That’s Not My Intro

I sometimes laugh when I write because I think it’s funny stuff.  Sometimes when I write, well, okay, I’ve just been in a silly kind of mood lately.  The piece I thought to compose has rhythms that spell “epic” in Morse Code.  I think of different lyrics for songs I hear and I like to transform the pre-existing to apply to whatever I’m doing of thinking of.  Which is fun.  Until you are assigned to write a paper for school.  A real paper.  My attempts at starting my paper where not a college-level quality, so I scratched them.  “Come on, Anna, you’ve been doing these for three years now!”  Maybe, but I’ve had a summer packed full of more writing than that, my style.  You’re curious now, aren’t you?  Yeah, I’ll share my attempts with you.  I feel like a lot of my inner (nerd) self was revealed here, and I’m okay with that, for now, after getting that out of my system, I can write a real paper!

 

Anna Olson

Synopsis of Music Education History

Voice. Percussion. Brass. Woodwind.  Long ago, the four families lived together in harmony as each evolved to be like the instruments we see today.  Then, everything changed when the Americas were discovered and the United States became settled.  Music altogether was forgotten about as the people of the new nation had other things to worry about.  Only the Avatar, teacher and master of all four instrument groups, could stop this indifference.  But when a newly settled country needed him most, he vanished.  Though music found its way into churches, its use was limited, and the Voice Group began to rise.  Out of the Voice Group came attempts of teaching by Fransiscan Friars who began teaching noted music.  Hundreds of years later, a new teacher was born, a non-instrumentalist named John Heinrich Pestalazzi who brought the Rote Method to teach singing.  And although the method was good, it didn’t use the affective domain.  Sometime later, Lowell Mason came and brought with him the Note Method, which used all three domains, the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective.  He brought with him the Utilitarian Philosophy, which serves a function of teaching and believes that performance comes from teaching.  Music Education has a long ways to go before it is of a perfected philosophy.  But I believe, Music Ed can change the world.

 

Again!

 

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start!  When you read you begin with A, B, C, John Tufts began the rule of do, re mi.  Moved around by Charles Aiken, do, re, mi.

 

Again!

 

Once upon a time there was music being birthed by composers who became great such as Josquin, Palestrina, and Byrd.  Meanwhile, America was in the process of being discovered, settled, and explored.  Music in America did not have the new birthing that it did in Europe, but was limited in its use, except in churches.

 

Again!

 

A long time ago in a galaxy we call home…

Synopsis of Music Education History

Anna Olson

            It is a period of limited music use, except in churches.  The Franciscan Friars have struck the first note in 1603 by coming up with the first noted use of teaching music against the evil Music Indifference.  As a result of a few being taught music in church, the Bay Psalm Book was published, the second book published in the United States.  Years later the first Singing School began, followed soon after by Singing Societies.  During these developments, two dissident musician teachers brought forth their PHILOSOPHIES AND METHODS, armed with enough vision to teach an entire nation.  Pursued by the function of performing, Lowell Mason develops a philosophy in which the performance comes from teaching; the utilitarian philosophy emphasizes teaching as it raises money through performances to save music departments everywhere.

 

Again!

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of discovery, it was the age of loss, it was the melodious epoch, it was the tuneless epoch, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the harmonious spring, it was the off-key winter, they had everything before them, they had nothing before them.  There were the Singing Schools to teach people how to sing; there were the Singing Societies to perform and show off people’s singing.  In both cases it was clearer than crystal to the singers and the listeners, that things in general weren’t going as they should.  John Heinrich Pestalozzik introduced a key philosophy and method called the Rote Method; Lowell Mason later introduced a key philosophy and method called the Note Method.

 

Ahh!  Well, there you go.  It is a far, far better thing that I do to write and submit a real paper; it is a far, far better feeling inside of accomplishment instead of just giggles, I’m sure.

 

It still makes me smile, Anna 🙂

Staff Hunt 2012

I am currently disguised and hiding.

I didn’t do anything wrong.

