Week 9 Blog

 It’s the last week before spring break, and boy is the semester absolutely flying by. I am definitely grateful for the smaller workload for this current week, as it gives us more time to really think about and prepare our podcasts. I am actually pretty excited about the podcast assignment, and have spent some time thinking about the different angles that I might want to approach this podcast at. The feedback from everyone involved in this course has definitely been incredibly helpful. I have settled on making my podcast centered around art and art history. For my podcast I am going to be interviewing an artist friend of mine, who is very passionate about playing the piano and wants to make a living out of this. I am really excited to hear what she has to say, and to share her words with the class. The artist that I plan to interview is named Tash. Tash is currently going after a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts with a focus on music theory. She has been playing the piano her entire life, and loves to play for others. Tash hopes to play the piano in orchestras and symphonies, as well as teach piano to those who want to learn the art.

This week, we also had an interview assignment that we had turned in. At first, I was pretty nervous about the assignment. I have never really conducted an interview before, and also felt really funny being in an opposite power dynamic with a professor where I was running the conversation and assignment. After drafting out the questions that I wanted to ask the professor, I felt a lot more confident and prepared to take on the assignment. I interviewed my “music in world cultures” teacher Karyn Sarring, and I am so glad that I chose her to base the interview profile off of. I expected to only carve out about 10-15 minutes for the conversation and interview, but we naturally ended up talking for about 30 minutes! I am very grateful for the conversation that we had, and shared some of the snippets with my friends because I was so inspired by her words. Not only did I learn about her journey through life and her past and present careers, I also gained some words of affirmation and wisdom about being a college student and life in general. Speaking to Karyn about her path in life made me feel less anxious and worried about my own path. Hearing another person try out so many different things before ending up where they are today made me excited for my own future, and excited to explore my different interests. I am very pleasantly surprised with the direction that this assignment went in for me, and I am glad that I really took the time to sit down and have a meaningful conversation with Karyn.

To wrap up this week, I am mainly focusing on scripting and thinking out how I want my podcast to go and sound, while also really looking forward to spring break. I hope everyone has a great last week before our little break!