Category Archives: Academics

January 14, 2013 · 5:18 pm

Thoughts on Leadership

As you probably already know, UBC’s Student Leadership Conference (SLC) was this past weekend.  I’m not going to go into all the details of the day, because there’s no way I do a better job saying all the things the speakers I listened to said on Saturday.  What I will say is that it’s a must-do-at-UBC-before-you-graduate experience, it’s very motivational and inspiring, and I’m going to share a few of my own thoughts after listening to the very wise keynote speakers and presenters.

It seems to me that all great leadership starts with passion.  Passion makes all the work that goes along with accomplishing something seem like play, and passion inspires your team mates to do their best and get passionate about the project as well.  Without passion, you can still get stuff done but it won’t be as invigorating and satisfying and may even bring you down rather than lift you up.

After attending the SLC, I thought about my own leadership, or lack thereof. I am definitely involved on campus, but I haven’t started any huge initiative or headed projects.  Maybe that means I lead in small ways, by example, maybe, rather than in a group-project setting. Well, I don’t know.  I think that I haven’t really found my leadership yet; more to the point I haven’t found my passionyet.

Yes, yes, I am passionate about music.  But at times I don’t feel particularly passionate about the way I’m applying my skills in music while being constrained by degree requirements. I have my own goals and ideas that I think I will be very passionate about, when I actually get the chance to implement them. I’ve already started on some of them (such as making arrangements and making videos on Youtube), but a lot of my musical life is consumed by school, even in the summer and holidays.

I am not inspired by writing papers, and generally I’m not inspired by lectures. I am smothered by the general atmosphere of the classical music world that I feel seems to say, “If you make a wrong note, you’re worthless.”  Playing in the orchestra isn’t exactly my jam.

This isn’t to say that I’m not enjoying my time at UBC, but I do look forward to when I graduate and can freely explore my passions on my own time. And although we all strive to better ourselves, become better people and better leaders, we don’t have to have everything figured out right now. Don Alder, a guitarist and friend of Rick Hansen who I listened to on Saturday said, “I can’t tell you how to be a great leader. I’m still figuring that out myself.” So I’m not too concerned about not being the next “Faces of Today” award recipient right now. My passion, and my opportunity to lead and become a great leader will come with time.

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January 11, 2013 · 2:56 pm

Course Evaluation: MUSC 210

Here’s the first of my reviews of courses I took first term of my second year. First off: MUSC 210, the third and final course in the intensive theory stream.

Course Description: This course moves fast and was quite a bit harder than either MUSC 110 or 111. The majority of our class had done a bit of theory before through the RCM syllabus, but this term covered things you’d never find on an RCM exam: detailed and thoughtful analysis of forms, symmetrical harmony, chromatic and Wagnerian harmony (crazy hard by the way), metrical complexities, and trends in the sonata form in the nineteenth century.

Textbook use:  This course requires the same two textbooks as MUSC 110 and 111, The Complete Musician and the accompanying workbook by Laitz.  Dr. Dodson sometimes used the textbook, and sometimes did not.  A lot of the time he expected you to read the textbook and understand it beforehand so that the lectures could be used for discussion rather than basic explanation.  Most of the assignments came out of the workbook, so you really do have to have it for this class.

Homework: One assignment per week, and a quiz each Monday on the subject of the homework. The homework took on average four hours to complete, sometimes more.  At the beginning of term Dr. Dodson said, “I think it would be unreasonable to expect you to complete more than one assignment per week,” and we all just laughed, because Dr. Benjamin had done this many many times.

Professor: This term we had a new professor, Dr. Dodson. At first I was a bit unsure of him, because like a typical human I’m wary of change, but I really did like having him as a professor. He teaches in a very organized and clear way, marks very fairly, likes to make sure he’s being clear, and is available is you have any issues you want to talk to him about.

Class format: Small class again meeting four times a week, a few people dropped out of the stream because of the pace.  A fair amount of explanation was done in class, as well as a lot of discussion and analyzing scores in small groups or as a class.  There was a quiz every Monday on the subject covered the week before.

