nothing trumps the first post-sex walk of joy where Tom proceeds to break out into dance—with the song “You Make My Dreams Come True” playing in the background.

 The clever, comedic lines  make the movie an all around hit such as Summer’s “They called me anal girl in college… I was very neat and organized.” But it’s also the killer soundtrack that suits each scene perfectly in depicting the mood of that day.

Although the message I walked away with was one I’ve heard before—to always have communication, because without it there is false hope and heartache—there is still enough realism to relate and carry a piece of the characters with you.

    Gordon-Levitt’s adorable wrinkled smiles and boyishly-handsome appeal reassure women that there are genuine guys out there looking for the same things they are. And although Summer is somewhat the villain in various aspects, we learn to not hold on to something we aren’t sure of.

 

 

It was a rainy day and I was barely four. I had only known so little of the world and myself. Yet, my dad was the last to give up on me…

It was a regular Saturday afternoon and my dad and I were heading out to our usual routine of bike riding to the piano school for my weekly lessons. My dad, a poor tenant living in the tightly packed rusty apartments in Chinatown hastily removed his bike from the chains of the wall and rolls it across our miniscule living room to the door as the bike bangs against everything it passed. I followed him, oblivious to all the troubles he went through just to get his bike out.

Because elevators were unsuitable for such low working class apartments, the stairs were our only choice. Dressed in a scrawny T-shirt along with ragged jeans, my dad lifted his bike slightly with his two bare arms and rolled it down the uneven rocky steps. Upon the last step, he released his bike and breathed a huge sigh as if he had been carrying a huge burden. With one hand holding onto the handle of the bike, he used his other hand to wipe off the sweat around his face and neck. He glanced at his watch and realized we were almost late despite the extra minutes he prepared for us to get ready.

Next, he seated me on the front seat of the bike. But before doing so, he checked to see that I was fully covered from head to toe in warmth and comfort, especially since it was raining. He did not look once at himself. When we were outside, my dad saw that the rain was harder that it seemed. Yet, that did not stop him. He pedaled harder and harder, with each pedal bursting with persistence, hope and love. His scrunched up eyebrows, tightened lips and determined look meant everything to me.

Although I may just be a puny, obnoxious, stubborn being watching my dad bike, I knew from that moment on my dad was my hero. He was giving up his time, money and efforts for me to learn and grow into a someone. He made sacrifices for me to know the world and to expand my door of possibilities. Till this day, there is no greater gift than the unconditional love from my dad.