Nobody accused me.

But THEY are looking for me.

“Do you have the time?” they’ll ask.

But I left my watch with my old identity.

It is forgotten.

Gone.

I hope they don’t find me.

I hope they keep searching.

Because then time will be up.

And they will have failed.

Success will be mine.

Two hours I’ll sit here,

Pretending to be somebody else.

And then I will emerge.

I will be me once more.

 

Note: Written during the staff hunt, obviously.  I wrote more but it’s boring, so this is what you get.  I was told being in a coffee shop?  Predictable.  Three out of the four groups ended up finding me, but it was great fun!  =)

 

“Real Person” and Her Mishaps

Once upon a time there was a fictional character who was really cool.  Even though this character was only in the book series she starred in, all who read the stories fell in love and wanted to be her best friend (she was so cool!).

Then one day, one of the readers was like, “I think I’m gonna go into this story and hang out with this really cool character!”  And so, somehow, she did.  RP somehow got into the story and became a part of the action.  But RP?  She could leave the book whenever she wanted to join the real world again.

The author of the book had no idea where this new character, RP, was coming from.  The setting of the story was not even an actual place.  It was a fantasy-fiction series, for heaven’s sake!  Most of the characters had a super-power of some sort.  Apparently, this was RP’s—coming into the story and baffling everyone!

The readers delighted in the new character, but soon became jealous of RP and how similar she was to the most of them.  At school in the real world, RP had quickly become the most popular, for she knew what she would be doing before she did it.  She also kind of bragged about it.  In the story, too, RP’s popularity grew, for none of the other characters knew what would happen.

But pretty soon, RP became the bad guy.  Disrupting relationships?  Destroying the utopia that had been the setting of the book?  It is said that things get worse before they get better.  Even at school in the real world, RP had begun to make enemies.

After being confused at how her stories had come to involve RP, the author realized RP’s true identity.  So, the author grounded her daughter for her interference and hacking into her mother’s work computer.  And though the fictional characters had RP banned forever, the author started a new series just for RP and let her write whatever she wanted.  Creative writing shouldn’t be limited to just the published few, but all who enjoy it!

A Creative Writer Who Smiles A Lot, Anna =)^2 (Smiles Squared)

My Life as a Sloth

[Note: written this weekend, before all the icky weather and more cautious-walking started happening all over campus.  I also did not intend for this to be negative but commenting in the way when you find the funny in all situations.  Smilin!]

So, a lot of people compare their lives to an animal or a character in a book or a movie.  I’m sure there was a time when you took a quiz on Facebook that was something like, “Which Disney prince/princess are you?”  or “Which Lord of the Rings character are you?”  or something like that.  But I came up with this on my own.  If I were an animal this week (because these things change, of course), I would be a sloth.  First, let me tell you a little about them.

The 3-fingered sloth is the slowest moving animal in the world, moving at a break-neck speed of .003 miles per hour.  These animals have been built to live life in the treetops of South American rainforests.  They have a powerful grip and hang from tree branches.  Sloths sleep 15-20 hours a day, and remain motionless even when awake.  3-fingered sloths do not move well on land.  Because of their weak hind legs and long claws, they are quite clumsy on land.  If a predator is coming when they are on land, they stand no chance.  However, these sloths are very agile swimmers.  More interesting facts include: they have an extra vertebrae in their neck, so their heads can turn some 270 degrees, and they have a long, high-pitched call that echoes through the forest.

Why am I like a sloth this week?  Well, I have found that if I  S L O W  D O W N  when I’m walking, I am less likely to lose my balance.  Although it takes longer to walk between the Humanities building and my dorm, I can still get there on my own.  Although when people are walking past me, I stop and wait for them to pass.  It was actually on one of these treks that I first related myself to a sloth.  I DO NOT sleep 15-20 hours a day, because that’s just crazy for a PERSON.  However, I do need more sleep than those around me because of the MS.  But I’ve accepted that.  I’m not a very good swimmer.  At all.  But when I was trying to think of a substitute for that, I came up with texting.  Because I can do that faster than I can walk.  But not at the same time.