Additional comments: This class was definitely a lot harder than the previous two, because it was a lot of information covered very quickly that we’d never really seen before. You have to put in a lot of work, but if you do you should do well enough.  The midterm and exam were easier than expected because he wanted to test our knowledge rather than see how creatively we can think under pressure. (That said they weren’t super easy, either.)  But if you can get through all the extra work, congratulations! You’ve now finished the tonal theory requirement two terms before everyone else. Now onto MUSC 300…

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December 1, 2012 · 10:01 pm

“I Don’t Belong Here” Syndrome

Diagnosis: “I Don’t Belong Here” Syndrome

Symptoms: Feelings of low self-esteem and confidence, worthlessness, anxiety, stress, depression, doubt. Wondering if one really has what it takes to be a UBC student.

Unfortunately, it is all too common this time of year for students to develop “I Don’t Belong Here” Syndrome.  With finals looming, you look at your midterm marks which maybe as high as you were hoping, and if you’re in first year, probably not as high as your high school marks, and you wonder if you’re really smart enough to be at UBC.  Your previous marks disappointed you, and your brain is tired now and you wonder if you can muster the strength to finish that final 100 metre stretch of the race.

It happens to me too.  Since I can’t practice much because of my hands, the pieces I’m working on aren’t in the kind of shape I’d like them to be in, and all of my peers seem to be miles ahead of me. In my harp quartet jury (like a test-performance which you get graded on), I didn’t perform nearly as well as I wanted to, and I started getting in a funk.  Throughout the year, I feel less than confident about my abilities, and although my teacher frequently tells me that I’m doing well and that I’m talented, I can’t help but feel like I’m just not good enough.

But the truth is, I’m doing fine. I’m just psyching myself out. And if the above symptoms sound like you, that’s what you’re doing too.  If I was no good at harp, I wouldn’t have been admitted.  Everyone who gets into UBC is smart.  So if you were smart enough to get in, you’re smart enough to stay in.

Your courses are designed to be challenging and push you to your limits.  If you feel like you need help, that’s nothing to be ashamed of; that’s why UBC has tons of academic resources for you to take advantage of.

You do belong here! Try not to get discouraged. UBC chose you, after all, and they weren’t wrong about i!

 

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October 17, 2012 · 10:51 pm

How to Not Cram the Night Before: Samantha’s Approach to Midterms

Time and time again I’ll be reading some poor student’s blog or twitter feed and what I see is basically this: “OMG my exam is tomorrow gotta study all night omg omg I’m so freaked out my brain is exploding!”

More or less, anyway.

Now, I am not a crammer.  I’ve never done it, and I very nearly always walk into my exams feeling confident and relatively anxiety-free, at least when I compare myself to those around me.  And, most importantly, my marks turn out just like I want to, as evidenced by the scholarships UBC keeps offering me.

What’s my secret? Easy: start studying a week before your test. (At least.)  That’s really all there is to it, besides figuring out how you study best.  What I do is do about an hour or so of reading for about three days starting a week before the test, so the material is all fresh in my mind. You can’t start memorizing if you can’t even remember what you’ve covered in the last month.  After those three days, you do some hard core studying in the next three days (preferably on a weekend). Condensing your notes, guessing and practicing answering questions you think will be on the test, testing yourself.  Then, the night before, you get to breathe. Relax. Read over the study notes you made, test yourself a little bit more. What you should find is that as you read over those notes, your brain goes, yes yes, I know this stuff already. And you know why? Digesting information over a longer period of time is going to make it stick way better than if you stuff it all in your head the night before when you’re all stressed out.  And, you’ve accomplished what the course is actually about: learning, as opposed to memorizing for one test and then promptly forgetting everything after it’s over.

If you have several midterms a week, it can be easy to focus on one subject and forget about the other tests, and just study for each test as they come. But, if you do an hour or half an hour of studying each day for each subject a week before the exam, you’ll know your stuff better, and have less work overall the night before each test.

A bonus for using this method: now you have great study notes for when finals come around! Not to mention, you’ll remember more of the material from your midterm when it comes time to write that final exam.

I hope this helps you through your time of midterms!

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September 30, 2012 · 2:07 pm

Course Evaluation: PHIL 375

Philosophy 375, or Philosophy in Literature, was not my favourite course. The reason I took it was mainly because I needed a literature course for my degree requirements, this one fit, and sounded interesting. I’d never taken any philosophy before, so I didn’t really know what to expect.

