Since my last blog post, I have finished reading The Great Gatsby, reread about half of Pride and Prejudice, and reread about half of The Picture of Dorian Grey. I would recommend The Picture of Dorian Grey because it reveals ideas regarding the influence of adults on children. Pride and Prejudice is very well-written but the plot is quite boring. The Great Gatsby was very tiring to read since I wanted to go to sleep every time I read it. My predictions for Dorian, the protagonist of the story, is that he will eventually succumb to his evil deeds and eventually redeem his mistakes by death. I think The Picture of Dorian Grey will be the best text for the independent essay. This is because the book is full of symbolism and can be discussed from several different angles. The book also provides an astonishing protagonist and includes foreshadowing of Dorian’s ending from the introduction.

In the formative socratic seminar, I did well in giving out specific text references as evidence since I “continuously refer[ed] to the text with specific text number”(Zhao 2). I still need to work on using formal style of language when discussing with my group as I “use like too much”(Dalton 2), which is a very colloquial term. My goals for next time is to speak in a formal way and to use a variety of literary terms. In addition, I also want to connect the effect of the literary terms to my theme. To achieve my goals, I will prepare a sheet of formal conjunction and descriptive word choices as well as writing a deeper, more thorough annotation of the text.

In this set, I focused on the position of the hands. Nevertheless, the contrast between the light and dark is not very clear, nor does the hands show emotions. In the next set, I aim to keep the hands in the same location but play around with different hand positions. I also want to tweak the lighting and angle of the  photographs so that they are focused on hands instead of shadows or contrasting darkness. In the next set, I also want to try to make the contrast of the light part (my hands) to dark part (piano) as stark as possible.

Black and Red Simple Mind Map by linda

Statement of Intent: The project will be titled “Piano” since the instrument has impacted my life significantly. Learning piano pulled me into classical music, introducing to me many wonderful pieces that I would not have known otherwise. It also brought me joy and frustration; happiness in completing a piece, praised by my teachers, and winning first prize in competitions but frustration in the process of comprehending new skills, techniques, music theory, as well as playing with musicality and correct rhythm. Not only creating a roller-coaster of emotion, music has also taught me the importance of rigorous hard work, the ability to be flexible and trace and mould myself to fit different styles, the  as well as that perfection can not be achieved but should be pursued.  From works of Chopin to Beethoven to Bach, the composers conveyed their ideas through different pieces; they spoke of the hard, determined inner-core under the decoration of a soft, luxurious velvet cover; they spoke of courage, dedication, and perseverance during ups and downs in one’s lifetime; they spoke of self-discipline, humbleness, accompanied with appreciation of a decent life; they spoke of simple, child-like happiness; the pieces conveyed the composer’s identity, beliefs, and spirit. Completed months before his death, Schubert’s final sonata, for instance, vocalized a calm, reflection-like gaze upon one’s lifetime, like observing the process of going from childhood to adulthood to old age, finally, to death. To note another, Chopin’s sonata in B-flat major Op. 35 revealed the hard, courageous, determined core hidden under a soft exterior. It conveyed Chopin’s resolution for Poland to achieve independence from Russia, as well as his guts to turn down the Tsar’s offer to be his royal composer. Of the above are only a few jewels in the vault of classical music. A couple of stars in the dark, endless skies, the pieces of classical convey the truest of emotions, the wisdom of different people, and finally one’s culture, beliefs, and identity as a person.