October: choose one class that you are taking and let us know what you are learning, what type of tests, assignments, projects, you are having etc
At the University of North Carolina School of the Arts we
are actually only really allotted to take 2 academic classes a semester. This
is simply due to the fact that this is still a Conservatory for performing
arts, so majority of your focus is on our specific art. Even in the academic
classes that we have and are required to take, they still have something to do
with allowing us to advance in the arts. One of the courses that I take, which
will be my focus for this month’s entry, is called Digital Media for the
Artist/Contemporary Composing.
Digital Media for the Artist is a class that focuses on
the composing process within the various at forms that we have at UNCSA. Hence,
why this year it was renamed Contemporary Composing. At UNCSA we have 5
schools: The School of Film, The School of Music, The School of Design and
Production, The School of Dance, and The School of Drama. The way that the
course is designed, every unit is 3 weeks. During week one you GATHER a
perspective on the specific topic. Week two is MAKING art work, based off of
the perspective on composing that you gathered. Lastly, during week three you
REFLECT on the entire unit and various topics that were discussed within each
unit. Every week we are given two deadlines one is Tuesday night and the other
is Sunday night. Generally you spend between 7-10 hours on homework in this
class per week (if you are actually trying to get an “A.” Below is an example
of an assignment that I did in Unit 2: Composing in Design and Visual Art.
This is two different
pictures fused into one (obviously). Here I took a picture of an Ice-Cream
Sandwich, and a picture off of the coast of Nassau, Bahamas. I was able to
explore and experiment with photo editing beyond your typical cropping and
rotating. One of the cool things about this class is that is sparks an interest
to see what other majors do. We only have 2 tests in this class, the Mid-Term
and the Final Exam. Another pretty awesome thing is that this is my only large
lecture course that I have and will ever have while I am here. There are
currently 253 students (95% of all first year college students) in this course,
and it is one of the very few opportunities that we have to interact with
people outside of our major. My professor brings in a different person every
week to discuss their composing process in relation to whatever unit we are
studying. One of the things that I noticed, is that every person that he has
brought in to speak is either: born outside of the US, lived outside the US for
any length of time, or has worked outside of the US for any length of time. So
these people are/or was very active in their specific field and can give us a
perspective based off of experiences that they had all around the world.
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