Thus, this week, I feel like a sloth.  Mostly because I’m really slow moving.  But on Wednesday I’m startin’ up some PT, which will hopefully speed me up to that of a koala bear, which is the world’s 5th slowest animal. Woo!  Crusin.  What kind of animal would you be and why?

Recommended reads: “Sherman is a Slowpoke” by Mitchell Sharmat and David Neuhaus

 

..And I equate THIS video to all of the awesome people who have given me piggy-backs when I have most needed them.  This is a thank you shout out to all you!

=)^2 Anna

Smiley Saturday: Sisters

My sisters are my reason for smiles this week;

They are pretty awesome and pretty neat.

We make fun really sarcastically;

We play mean but we’re not, really.

We joke and tease,

We laugh and…sneeze.

They pick on me, true.

But for them it’s not hard to do.

Those two are like, telepathically connected.

I don’t always understand but I accept it.

We are sympathetic and support each other.

We proof papers and talk together.

We’ve been getting along more lately;

At least it seems that way to me.

My sisters are my heroes, the best;

The two people (my age) I’ve known longest.

From Christina giving me a piggy-back when I couldn’t walk,

To Laura and my Twitter conversations of silly talk.

We like going on real random adventures,

Some are still remembered because of the goofy pictures.

Because we grew up on a farm real rurally,

“Ladies” by now we’ll never be.

I think we turned out pretty well,

But because I’m one of them I can’t tell.

My sisters helped me become who I am now,

We taught each other while growing up somehow.

So here’s a smile to the sisters,

Who will forever come before misters!

The Story of the Flabble (Remix)

So, I didn’t think the first flabble story was super-greatly written.  So I did one that made me feel better about myself.  I hope you like it!  -Anna =)^2

.

Once, living upon an island of which you’ve never heard,

There was a flabble named Lusah with vibrant black hair and wings of a bird.

With feet webbed and hairy, she could glow as well as fly.

But that’s not all—she could at will also change her size.

The village of flabbles was referred to as an eiair.

Life was pleasant, with no dangers to fear.

Lusah lived in an iloe, as flabbles do.

She had a pet yellek who could fly, too.

When she would go outside to give her yellek exercise,

She would ride upon his back so she’d change her self size.

She would go into work and make connections between ibemes.

Every flabble had one, except for the older who hadn’t caught on to new things.

She would eat ralkrs and yelleks when hers wasn’t looking.

One of her strengths, as it turned out, was not cooking.

All of the flabbles did the same thing every day.

No one would get bored—life was just that way!

But one day, as Lusah took her yellek out to fly,

She paused for a moment and wondered “why?”

Why were all the flabbles content with life the same?

Didn’t anybody wonder what would happen if it were to change?

So Lusah DIDN’T connect all the ibemes at work,

And she DIDN’T eat her ralkrs but instead held a smirk.

Soon, others started asking her what was wrong.

When she’d fly or ride on her yellek, she’d be out extra long!

So she aroused the questions in their minds, too.

“Why are we flabbles content with what we do?”

It didn’t take long before the other flabbles sharted changing.

All of their doings, they started re-arranging!

Soon, all the flabbles were having a lot more fun,

And the entire eiair was wondering why this was the first time something had been done!

 

The moral of this story is to keep life interesting.

Don’t lose yourself in boringness but strive for smiley glimmering!

The Story of The Flabble

I recently came up with a new game: do the crossword in the paper as far as you can, and then, when stuck, fill in the blank to make new words!  I have only done this once, but I thought I should justify some of these nonsense words.  Thus, this story was born.  See if you can identify the made up words and their new meanings (there are 20 made up words).

