Imagination (5)

I'm finally done!

This was a crazy experience. I know my piece could have been so much better, but with everything going on I think it felt short of my expectations. Over the weekend I had a German competition, so I couldn't really practice.

Now, for the breakdown of my TED talk. There wasn't a given rubric, so I decided to grade myself based on four topics: Content, memorization, fluency, overall effect, and process.

Content: 4.5/5. As I heard from my friends, I learned that much of the math went over their head. I think I could have done less math and more application, and that way I would uncover more secrets in music which was my main point.

Memorization: 4.5/5. I know I said so many um's that I felt like my presentation wasn't really connected, broken up by so many pauses.

Fluency/Cohesiveness: 3.5/5. Again, this goes along with memorization, but I felt like I had many awkward pauses due to the pictures not loading on time. Additionally, I had to keep on referring back to the PowerPoint and this caused my eye contact to be poor.

Process: 4/5. I didn't really explain the process behind my journey but more of the secrets behind math. I'm not sure

Overall effect: 9/10. I felt like I got my point across, but there was a lot of things that I could have done to have a more profound effect.

That comes out to 25.5/30. I'm not happy with it, but I think it's the score I deserve. More problems that I faced included blanking out on the questions and according to one person, using a Trump-esque technique of dodging certain questions and twisting it.

This has been an incredible journey that if I could do again, I definitely would. I learned so much about myself and other people that these positives continue to outweigh the struggles that I faced during this project.

If I have time, I might be able to record and upload the final performance.

Edit: And here it is! I could only get the first two movements in today, so the rest will probably be uploaded Wednesday for the 2 of you that actually want to see it. I didn't get much time to practice over spring break, and I focused on movement 2 more since I will be playing that for a recital. So the pieces may sound at the same level as the last time I uploaded videos.

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Has the Genius Project changed anything about my piano skills? Not really. Has it affected my work habits? Somewhat. What I really learned, however, is the fact that if you put your mind towards something, nothing can ever stop you. I remember back in 7th grade, we had to do an assignment for Language Arts. You had to choose a quote and explain its meaning. I don't remember the exact quote, but it went something like "Taking the first step is half the journey" (it was NOT Lao Tzu's quote). Before I thought that this quote would never really apply to me, but this project really led me to believe it. The assignment was the first push, but everything else was really a natural "hike," not influenced by any outside factors.

Even though the time I have for piano is slowly dwindling due to schoolwork, it was pure joy to see what it was like to feel "younger" again when it was more of a hobby.

This week I commented on:

Anna JUGGLES Life by Anna A

To Unite All People Within Our Nation by James T

The Bigger Picture by Austin Z