Who? Why? What? How?

-Who-
I'm 23 years old, female, Caucasian, no children,  from an upper middle class household. I still live with my parents until I finish school next year, and I live in the suburbs (near Castleton). I've worked all through college because I do not receive tuition assistance from my parents, so on top of classes I work teaching piano after my classes are done for the day. I cross my fingers every semester hoping I can register for classes that don't extend past 4 pm. When I began school I took education for granted. I was at a University in Canada and I was receiving a renewable scholarship every year but lost it because I did poorly in some of my classes the first year. Moving out of my household into dorm life (especially in a different country) was distracting and I didn't balance priorities. I think every semester after that I worked a little bit harder. For the past few semesters I've received mostly A's and it came with realizing how you need to make the most out of your education. It's a competitive world out there and I should take advantage of the help my teachers are offering. I've become more organized, more efficient and overall a harder worker. 

-Why-
First and foremost, I chose this class to help fulfill my New Media concentration required in my Music Technology degree. I had no idea what this class was nor what we might be doing in it. I didn't drop this class because I knew after the first class that this is something that I needed in my life right now. I believe I get so caught up with the routine of my daily life that I don't have the time to explore my feelings. During many discussions in this class I realized that there are other people in the world like me that feel the same way about certain things (fear assignment) or suffer from the same problems I do. It also helped me gain perspective. I'm in the Music Technology program because I'm passionate about music. I have played the piano since I was six and it's something I've always loved and was good with. I did not want to go into a performance, composition or education so I decided on Music Technology. I would be able to get a partial music education and still learn to record. I used to think the people that dropped out of the program just couldn't handle the workload, but now I think they were pretty smart. It's disorganized on the technology portion (last two years of the program) and we in turn have suffered. I'm still here because I have a handful of required credits that won't do me any good if I change majors. I'm going to get my degree but take advantage of the independent studies I've been apart of (that have helped fill in the gaps of what I'm not being taught in class). This is the field I want to go into, I love making music and working with audio, and I'm going to make the most of what's given to me.

-Change-
I did not expect my program to turn out the way it did. We were given a lot of hype before the program began as to what we'd be learning. We were also told that they had been working on this program and organizing it for the past eight years. I think a lot of the teacher's are more concerned with what's going on in their own life academically and teaching comes second. We lack all the equipment we need to be successful, microphones, speakers, our computers are old and they don't have the processing power to handle the programs installed on them. They also don't get wiped clean every semester so there's files three years old on them and many of the hard drives are full.  The computer's are also dusty and gross. I'm mentioned to teachers in the department that we need a day of cleaning where everyone cleans their stations and after that there are "touch up" kits available to use. The computer's haven't been cleaned in years. We're due for new computer's soon, so hopefully that will take care of that problem. Second the technology portion needs to be organized. There's three semester's focusing on just technology and there should be a clear syllabus to be followed for each class with a clear understanding of the progress being made each semester. So far the department hasn't even been sure as to who will be teaching these classes much less what we'll be taught. If it weren't for my independent study I would still know very little about audio. 


-Re-imagine-
In my ideal world our program would have began with two years of music theory as well as a class dedicated to ear training, sight reading, etc (the main class was piano emphasized, piano majors should be excluded). A little bit of music history as a requirement would also be nice. Very little was discussed. The program should be twice a week instead of five days. I would have had the technology portion be better organized and build every year, say for example, the same syllabus used in Introduction to Sound from New Media for the first year and a half of the music program (since for the first two years technology only meets once a week for an hour and a half) and gradually go into what is being covered in intermediate as well as advanced sound design by the end of the degree. Even if this doesn't seem like much it's more than what we've learned thus far. All I'd like to see is organization and a clear track as to where we're going. I also think having an audio "mentor" similar to our private instructors for our instruments is a good idea. Having one on one time is very beneficial.


-Real World-
Unfortunately our department doesn't have the required budget for the equipment we need to learn. They are apparently in the process of building a recording studio but no work has yet to be done on it. And it's worthless for the first couple graduating classes because we will never get the chance to use it. This should have been built prior to the beginning of the program. I still don't understand why there isn't a clear academic plan for the technology aspect of the program but I'm sure it has to do with them still "figuring it out". I think things can be re-organized and done better it's just the matter of them wanting to deal with the work involved.

-Other aspects-
This has taught me that you have to make the best out of every situation. Also, sometimes if there is a plan around you that isn't working out or you are constantly surrounded with disorganization, coming up with a solution and presenting it may actually work and you may may be acknowledged.