Once upon a time there was a flabble.  The flabble was beautiful, with lime green wings with which she could fly, and vibrant black hair that glowed.  She had hairy webbed feet, and wore a roner, for her hairless arms grew cold at times.  Her superpowers were referred to as velo, for she glowed, could fly, and could make herself bigger or smaller at will.  She could also swim fairly well, but she swam as a swan does—she didn’t always like getting her wings wet.  This particular flabble was named Lusah.  She lived in an iloe made of slibved and olas, which made her iloe a beautiful white that made her black hair pop.  Her iloe was located on an exotic island that we’ve never heard of.  There were many iloo, which housed many flabbles with similar superpowers.  On the island, the village of flabbles, called an eiair, farmed ralkrs, their main food and ingredient in most all the foods they eat.  It is said a flabble can live off of ralkrs alone, but it  is somewhat boring without any other foods with it.  On a typical day, Lusah would wake up early to get ready for work.  She ate some ralkrs that had been lided and mixed with yelleks, which was a type of meat that is often eaten with ralkrs.  Then she would get dressed, pulling on her work roner and ilstes, which are like jeans, but made out of a different material called olour.  Lusah would go the kalma, where she worked every day as a tero.  The job was similar to a telephone operator, but flabbles didn’t have phones.  Each flabble had a ibeme, and Lusah was responsible to make sure they were connected to the right people at the right time and make sure everything was running smoothly.  One day, Lusah was simply tired of her monotonous job as a tero.  So, she went outside.  She made herself really small as she took off into flight.  The air carried her better when she flew as a smaller being.  She hummed the song “Srinc,” which was about being mistaken for something else.  She hoped that if she was spotted, she would be.  Then Lusah decided that she should hide like a fly on the wall and scare her friend Iser, who was working.  Iser was a lobra, or, a person who works in the food department at the kalma.  Iser had the power to detect, which made her really good as a lobra, for she could detect if ralkrs or yelleks were going to go bad soon.  Lusah flew into the kalma, and suddenly grew big and hopped on the floor.  She laughed as Iser jumped.  Then they decided that they both should take a break and went out to play in the sun for a few hours before returning to work.  So they did.  The end.

I’m like, “Procrastinating?”

Once upon a time, I was like, “Dude, I should write a relevant blog post.”  (Hint: that was when I decided to write this.)  But then I’m like, “Say, Buddy, I don’t know what to write!”  And then I’m like, “Hey, Pal, just write what’s on your mind!”  But then I’m like, “Comrade, you’ve been looking up synonyms for ‘dude’ for five minutes now and probably could have spent better use of that time looking up something interesting to write about.”  After but a moment of pause, I’m like (in a British accent), “Chum.  What is up.”  (Switch to inner-city, black populations accent.)  “Yo, Sista!  Where you be kickin’ it after class?”  (Switch to pirate talk) “Aye, I be headin’ down to get me some coffee and be with me Jesus!”  (Switch to Anna’s accent, if you think I have one) “Now, I’m just confused.”  (Mom tone) “What is going on here?”  (Anna’s shrinking back tone) “Um, nothing?”

This is what happens when I want to write something but don’t know what.  You get a plethora of creative accents and me talking to myself in my dorm room as I type and laugh to myself.  Oh, boy.  I would like to give a shoutout to my accomplice.  My aid.  My sidekick.  Thesorus.com.

On a more update-like note, I am still pretty excited about life in general except for the book currently sitting in front of my desk, telling me, “Anna, you have a Lit Circle tomorrow and 30 pages left.  What are you DOING?”  And I’m like, “Well, I’m having conversations in my head that stem from more, human like characters instead of YOU.”  And it’s like, “Well, there are characters in HERE that are actual people.”  And I’m like, “Well, I’M a real person.  And I KNOW me.  I don’t know these people.”  And it’s like (in a warning/taunting/teasing tone), “Anna!  You git your homework done NOW!”  And I’m like, “Fine.  But let me post this first, okay?”  And then it’s like, “You have until the count of three to open the book and start reading.”  But since I am giving the book its words, it won’t get to three until I post this.  Mwahaha.

Smiling mischievously, Anna =)^2