Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
I think I was very passionate when speaking about musical theater which kept the audience engaged enough. Also, I think that I had pretty good points of what a director is and what they do. I had a variety of answers/points which will help me in the future.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
I would give myself a solid P, because I think I did a good job at keeping my cool when I was running out of things to say (I went shockingly faster than what I thought I was going to do) but because every time I rehearsed my presentation, I went over 10 minutes. My friend suggested to do only 3 songs instead of 5 for my hook and get rid of unnecessary details and I think I over did it. My hook was too short and rushed. But other than that, I knew exactly what I was saying. I was good with volume, eye contact, time, organization, and etc.

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
I guess it would be to work more on my hook, my pace, and remembering the names of the articles that really helped me, since there were multiple. 

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)
At my mentorship, I mainly sit and observe the director, musical directors and choreographers work together to organize the shows. It's a process and I know that I will be doing more tasks the closer we get to the days of the shows. For now however, I sit and observe, though I must admit sometimes it's pretty funny.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  
Luckily, I knew Lisa Pettygrove since summer of 2014 while helping out in her classrooom within a summer program. I came back again this recent summer to help her once more and asked if she could be my mentor. She knew how good of a job I have done within her class that she easily said yes.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person
I've very comfortable with my mentor. She's always asking how I'm doing especially because she knows how stressed I am and always checking up on me. Of course our relationship has developed over the 2 years I've helped her.

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?
Sadly, she was extremely fatigued while doing the interview so she wasn't as energetic in her answers nor in the greatest mood. But she still gave me some good information and hopefully she will be answering more as the weeks go by. Other than that, I think it went fairly well.

https://soundcloud.com/karinanoemi21/interview-2  

Blog 9: Advisory House Prep

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).
My mentor is the musical director of the children's theater, Lisa Pettygrove. I have not interviewed her yet but I will the last Tuesday of October. I will hopefully interview the other musical director, Jackie, who works for the young adults theater.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   
Vocals and the process of a show from the director's eyes. By vocals, I mean as in how to keep them healthy, warm ups, how to match your tone and pitch with the different types of songs, and so on. And the process of a show is self explanatory but I will be relying on one journal/book to use.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?
I will definitely be relying on interviews and some articles/journals from libraries to go into depth with my research since it is getting a bit more difficult. I'm not sure exactly what but hopefully I find something that I can branch out into.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.
How can a director showcase a successful musical?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

Who: Middle school students, students from my program and two high school students. 

What: I'm going to be teaching vocal lessons and help them enhance their performance The middle school students I will be putting on a small show in front of their school. Those at my program will do the same but will be performing at the Claremont Colleges. The two high school students are in a talent show and will be in future shows, I am just their teacher/trainer. 

Why: Vocal lessons are expensive and difficult to find. I will not be teaching them how to read notes but I will have them constantly practice and improve their performance. I will have them do skits and other monologues as well so they comfortable with becoming a different character. 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I will be meeting with these students every Friday and Tuesday for about an hour each and I also have to make tons of game plans as well and different activities/assignments. Besides, I have to do whatever the vice principal would want us to do as well.

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

Since I will be the teacher, I have to look for different pieces for them to do, explore more songs in different genres, learn what I should do as a teacher, and get hands on experience on how to be a musical director in a show. 

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

Will do. 

Mentorship is every Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. and starting October 10, we will be meeting every Saturday as well from 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

My mentor is Lisa Pettygrove and she mainly works as an elementary school teacher. However, she is also a choir teacher and she is the musical director for the children's theater. She has been doing that for years now as well. 

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

• what college did you attend? OR what did you do to get to a musical director/choir teacher?
• where is the best place/thing for me to do so I can get experience in that?
• why did you choose to be a musical director?
• I also want to become a teacher as well and a vocal teacher. How do you balance that? 
• Is it stressful to create a show and plan things for your class?
• Have you gone through any programs that have helped you get to where you are now?
• what was your motivation/inspiration/idols?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  
I cannot lie, I am extremely excited to start my independent components because I will be doing two. One of them is to create a two 10 minute maximum shows for the Fullerton College Drama Festival, one which I will be featured in. The other independent component is to "teach and mentor" kids within my program and my old middle school to enhance their vocal performances. And I will be starting those very soon!

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?
I knew from the very beginning that gathering research for my topic was going to be a bit more difficult so I can't complain much. If I get stuck, I can always ask for help from the teachers. However, I must admit that right now, my mentorship is a complete drag. I go every Tuesday from 4 p.m.- 9 p.m. and basically sit there. Sometimes, they let me pause and play the music. But its for 5 hours nonstop, besides a 30 minute break. I hope that it gets better as time goes by since we're still, after 4 practices, doing auditions and about to do call backs, it'll become more enjoyable and I'll have things to do. But until then, I must attend my days.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

Click here for the interview audio.

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?
I interviewed 5 pretty different people. Some were more silly, others more serious and one in between. But I have to say while interviewing them and, right after, watching them practice for their auditions, they shared one huge obvious trait in common that little did I fail to realize it makes musical theatre what it is: not being themselves anymore but becoming the character. One of the interviewees mentioned before that her best advice was to become the character and repeatedly, the musical director said that was incredibly important too. There's a lot more passion and development physically and mentally in musical theatre than I thought.
I guess one thing I would change in the next interviews are ask more "why" questions instead of "how" and "what" questions. (more personal questions along with more resourceful questions)
2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?
Though it wasn't brought up in the recording and they are high school students still, they did not have any additional resources or contacts besides joining a church or looking for a program yourself.
3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 
They may have been high school students but they have been doing musical theatre for over 5 years, almost over 10 years! So they are extremely experienced and know what they're doing. The interview helped me understand and see how the actors are and what they expect and feel.

