Finally!

Hi everyone! 

Some good news at last! This past week, things have really been going a lot better. I was able to sort out the coffeehouse scheduling issue actually quite easily. Instead of having one of us move our event or change the time and date, I decided to combine them. 

I hope it turns out as well as I'm imagining. 

Back in the winter when I was first thinking about this project, I envisioned an event that wasn't a formal 'recital' but instead a very cozy, relaxed, comfy environment where there's no pressure and it's more intimate than the typical recital. What I had originally planned was to have sort of 'guest artists' in that, it wouldn't just be me singing at people for half an hour, and that's just not what I want to do. It could be boring and plus I'd probably be SUPER nervous. 

So as my project progressed, I realized that it was a little bit of a squeeze time-wise to have a bunch of other people perform with me, just as far as getting together to rehearse etc.... So I sort of abandoned that idea. 

Then when this coffeehouse thing arose, I thought it might be the perfect way to relax the atmosphere of my recital as well as maximize attendance. Plus, now when I have nightmares about being on stage alone crooning to an audience wielding various rotting fruits and veggies, I can remind myself that it's just a regular coffeehouse, with a little more Adrienne than usual. 

The idea is, depending on the number of people who show up wanting to perform, I'll sing then someone else will sing etc... Regardless, most of my pieces will be done within the first hour or so (I've got some family friends coming who have politely said that they have little interest in staying the whole time). 

Anyway, as far as rehearsal goes, las week and this week I've finally started to feel secure with my repertoire. I've been getting a lot more into the songs I'm singing and feeling a lot more confident. 

It's really starting to come together and, really, I couldn't be happier. 

The show is this Friday at 7. Hope to see you there:)

Best,

Adrienne

Week 4 - Acting & Expect Respect

A quick update about Expect Respect. I pulled some strings with a friend and got us a new location for free for the retreat which was really exciting. I had a meeting with a bunch of the Expect Respect leaders and we really set in stone all the details of the retreat and we will finish finalizing next week. We also started to discuss the specifics of this summer and all of the trainings and the possibilities of having some guest speakers. Not to be brief but I have more important stuff to say about the other part of my project.

Half of my project came to an end last week. It was the week of the show, Voices From the High School, with the Acting 1 kids. On Thursday we got them out of conferencing and did a full dress rehearsal. It went pretty well, way better than both Mr. L or I expected is to, and only went better during the performances. They had their first performance at 4:00. I don't think most of them had any idea what to expect. Their audience was only about ten kids so they weren't really responsive but still putting some people there watching them was a big news flash to a lot of them. At the end during the last monologue where they all line up at the front of the stage it was really cool to look down the line at them and see the kids who had never done a show before that thought they just had one of the coolest experiences ever. The entire class is really into acting and all but one of them signed up for Acting 2 next year. To Mr. L and my surprise, right before the second show, for over 30 family members and friends, Eric said that he changed his mind and will be doing acting class next year. He said it was half because he wanted to and half because his parents were making him, but I think it was a pride thing. He didn't want to admit that he had a good time out there. Then when they did the show for their family, seeing as most of them were parents they got claps and laughs and reactions that none of them expected. Their energy shot through the roof. They all did really well and had a blast doing it and it was great to see that. Some of their scenes didn't get as far as we hoped they would but it was still plenty worth while to see those kids smile and see how excited all of their parents were.

Here is a bunch of video from the morning dress rehearsal. Sorry for the shaking and moving of the camera, I had to take notes while taping it with my digital camera.


First is Stephen and Sheila. This has been one of our consistently strong scenes. We had to work a little bit with Spencer on some of his lines because they were worded a little awkwardly but otherwise this was all on their own. Also, this was their first scene they did for the class at the beginning of the year and they made up most of their blocking on their own with minor adjustments from Mr. L or me.



This next video is one of the three monologues in the show. This one is Jimmy. Mark is a great actor and he really likes it. He is amazing and just reacting in the moment and as anyone who has done acting before they know that acting is reacting. He's really quiet but when you get him on stage he comes out of his shell a lot. He lit up after we did the first run through, he was amazed by all the lights and everything. In this monologue he had to work really hard, it's not an easy topic to talk about but Mark took it and did it well. For his first show, he did really well.



I really wanted to upload one more video to this and I have been trying to the past couple of days but the blog isn't liking that idea very much.

Parflex Division 3

Sorry this is late again.
So I am done with my PowerPoint for harness #503. My sponsor checked it over and he said I am ready to present. All I have to do now is prepare my presentation, make some editorial changes on my PowerPoint, and have my sponsor sign my final papers.

This week was basically the same as usual. I worked at my desk most of the time, trying to make my PowerPoint a masterpiece. I would sometimes go back into the factory and check out a few things. One thing that was different this week is that I had one of the factory workers build the harness by following my PowerPoint directions. She gave me some great help by saying what is helpful and what can removed or replaced. It made me realize that I probably should have done this more often than just once.