Course Description: To begin with, the class talks about the philosophy of literature, that is, the definition of the word literature.  After a couple weeks everyone comes to the conclusion that literature is subjective, the end.  After that’s out of the way, you explore a variety of philosophical topics in different forms of literature, from morality to self-identity and poetry to Shakespeare to a novel from a list (hello Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone!)

Textbook use: The course (when I took it, at least) had a course pack of readings from various philosophers, and some short stories. At first, I did all the readings very diligently, but I found that they were barely touched on in class, and spending two hours on them just wasn’t worth it. I think maybe two of the readings were important for one assignment, but other than that I just didn’t bother and it didn’t hurt me.

Homework: If you do all the readings, then that will take a lot of time, but otherwise the class consisted of four essays which made up the entire course mark. Kinda scary but also not that much homework, all things considered. And one of those essays counted as the exam, so we didn’t have to worry about writing something in a three-hour period during exam time.

Professor: I had Dr. Johnna Fisher when I took this class. She was nice and marked pretty fairly, and her lectures were easy to follow. I found that much of the time the class was discussion, so I didn’t take down everything she said in notes.

Class format: Three lectures per week of a large-ish class size (maybe about 50 people or so). Generally we went over general concepts of philosophy on Mondays, and the other two days were largely discussions.  The only marks for the class were four essays.

Additional comments: The marking scheme for this class was pretty tough, as what they did was find the “most average” essay, assign it a 70, and mark everything else in comparison. The class average was obviously 70. but it made it hard to get an A. The class is also definitely more focused on philosophy than on literature, so if you thought you wrote really good English essays, you might need to revise your writing style. It’s all about content, and pretty phrases will get you nowhere. Also, if you’ve never taken a philosophy course and want to see what it’s about, I’d say this is a decent class to dip your feet into: there are no philosophy pre-requisites, you get a general tour of a variety of topics, and you don’t have to read a ton of articles and memorize different people’s opinions and remember who said what, when, etc. I turned out not to like it, but you might, who knows?

 

 

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September 23, 2012 · 12:44 am

Course Evaluation: MUSC 121

Yet another very late course review, this time for History II. Please note that for this class, my professor was a sessional instructor, filling in until they hired someone to permanently teach this class. So some this about this course may vary somewhat from what I experienced.

Course Description: This class covers the history of music starting around 1600 in the Baroque period and moving into the Classical period, ending with Haydn and Mozart.

Textbook use: This course requires three textbooks, Norton Anthology of Western Music Vol. 1 and 2 (and the accompanying CDs) and A History of Western Music (Burkholder). The Anthology had excerpts that were studied in class; I found it much more important than in MUSC 120 because while I didn’t really find I needed it in class, there were actually listening questions on tests.  The Burkholder textbook was again mostly to reinforce what was said in class. In fact, a lot of the time what was on the slides in class was almost exactly what was in the text.

Homework: This class didn’t have a whole lot of homework, but more than MUSC 120. There was one large research paper as well as two “library assignments” in which you had to make sample bibliographies.  This term, rather than a quiz every week, we had four “midterms” which were non-cumulative and the final was the same size as the rest of the tests. They were a fair bit harder than the quizzes of term 1 (though not super hard), so more studying would be necessary.

Professor: I had Graeme Fullerton, who like I said was a sessional instructor while the school was deciding who to hire for the position.  I doubt you’ll have him for this course, but if you do get him for something, I find him to be pretty good: he makes his expectations clear and keeps the lectures interesting.

Class format: Two lectures per week in the recital hall, class size of about 80ish? Something like that.  There was a greater emphasis on general concepts than on specific characteristics of a given piece, ie. you don’t need to know “in measure 40 of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony the transition from main theme area to transition was strange…” etc.

Additional comments: I really liked that the tests for this course were not cumulative; it made exam time more relaxing! Also, since there ARE going to be listening portions of the midterms, make sure you actually listen to the pieces you need to know at least a week before the test. Trying to cram them into your brain the night before is not going to work and you are not going to remember them the next day.  And actually listen! Remember different motives or characteristics of each piece, such as instrumentation, tempo, melodies, rhythms, etc, and don’t just have the music playing while doing homework and vacuuming your room: it’s not gonna stick that way.

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September 21, 2012 · 1:34 pm

Couse Evaluation: MUSC 106

Another course evaluation of a course I took in the second term of my first year: MUSC 106.

