Open C Tuning Improvisation with the Guitar (Video)
By Liam Monheim, VI Form
Open C Tuning Improvisation with the Guitar (Video)
During the winter season, I was granted an ACE (Athletic Commitment Exemption, or a season
without afternoon sports) in order for me to focus on practicing the guitar. I used this time not only to improve my improvisation skills, but to teach myself a completely new way of approaching the instrument. I learned how to play in an alternative tuning called open C tuning. Standard guitar tuning from lowest string to highest uses pitches EADGBE. In order to make a chord, you must finger the strings with your left hand. However, when you strum the strings in open C tuning without doing any fingering with the left hand, it creates a C Major chord. This means learning new chord fingerings, but it also opens up a sonic richness in the instrument. (Click on picture to play video)
My solo performance (Click here for video) is a structured improvisation using open C tuning. By structured improvisation I mean that I follow a similar structure each time I play it but I decide in the moment what, how, and why I play a certain part.
Racial Colorblindness: The Solution to a Delusional Society?
By Sophie Haugen, IV Form
Racial Colorblindness: The Solution to a Delusional Society?
Lois Lowry’s dystopian community of sameness in The Giver appears to be perfect, but this is not true. This world of sameness represses individuality, creating a meaningless world without love. Imagine our world – progressive and controversial – without difference. Upon first glance it seems ideal; no conflict about humanity’s differences or room for judgement. But, would there be any culture or diversity at all? Lowry’s creation of a colorblind society warns our own that while we should strive for equality, “colorblindness” isn’t the answer. Racial colorblindness has been part of discussions around affirmative action in college admissions and the Constitution. Colorblindness is exactly what it sounds like: blindness to skin color, race, and any variety these bring. As an ideal, it’s well-intentioned, but in reality it is a way to pretend race doesn’t exist and to ignore racism as social problem, as well as devalue the importance of culture and difference. (more…)
My Exploration in Printmaking on a Scroll
By Grace Barron, V Form
My Exploration in Printmaking on a Scroll
To turn a single, or in my case double, print into a lengthy scroll (h 82″ X w 40″), my first step was to print out large quantities of both blocks in different shades of purple. Before it came to all of that, I had to have an original print. For the original assignment, the Advanced Studio class went to the Wesley greenhouses, drew from life, and created a print based on our drawings. An experimental print assignment then followed. Looking at my single print, I noticed that the mirrored prints in a scroll would have an effect that would allow the viewer’s eyes to follow a path. While I first looked for a gradient effect with the top prints being the lightest and the bottom prints the darkest, I decided to scratch the idea and make the piece follow more of a random pattern. I laid out the prints and arranged them in a way that I liked and then glued them to a large piece of paper. I wanted the viewer to see almost a scalloped effect. (Go to bottom of this page to see a larger rendering). (more…)
Akshaya Patra: Addressing Both Hunger and Education in India
By Yusra Syed, IV Form
Akshaya Patra: Addressing Both Hunger and Education in India
India is the world’s largest democracy and the second most populous country in the world – with over
1.2 billion people. It is expected to be the most populated in the world by 2022. India is booming and, by many measures, is the world’s fastest growing big economy. Challenges of urban poverty in India are tied with the challenges of the country’s fast development. Cities are fostering poverty and hunger at a scale and extent unseen before. Nearly 70% of Indians live on less than $2 a day, with 61 million malnourished children – 1/3 of all the malnourished children in the world. This is causing too many children to choose food over education. (more…)
The Unfortunate Failures of the International Criminal Court
By Matt Walsh, III Form
The Unfortunate Failures of the International Criminal Court
For advocates of human rights, peace, and equality, the International Criminal Court (ICC) seemed to be an ultimate solution to acts of violence, hatred, and greed. The ICC acts as a court of last resort, prosecuting crimes when national courts cannot. With the ICC, many thought the world could be one step closer to international order. Unfortunately, a lack of cooperation has turned a seemingly revolutionary idea into a lamentable failure. The ICC hopes “that by ending impunity for such crimes, [it] might prevent the occurrence and contribute to the peace, security, and well-being of the world”
(“Law”). However, The ICC is not a viable and sustainable path to justice because of its inability to prosecute perpetrators from both State Parties and non-State Parties, its historical failure to prosecute major international crimes, and its practice of retributive justice that fails to restore peace. (more…)
The Great Gatsby: Chapter 10
By Eric Zhang, V Form
The Great Gatsby: Chapter 10
(Editors’ Note: In Ms. Matthews’ American Literature class, this assignment prompted students to create a 10th chapter of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, utilizing Nick Caraway’s melancholic tone and including some type of closure for the characters)
It had been five years since the funeral, and I finally returned to this city that I once thought was haunted. Everything was so depressing. There were no sounds of the orchestra playing or shimmering sights of the girls wearing fancy dresses with decorations on their shoes. The city of New York had changed since that October in 1929, what was later called Black October. I wandered the streets of New York, and ultimately, I was pulled back to the Eggs and Gatsby’s mansion. What was once a (more…)
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