Mr. Harris came in today for about 45 minutes. I gave him a little summary about what I've been doing and showed him the factory and built a little bit of the harness in front of him. He was shocked about how complicated the harness looked as a finished project. It isn't really all that complicated if you break it down into step-by-step format. IT just looks a little intimidating. He enjoyed how I've been working hard and the fact that what I'm doing is helpful to the company and will be used after I leave. He said that's a rare case for senior projects, which is nice to hear. I plan on putting some pictures up for our final post. Until next time =)

Sam Mintzer- At the Courthouse

Hope everyone is really enjoying the end of their projects, and can't wait to see everyone soon. A quick shout out to Ozan, Gadi, and TJ, as I just got back from their relay for life dinner and everything was delicious. My project has been pretty interesting the past couple weeks, particularly with a trial I got to spend all of last week with. I saw an aggravated robbery case in which the defendant was convicted of setting up a robbery and executing the robbery during a poker game on the west side, using one of the players help to rob the poker game. It was overall a very interesting case, where the defendant tried to make the room convinced of his innocence, even though there was a ton of witnesses and testimony from co-conspirators that put him at the robbery. Other highlights of the past week was a tour through the county courthouse across the hall that was constructed in the early 1900's and is spectacular, and a tour of where prisoners are kept once they arrive at the Justice Center. Still haven't banged a gavel yet, but still have a couple more days to try and get that in.
See you all soon,
Sam

Cleveland Yoga- Week 3

This has been a very very busy week for me!I taught two classes at my house this week which was sooo exciting!!! I hosted them in my backyard and they only had five people but it was really good experience. Also, a girl who graduated teacher training with me and is a Junior at Orange has decided to teach a series of classes with me this summer. I have finally made it around to taking every teacher's class at cleveland yoga which is soo great because I have discovered different teaching styles and frameworks that I have enjoyed but never would have tried on my own.

I have been really struggeling with the cleanse and being vegan. It is SOO something I want to do--but wanting to do it and actually doing are two very different things. I am trying a new approach: baby steps. I will start by only eating dairy/eggs in my house- that way I can control where I am getting them from. Hopefully I can find the willpower to stick with it!!!

Today the senior project girls drove to Ursaline to take pictures of us in different poses. They have a beautiful garden called the labryinth and we took the pictures in the center of it. I will use them in my final presentation.

See you all soon!!!

Evan S Teaching Music to Children (Week 3)

I had a very busy week 3 at Ruffing!

Last Wednesday was their spring concert. Monday and Tuesday were devoted to rehearsing everything on the stage in the gymnasium. I was there to help make sure things ran smoothly and also to accompany three choir pieces on the piano. I played for one fourth grade piece, "I Bought Me a Cat," one fifth and sixth grade piece, "How Can I Keep from Singing" (which coincidentally is going to be sung at our graduation this year), and one middle school, German piece whose name escapes me. It was something like "Heindenroslein," but it's not that important.

Oh yay! I just got a call about a callback for a summer show I auditioned for! Anyway, back to the blog...

The day concert for the rest of the school went well, as did the evening concert for the parents. After the evening concert, something happened to me that made my whole project completely worthwhile. I left the school and went to my car which was parked on a side street. I was just sitting and browsing through my iPod when all of a sudden a woman tapped on my window. I rolled it down, and she began by saying "thank you." I was just silent as I didn't know what to say, and then she introduced herself as a parent of a fourth grader who's in the chorus. She told me that she thought what I'm doing - working with the students and sharing what I know about music - is great. Her son, who's very much into music, had told her about my project. For almost the whole time she spoke to me, I couldn't really say anything but "thank you" and the like because I was so touched. It made me so happy! Definitely one of the highlights of my project.

Thursday was luckily a more relaxing day during which the gym was put back in order and the music room was restored to its original state with all of its instruments in their places.

On Friday, I worked with the younger grades, kindergarten through third graders, in a variety of activites. In most of the classes we played games as a celebration of the almost-end-of-the-year. I was able to lead some warming up exercises and even teach some dances to classes. The highlight of this day was what happened in the afternoon. One class made up of first through third graders performed "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" for the kindergartners. There were also a couple special adult visitors...Anyway, one of the music teachers, Jennie, read the story of Peter Rabbit from the storybook, pausing every so often to allow for a song to be played while the children acted out the story. I had the job of running (or hopping, get it? ha...not really) around the room to make sure all of the children who were supposed to be playing actually were playing and playing the right notes on the Orff instruments (xylophones). It was a blast. I've learned from this activity specifically, having done it a few times now, that all I can do is tell the students what to play even if it's not perfect. I just have to smile and encourage them, otherwise their spirits are lowered. It was a fun week.

Hi Everyone! 

So far, several things with my project have gone terribly wrong. From miscommunications concerning the date of the recital, to not being able to get the materials that I need, to my accompanist being busy on the date that I chose, to having other school events be surprise-scheduled for the same date and time as my recital. I've had it all. And it's been sort of stressful, but it's also been sort of exciting. In an adventurous sort of way. Having all of these mishaps and being forced to deal with them (seeing as I can't postpone or cancel my recital, that is, if I want to graduate) has sort of given me a little perspective on the choices I've made that have led to the disasters. 

I've been thinking a lot about the first couple weeks of project and the decisions and plans that I made, and what I could have done differently to save myself the anxiety later. If I could go back, I would have taken care of all of the simple but important things early on, even in the weeks leading up to May. It probably would have been a good idea to nail down the date and my repertoire before hand, that way I might have been able to skip the scheduling conflicts and gotten the word out earlier so nobody scheduled a coffeehouse for the same night:) 

Regardless, I'm just trying now to enjoy myself. I'm rehearsing a bunch, singing all the time. And I'm trying to take solace in the fact that, two weeks from now it will all be done with and I'll be graduating! 

Good luck! 

Adrienne