Course Description: The continuation of MUSC 105, so basically, the same thing except harder. MUSC 105 was really about figuring out how to use solfège, basic dictation skills, easy sight singing, interval identification. It seemed really hard at first because it was something totally new, but it’s important to really get a handle on these skills, because MUSC 106 kind of assumes you’re good at all that stuff now. New course material included identifying more types of chords, trickier rhythms (and having to clap out two at the same time), more difficult leaps to sing, some simple harmonic dictation.

Textbook use:  This course requires the same two textbooks as MUSC 105,  Manual for Ear Training and Sight Singingand Anthology for Sight Singing by Gary S. Karpinski, and the accompanying CD.  The Anthology is more important (I think) than the Manual, because all your prepared melodies for exams come from there, but the manual is also important for when you want to practice dictations at home or read up on a concept you’re not totally comfortable with. The Anthology is used in class nearly every time.

Homework: Again, the homework in this class is not for marks; it’s practicing on your own time.  Since no one’s going to check if you did it or not, it’s tempting to just not do it, but the only marks you have for this class are the midterm(s) and the final. If you don’t practice as you go along, you’re going to be shaky for the tests.

Professor: I had Gordon Paslawski, the coordinator, and I found him to be a really really good teacher, even if he did move fairly quickly. (It meant we actually had time to go through everything.) Generally though, the class is taught by a TA and they vary from term to term.

Class format: Small class size, instructed by a TA, generally practicing things you’ll need to know for your tests. You may be asked to sight sing in front of people, but usually it’s on a volunteer basis.  Attendance is also taken into consideration if you need to take a re-test later (ie. you should show up for class).

Additional comments: First term, I didn’t practice musicianship nearly as much as I should have, and when I did the final exam I came out of it half-convinced that I’d failed. I didn’t, but I resolved the next term to practice consistently throughout the term, and when it came time for the final, I walked out of there feeling like I did pretty much everything right! No nervousness whatsoever. Imagine that!

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September 20, 2012 · 11:31 pm

Belated Course Evaluation: MUSC 111

So it occurred to me recently that I never actually did any reviews of the courses I took last term… I figure I should continue what I started. It might actually end up being useful to someone. So, MUSC 111!

Course Description: This was also brand new course when I took it, and things generally went the same as MUSC 110; some kinks to work out, but generally we knew what to expect by this time. More music theory, but more advanced this time, and it moved more quickly. This term, rather than covering basic concepts of music theory and harmony, we looked at chromaticism, sequences, more chromaticism, and small forms.

Textbook use:  This course requires the same two textbooks as MUSC 110, The Complete Musician and the accompanying workbook by Laitz.  I found that Dr. Benjamin often disagreed with the text, but when he did he would usually make his own hand out to explain the difference.  The Workbook again is crucial; a lot of the assignments come from that book, although Benjie as we liked to call him (behind his back obviously) would just as often make up his own rather difficult assignments. Such as writing minuets. So many minuets.

Homework: A lot of homework, two very large assignments per week. I found that the weekend one would on average take about four hours. This said, that’s mostly just Prof. Benjamin’s style, so if you have someone else, expect still a lot of homework (it is the intensive stream after all), but maybe not quite so intense.

Professor: We had Professor Benjamin again for the second term, which was nice because we didn’t have to adjust to a different teaching style or expectations. He was such a funny guy, I kinda miss having him as my prof… One thing about him was he always said he would not take late assignments, but always did, without fail. Probably because it took him several weeks to grade them.

Class format: Same small class of about fifteen people. Nearly everyone in it was the same as last term, which was really nice to create a sense of community. Assignments made up 40% of the final grade, I can’t remember the other figures though.  There was plenty of opportunity to ask questions; it was mainly a lecture-and-note-taking setup.

Additional comments: The exam was… not as brutal as I had expected, but still fried my brain.  One nice thing was that typically Dr. B. scaled the marks, so we looked better than we maybe actually did… Basically this class is just the same as 110, but if you didn’t come into 110 with a strong or at least some kind of background in basic harmony and voice leading, 110 might be a bit of a challenge because the basics are gone over quite quickly in 110 because it’s assumed pretty much everyone knows it. So if you don’t, you’ll either have to study up on your own time or go in for help.

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September 5, 2012 · 7:11 pm

Gamelan Ensemble

At UBC, it is strongly encouraged to branch out and try something new. After all, how many opportunities are you going to get to just figure out what you like and learn about it with some of the best in the world?

