In what seemed like a blink of an eye, summer came and went. What happened during those few, short months?
The main event was that I studied for (and passed!) my doctoral comprehensive exams. Yay! I still have many tasks left to complete at KU, but this major hurdle is now crossed, and it is a great relief to be done with them. I have some great study guides for musicology now. If anyone would like a copy, please contact me.
Also, I helped my good friend Dan Forrest move into his new house in South Carolina. We definitely miss him already, but he should be back for a visit in October.
Other than that, I took a few road trips, learned a lot of Greek, and generally enjoyed myself (once comps were over).
Now that fall semester is here, I’m teaching Theory III, which is a significant and welcome change from teaching Theory I the past two years. I’ve also written my dissertation proposal, which will be an upcoming post.
On the horizon I have oral exams, a composition recital, and a couple of theory papers to write. Of course, the dissertation is looming as well.
If I’m really lucky, I’ll get it all done by the end of spring. I shudder when I think of how much work that really is. Oh well. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
I have been a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) now for four years. My fifth and final year is starting this August, and by the end I will have taught a total of seven different university classes.
Over this time I have learnt a thing or two, and have had such far-ranging experiences as a death threat from a student (which is a felony offense, for the record) to having a student run away from home at the end of a semester (bizarre, but everything turned out ok).
Here are a few pieces of advice for new GTAs. Of course, I cannot comment specifically on particular courses and areas of study, but in general:
Know Your Subject Area.
Easier said than done, I know. If you have never taught a class before, you will quickly realize that there is a HUGE difference between sitting in a desk taking notes and generating material while standing in front of a class. While you do not have to be the world’s foremost expert on a given topic, you simply must prepare more material than you plan to teach that day.
In other words, don’t wing it, especially not the first time teaching a particular course. I can now easily tell whether or not a professor has prepared a lecture or is flying by the seat of his/her pants, which happens more often than you might think. Don’t get me wrong: there is always an element of improvisation in teaching, but you do not want the bulk of your lecture to be improvised. Read the rest of this entry »
Last Wednesday I had a realization: I was about to walk into my last day of regular, academic classes as a student… ever.
Classes ended this week at KU, which means I just finished my last semester of academic coursework. Of course, I still have finals to take, but it’s a great feeling to have completed this step. I started the “student” process when I was four or five, and now, over twenty years later, I’ve finished doctoral classes. Yay!
Here is what’s on the horizon:
Comprehensive exams in July
Oral exams and recital in the fall
Work like crazy to finish the dissertation by end of spring
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Today I received notice that I won the 2006-7 Anthony B. Cius Award, given to the outstanding student composer at KU for the year. It’s a nice honor, and I’m deeply grateful. My good friend Dan Forrest won it last year, so I’m definitely in good company. Plus, I get to have my name engraved on a plaque inside Murphy Hall, which is nice.
As an added bonus, I found out that I won the award today, which is my birthday. How appropriate!
Kat surprised me with a great birthday present: a large, framed poster of J. S. Bach! (click the thumbnail for a full-size view)
Now whenever I look up from my monitor, Herr Bach will look down upon me and inspire me to keep working on my dissertation (or at least write a little counterpoint).
The end of my final semester of coursework is fast approaching, and I have much work to finish. Tonight, however, we are going to celebrate with a filling, out-of-this-world dinner at our favorite restuarant, India Palace. Yum!
If you are in the Lawrence area, I recommend coming to see the play “Keely and Du.” It’s a controversial play that explores the gray areas of… well, you’ll just have to come find out for yourself.
Nota bene: the play is not recommended for people under 16.
When: April 4 - 12 (except Easter Sunday); 7:30 PM (5:00 PM on April 7)
Where: KU, Murphy Hall, Inge Theatre
Why: Because you love good theatre. Also, my wife is directing the play, so I’m slightly biased. Oh, I wrote some original music for the beginning and the ending, for what that’s worth.
I just saw the play tonight (opening night), and there are some very powerful scenes. Recommended.