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

Personally, I started with a lot of goals for my mentorship. I really wished to really get out of my comfort zone, actually believe I'm a good actor. I also would like to learn amazing tips so I can direct one of the best Fullerton Drama Festival musical IPoly has done! And those are still my goals, but some things changed a bit.

At first, I was extremely excited for my mentorship, mainly because we were going to do Aladdin and Into The Woods. Once I started my mentorship, the people were nice and talented especially the actors. However, it's very slow and all I do right now is push play and pause for them. I understand it's barely auditions and they're getting ready for callbacks but it's really killing my motivation to stay there. I was always nervous to try acting so musical theatre was my escape in some sense. But at this point, I'm trying to allow myself to believe I am and that the mentorship will help me out a lot. I'm not kidding when I say these people are talented. The best part is that they're funny and kind. 

If I do end up staying, then I will strive to be as involved as I can. Starting out, I want to start talking to the actors, to stop being so shy and quiet. Then, to get as much help as I can for my independent component which is to "direct" a musical for the Fullerton Drama Festival and for once make it into finals.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
I just started my mentorship yesterday, September 1, and I met a girl named Lauren. You can easily tell she's a hard-core drama person and incredibly dedicated but also very sweet so I asked her if I can interview her. I would've asked the director first but I decided that once the show is further in or at least until auditions are over, that I should start with the actors themselves. Besides, it would be very nice to see how they try to get their parts for a show during auditions and how they rehearse.

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  

• How do you personally prepare yourself for an audition? What methods or techniques do you use that help you nail your auditions?
• What about being in musical theatre specifically motivates you to keep on staying in the program?
• Is it difficult to balance out learning dancing, singing, and acting at the same time? How so?
• What show have you done that you personally feel was the most successful? What do you think made it so successful?
• Do you take special care of your body, mainly your vocals, a certain time before the show or all the time? What things do you do?
• What happens if you're an actor with low stamina?

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

See these two kids? Their names are Jordyn and Jason and they made my mentorship worth going to every day. They are my favorite kids in the world and I hate how I only get to see them during the summer. But they made my stay there much more enjoyable and I LOVE THEM WITH ALL MY HEART UGH KIDS ARE GREAT (most of the time).

1. List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered..
My mentor is Lisa Pettygrove and I will be volunteering in her musical theater program in La Verne for the whole year starting late August or early September. During the summer I helped her in her classes at El Roble (S.L.I.C.E. program). Her cell phone number is (909) 802-6504.
2. What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?     
She has taught choir for years and is in charge of her own musical theater program. I met her through a summer program in El Roble called the S.L.I.C.E. program and she has had classes such as musical theater, ukulele, learning math through music, drumming and so forth. Though her forte is more in working with the younger kids, she is incredibly skilled with how a performance should look, how it should go and has been doing this for years.
3. List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.   
How do you really make sure who's fit for a certain role?
How do you choose a show with the people you have? (clarified: with the people you have, how do you know which show to pick?)
Is it difficult to match up the choreography with the singing and amount of people you have?
4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
I believe patience is extremely important. The closer the day of the show is, the more stressed everyone gets. The director becomes more strict, people become more irritable, and it causes tension sometimes. Working with the musical theater group this summer again made me realize that it's extremely important for the actors, directors, tech people, and everyone included that you be patient, understanding and respectful to one another. Nothing's worse than a group who's falling apart just as we're supposed to become closer.
5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did mentorship help you make your decision?  Please explain.
My senior project topic is going to be musical theater. At first, I was extremely iffy if I wanted to do musical theater or just vocal performance. In fact, I was set on just doing vocal performance because of what I wanted to do with my independent components. It wasn't until my mentorship said that their show is going to be Aladdin that I was convinced to do musical theater. Either way, I love both and strive to do my best but I am set on doing musical theater as my senior topic.

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1.  What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?
The classes I had selected were a bit similar to one another, but of course not all. Some common things I found that I think were helpful were tone, amount of information, and structure. First off, I think tone is the most important because there were presentations with good topics and had the potential of being entertaining but their voice and tone was dull or not intriguing that I started dozing off, which of course is not a good thing. Another was the amount of information. I enjoyed watching some passion inputted in their presentation but in few presentations there was either too much information, making it seem a bit too heavy for me or not enough information. Finally, the structure did make a difference because some students decided to have more than 1 activity and had it placed within their lectures which was good because it seems like forever just listening to them talk for over 30 minutes non stop.

2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?
One thing they told me is to keep your mentor one check. It's okay to nag a bit only when they're not replying back to you. Also, try having more than just one mentor depending on your choice of topic because they might stop mentoring you out of nowhere.

3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?
I was considering musical theatre production because I enjoy singing but I've recently gotten into acting so I decided to combine both. I want to direct a musical theatre because I enjoy seeing a creation come to life and especially when it deals with singing. But I enjoy musical theatre because it also includes dancing, costumes, hair, makeup, and becoming a different character! If I don't end up doing musical theatre then I will want to do either vocal performance or makeup artistry since I have an intense passion for singing and makeup.

4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).
For musical theatre, I was thinking of asking "what is the best way for a director to have a successful show?" For vocal performance, I was thinking of "what is the best method for a singer to enhance/improve their performance vocal wise and visual wise?" I am very unsure about the makeup artistry one but it'll go along the lines of "what procedures are important for a makeup artist to have a satisfied client?"
5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?
I am very connected to the Claremont Colleges and know one theatre program that works only during the summer and another one as well. One is pure Shakespeare shows and the other is children's musical theatre. Then, a person I know is the director of a musical theatre program and I've worked with her before and was incredibly satisfied with my work. Hopefully, she will be willing to help me.