This term, I decided to do just that and signed up for the Gamelan Ensemble.  (Note: I am no expert so my terminology may be off in some places.) The gamelan is a Balinese instrument sort of similar to a xylophone, and here at UBC the instructor for the course is one of the most sought after Balinese musicians of his generation. Wow.  The ensemble is open to all, no experience required, and they start you from scratch. (Actually, we’re looking for a few more members to fill out the ensemble, so if you’re interested, the class is from 1-3 PM every Monday and Wednesday all year.)

Today was the first class. I walked in uncertainly, as I tend to be anxious any time something new or unfamiliar is happening (you should have seen me the day my harp showed up). Dr. Tenzer told us to take off our shoes and have a seat on the floor. I immediately questioned my choice of wearing a skirt today, and sat down. Sudi, the instructor, explained to us that the most important thing we can do in this class is come, and be focused. 70% of the grade is based on attendance, and only 5% is based on skill. Very beginner friendly.

We sat down at the instruments and started to learn. How to hold the hammer, how to dampen the sound.  The gamelan is made of brass, and thus has a very harsh sound; the ensemble playing together is also very loud. I’m definitely bringing my earplugs to the next class. Hearing is very important to a musician!

We began to play, and I noticed that nearly everything about the music is practically opposite of Western traditions. There is no score; we learn everything by ear and by practice. The gamelans are tuned “out of tune” from each other on purpose; that is, the same note on two gamelans are slightly off from each other, because the Balinese like the sound of the waves that the difference produces. The music is very chaotic, and very fast (well, so far we aren’t very fast).  The scale used is not the diatonic scale – that being said, much of Western music has abandoned diatonicism at this point.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I like the music right now. I like the concept of the course, and I like the idea of trying something new. However, the music doesn’t seem to inspire me as it does some of the others in the class. I tend to fall in love with sweet harmonies and soft and soulful melodies; perhaps this is why I take so well to the harp. This class also seems like it will be taxing on my body; the volume level playing on my ear drums could be made better with ear plugs, but sitting upright for so long is difficult when my shoulders are already giving me trouble. Holding the mallet or the hammer for so long makes my shoulder ache, and my feet started to go numb at a couple of points today. I could probably work through these issues, but still.

However, if I switch to a different ensemble where I would play the harp, it would mean more stress for practicing the harp because I’d have more pieces to learn in a shorter amount of time with more pressure, and my fingers would be working double time.

More stress for my mind, or my body? Which should I choose? I think for now I’ll stick with the gamelan ensemble – it’ll probably be good for me in the long run, and I probably won’t have another opportunity for it later on in my degree.

 

See also: Gamelan Ensemble – Part 2

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August 30, 2012 · 10:08 pm

Beat the Stress

Even though school doesn’t even start for 5 days, I’m already feeling the stress that comes every September. Between auditions, moving in, catch-up assignments, renting a harp, and cooking and paying for everything myself for the first time, things are a little bit crazy. So I thought it’d be a good time to share how I beat my stress and then probably take my own advice, too.

1. Breathe.  Take a minute. Slow down. Take a few deeeeeep, long breaths. If you’re stressed, you may actually be holding your breath or taking shallow breaths, making you even more tense.  By just breathing deeply, your brain will function a little better with more air, and your heart rate will slow down, and that stress will ebb away a little bit. I find that just focusing on one thing, your breath, it’s easier to put everything else you have to do into perspective and it’s easer to deal with.

2. Time Management.  If you can sort out everything you need to do  and when, you can start to see that you actually can handle what’s on your plate and that you’re going to get it done. I always find that once I’ve got a plan of attack, I feel way better.

3. Take Action. Okay, you’ve got your plan, now do it. I always find that if I’m stressed about a test coming up, studying for it will make me feel better. The more prepared and confident I feel, the less I need to stress. And once you’ve taken steps to do something about what’s stressing you out, you’ve got one less thing on your to-do list. Breathe that sigh of relief.

4.  Find something that de-stresses you.  For me, it’s yoga – I get to take an hour each week just to breath, and focus on feeling my body in the moment, and just step away from everything that tenses me up.  For you, it could be making art, playing a sport or running, taking up a craft like knitting, talking with friends, the list goes on. Just find what works for you. It’s important to take time for yourself, or you’ll get burnt out.

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