post #12

 20% time speech

Have you ever wondered how goldilocks felt when she was looking for something and everything she found wasn’t just right? That’s how I felt during my 20 percent time. For my project I created music on my computer. My original goal was to have three songs by the end of the project but that didn’t happen. I didn’t realize how long it actually took to make a song and I didn’t realize that I should have spent extra time working on it to reach my goal.

I should probably explain how to create one of the songs. First, it took me at least a week to find what website I was going to use, I ended up using Soundation. Then, I started messing with all of the sound clips they had, there were all hundreds of short clips of instruments that ranged from a didgeridoo to a violin to a heavy bass sound. Finally, I had to figure out what I wanted my song to sound like and what clips I wanted to put together. This took a lot longer than I thought because not every clip would sound great with another. But all of the different layers of music helped my see that they are in all songs and it helped me find the layers in songs on the radio.

Most of my challenges were from creative blocks. I didn’t think that creating a song from nothing would be that hard. Millions of people could why couldn’t I? Well, along the way I had several times where I started a song, got about thirty seconds of it made then deleted it because I didn’t think it would sound good. Also, listening to hundreds of clips became very time consuming and frustrating when I couldn’t find one that was just right.

My major success was finally feeling that I had mastered the whole project. Half way through this school year I finally figured out how to make an ending portion of the song. I think when I realized that I didn’t have to reach my goal of three songs and that one would be good enough it made me less stressed and more creative. I started enjoying the process and learned that it shouldn’t be about how much I got done if I liked the end result.

This was easily my favorite thing we did in class this whole year and I think every school should start a class where students can work on their own project and present it at the end of the year. My 20 percent time made me understand that not everything is about grades, achieving a goal, or things going with my plan, but it was about enjoying the process. I guess goldilocks would have been a lot better off if she learned that not everything had to be just right.

post # 11 (caffiene and creativity)

that's what i need for this project! so far I've gotten 1/3 of the way done with my trifold and I'm exited for next week. I think it's finally hitting me that this isn't like other projects where everyone is doing the same thing with just one or two things different about them but this is everyone's own unique project. none of them look the same and I'm so excited to see what everyone has done. This may be big cup of coffee talking but I can't wait to see what my classmates chose for their 20% time. last week we shared our beliefs in a "this I believe" speech and it really made me see other sides of them. I'm thrilled to learned even more about my classmates than I already know.

until next post!

post #10

this post is about prepping for my presentation. i think above everything it will be stressful. i have a bit of a problem talking in front of large crowds and especially when its about my own work. so far I've completed my speech but haven't practiced it yet, I plan on doing that this weekend. for my poster i have a rough idea of what I'm going to put on it, our requirements are: the goal, what i learned, my conclusion, successes/failures, and five visuals. so far i know what I'm doing for everything but the visuals because it's hard to have something to look at when it's music but I'll figure it out this weekend.

post #9

i thought today i would share some of my own tips for people who are just starting their own 20% time.
1. find something you enjoy. for me it was music, when i decided it i had no clue what it would specifically be but i knew it i wanted it to do with something i was interested in.
2. have some one that will help you through the process. i failed to get one person to help me with every question i had but a few of my friends did help critique my work and make sure i was on track.
3. never miss a Friday! i express how important it is to get at least one day a week to get some work done. this is especially important when you have a deadline like i did because when i did the math i only had 15 days to work on it so missing a day would be crucial.
4. don't feel forced to work on it. i know it sounds like this is the opposite of #3 but not really. don't miss a day but if you feel like you don't have any creativity that day work on a different part of your project or if you at some point hate your project change it.
5. set a small, realistic goal for each day. this will help you get more done than an unrealistic, high goal set for the end result.

i hope this helped anyone who is starting their own 20% time!

post #8

            I've finally posted again! and yes i know it's not a Friday. After i finish the one song i made i realized that my goal was a little to high to reach in such a short amount of time. the year is coming to an end and we have been working on our presentations that are due in about two weeks. so far i have almost finished my speech and need to start working on my trifold poster. in any school May is a stressful month but I figured out the best way to get rid of my stress is to constantly be busy; whether it's cleaning, drawing, or doing blog post. the distractions help me through all of the projects and tests. the point of this blog post was to explain that i plan on posting more than once a week to tell about the things during the process that i failed to post, update on my presentation, and share what i learned from this experience. so until next post, friend!

post #7

http://soundation.com/user/cmalbrittonajhs/track/number-one-1 So I'm really happy that I finally figured out how to put a link of my song into one of my posts! So this is it and its my first song I've made and the first 30 seconds is pretty crappy but I would love to hear feedback of what you think about it and what I should change for future song. Hope you like it!

post #6

okay so this is what it looks like when i'm making the songs. i think i've started hearing the layers of instruments in different songs since i started this project, it's really cool how my way of looking at music has changed. the song i'm working on is almost done i just need to put some finishing touches on it and then i will post a link to my blog.