Overview and Expectations

As my first blog entry, I have decided to present an overview of a project for my senior year in high school. This "capstone" course is required of all seniors and it usually consists of a semester long research project that ultimately results in a research paper.

My favorite things in the world are music and a really good adventure story. My goal for this project is to combine these elements into one cohesive product. I brainstormed and thought of my favorite pieces of music like Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss or Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel and noticed that they all told wonderful stories that are apparent in the context of music. You can really feel the adventure and emotion with every note.

I thought of different mediums to write a story in music such as a symphony, tone poem or string quartet. A symphony would be way too much work for one semester and a tone poem would be great but I don't want to use a full orchestra so I was led to a string quartet. I am envisioning a traditional quartet with violins, a viola and a cello. If I need to (and have time) I might throw in a flute and some winds or brass, like a miniature orchestra.

I think that this capstone experience will be wonderful because I have always wanted to make time to write a really substantial piece of instrumental music. I plan to manage my time very wisely and work diligently as a sort of test for college life.

I'm very excited to do this project on my own and can't wait to document the learning/writing process!