There’s a “talkback” after the play this coming Tuesday night, so if you have any questions for the director, designers (myself included), or the actors, that’s the night to attend.
Tomorrow morning I’m off to St. Louis to attend the premiere of my new composition, titled “Div.” It should be a fun trip since I’m traveling with some members of the KU Helianthus ensemble, namely Mike Kirkendoll, Mary Fukushima, and Nathanael May. I’ve worked with Mike and Mary before, since they performed a piece of mine in Carnegie Hall last year.
In other news, this is an exciting upcoming week. On April 1st, my 10-piece chamber ensemble composition, titled “Feridoun,” will be premiered on the “Stack the Dectet” concert in Atlanta with my friend Daniel Swilley conducting.
Also in early April is the run of the play “Keely and Du” at KU, for which I wrote some music for the beginning and the ending. I’ll attend the show on opening night. More on that later.
Here are the program notes that I wrote for “Div.”
Inspired by stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Persian Book of Kings), Div is a work depicting the dual facets of these colorful beings.
A “div” (pronunciation: deev) often has negative associations, and in Persian mythology is an evil spirit akin to a demon that loves to cause harm and destruction. However, some divs may actually be helpful and benign. Unlike in Judeo-Christian tradition, a div is a physical being, often pictured with combined human and animal features. Though they have two arms and legs like humans, often they feature tufted tails like a lion, hairy, multicolored bodies, and bestial faces. Divs are frequently mentioned in the Shahnameh; one famous story involves the struggle between the Persian hero Rostam and the Akvan Div, a white demon whose name means “evil mind.”
Musically, the first half of the piece represents the malevolent side of divs, whereas the latter half represents their benign nature. Subtitled Ahura, a Farsi word representing the “right” kind of divinity and the moral opposite of evil, this latter half utilizes much of the same melodic content, though slightly transformed. Does the work end in a pure, righteous state, or do some elements of the “evil” div mischievously return? The listener may fully decide.
Div was commissioned by the KU Helianthus Contemporary ensemble.
A I mentioned in my last post, I’m working on some music for a play my wife is directing at KU called “Keely and Du.” Tonight I finished the music for the very end, when the lights go down.
It’s not the most uplifting play, if the music gives any indication of that.
Here’s the piece. The working title is “Exeunt.” It needs some mixing, but you get the idea.
Wow, I feel like I need to brush the dust off of this site. Sorry for not posting in a while. This semester is busy beyond belief for me, but thankfully it is my last semester of classes!
Composition update: I finished the commission from the KU Helianthus I Ensemble. The resulting piece is titled “Div,” and is written for flute and piano (four-hands). I call for some wacky inside-the-piano stuff for the secondo player, so it should be interesting. The first performance will be at the end of March in St. Louis. There will also be at least one performance here in Lawrence in the near future. More information coming.
My composition for 10-piece chamber ensemble titled “Feridoun” will be premiered in Atlanta on April 1st, 2007. The piece was commissioned by Daniel Swilley (who is also conducting).
In the almost-immediate future I will write music for the beginning and end of a play Katrina is directing here, titled “Keely and Du.” I also have a commission from the KU Men’s Glee Club on which I am working.
My plans for the rest of my career at KU include: taking comprehensive exams this July, orals in the early fall, recital in the later fall, and then invest myself into a dissertation. Do I know what I’m going to do for a dissertation? Yes! Am I going to write about it now? Not yet! Once everything is finalized, I will post about it.
Thanks for reading! I’ll try to do a better job about updates.
And so begins (hopefully) my last semester taking classes at KU. Don’t get me wrong, I still have lots left to do, such as theory projects, a recital, comps, orals, and a dissertation, but this should be my last semester of coursework. Considering that this is my 2nd semester exclusively in the doctoral program, that’s not bad. My previous year was an overlap from the Master’s degree.
It’s the end of the Fall 2006 at KU. Thus completes another semester and a couple more notches on the eventual graduation checklist. It’s been a busy semester. My first symphony had its world premiere, I received my first job invitation, and I attended the world premiere of an opera in Greenville, SC.
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