end of month update and some new ideas . . .

I have been progressing, little by little on my research tasks.  Still working on the same paper/project revisions, but making some headway.


I did not have a research session this morning because I was enjoying the last little bit of time I had with my mom, who was visiting from St. Louis, before I had to take her back to the airport.


So the next few weeks will be a bit different for me because Kate is away, on an exciting road trip to the southwest.  You can follow her adventures on her blog.


While she is away, I decided to schedule one or two 3-hour composition sessions (generally on Thursday and Sunday evenings) per week.  I chose evening times because I will need my piano and I don't want to bother my upstairs neighbors earlier in the day (they are night owls).  I don't know exactly what music I want to write, but I hope to journal on some instrument combinations/ideas and plunge into my first composition session this Thursday from 6-9 pm.  I am hopeful that I will begin to form a habit.  Since Kate will be away for three weeks, I figure that is the perfect amount of time to form a new habit that will hopefully stick!


I plan to continue my MWF research hours in the morning though it means getting up even earlier in order to walk the dog before I get ready for the day.  My most immediate research goal is getting ready for my presentation in Belgium at the end of next month.


In the meantime,  I'd better close in order to get to this morning's music theory class on time.

mid-March update

I have not been posting often, but I have been making progress toward my research goals.  Currently, I am enjoying spring break at Macalester--no classes this week, but ample time to make some headway on my teaching prep and research projects!  This morning I am enjoying an extended research period (normally on Wednesdays I have just an hour from 8 to 9 am).  And I was inspired to make this post because I just finished all of the reading and note taking I needed to do for my latest set of revisions for an essay I would like to submit for possible publication somewhere.  I still have yet to integrate all these new ideas into the existing essay, but that will be my next step.


And some good news--my presentation proposal for the 14th International Conference of the Dutch-Flemish Society for Music Theory was accepted so I will be going to Antwerp, Belgium at the end of April to give a hands-on teaching presentation on Ear Training with Radiohead.  I am really looking forward to this opportunity.  And hopefully the feedback I get at the conference will help me with getting this project published (the paper version of this presentation is the essay I have been revising).


I plan to keep working on the essay revisions this morning and again on Friday morning.  I am not sure when I will finish with these revisions, but it is good to keep the long-term goals in mind. . . .