Les said, the better II

Um ok, so what have I done since college. I had a couple of programming jobs and then I was uh consulting. And um finding myself. (Can you still do that or is it a generational thing?). um I travelled extensively. I volunteered for Other Minds. I wrote some tape music. I had a promising percussion ensemble which evaporated after it’s first gig, since i didn’t schedule any rehersals after my mom got sick. Um I flaked on a lot of things. Um, I learned esperanto. I worked on libretto which I couldn’t finish. I played in a band that couldn’t quite get it together and then broke up. I think I could put a positive spin on this… This is to give to somebody to write a recommendation anyway, not for the school, so maybe I can be a bit more honest.
After I got laid off, I started consulting, and did an installation at the second Wednesday art series at the Exploratorium but then within a couple of months Christi got laid off too, so we spent a few months traveling in Europe. Then, when we got back, I started volunteering at Other Minds, since Christi had a job there. I did some tape editing for them in addition to grunt work, of course. Christi and I organized a percussion ensemble and I wrote some percussion music and, of course, some tape music. I submitted tapes to a bunch of festivals, but only Woodstockhausen wanted to play one. The percussion group played at an opening for somebody’s art showing at a cafe. I got some songs played on pirate and internet radio and Ibol Records put out a compilation with a couple of my songs on it. I wrote a max application that generated algorithmic melodies. I took an Esperanto class at Stanford and can now speak it, but not fluently. I had been kind of “finding myself” and things were really coming together last June. I was the web engineer for the International Iguana Foundation and Jack Straw Productions (Joan Rabinowitz, specifically) was interested in a trombone piece I wrote. But then my mom got cancer and I haven’t done anything since except submit a score to Jack Straw for a toy piano nonette. They were supposed to let people know yesterday, but I haven’t heard anything.

Calarts applications are due today. Well, clearly i’m on top of things…

The Fall 2003 application deadline is Monday, January 6, 2003. All applications which are complete by the deadline are reviewed by the faculty; those received after the deadline are reviewed in the order received if there is still space available in the program applied for.

I must resist the urge to call them tomorrow and ask if there is space left. No I should call them and ask if they think there might be space left.
So this leaves me with Mills, Wesleyan and maybe Bowling Green, but probably not, since none of the faculty’s name rings a bell and it’s in Ohio and the only reason I’ve heard of them is cuz they run a big festival every year that rejected me last year. I can’t beleive that I missed the application deadline for one of my three main schools. aug, i don’t deserve to get into grad school. If I don’t get into Mills or Wesleyan, I’m going nowhere.
nothing is going according to plan. i had a big five year plan. i was on my way to seattle last june, as a part of my plan, to visit a studio run by a firendly woman i met at a confrence, when i got a panicked phone call from my dad. since then, my plan has been off track.
there is a gigantic blister on the middle finger of my right hand from adventures in bass playing (second rehersal of the new band) and from using oil pastels on the cover of an old pizza box. Did you know that Munch painted almost a hundred versions of The Scream and many of them are on cardboard? There’s a Munch museum in Oslo with all of them on display. Travel broadens you.
My Wesleyan alum contact told me to try to get a letter of recommendation from Pauline Oliveros. I can imagine this conversation, “Hi, do you remember me? I was your driver at the OtherMinds festival last year. You’ve never heard my music, but I really need a letter of recommendation.”
Or maybe I can use other famous composers I met at OM. “Hi, Annea Lockwood, I lent you a jacket and you sent me a record. . ..” If I were smarter I would have given all of those people CDs. Missed opportunities. 20/20 hindsight. I’m screwed.

When you are trying to decide who to ask for recommendations, kep these criteria in mind. The people you ask should:

• have a high opinion of you
• know you well, preferably in more than one context
• be familiar with your field (It won’t do you much good to have a glowing letter of recommendation from your manager at the insurance company if you are applying to a program in history or social work.)
• be familiar with the program to which you are appling
• have taight a large number of students (or have managed a large number of employees) so they have a good basis upon which to compare you (favorably!) to your peers
• be recognized by the admissions committe as someone whose opinion can be trusted
• have good writing skills
• be reliable enough to write and mail the letter on time

A tall order? Yes. It’s likely that no one person you choose will meet all of these criteria, but try to find people who come close to this ideal.

Um, so that gives me, um, my composition teacher from Mills and ummm… maybe some other mills music faculty whom i have not talked to in five years. Maybe I coudl get some generic statements from old bosses about how i was hard worker… except that i was mostly lazy… um…

Join the fun, fast-paced world of writing recommendation letters!

Feel like you could write a letter of recommendation? Do you meet the above requirements, or at least some/most of them? Then, for the love of god, drop me a line, since I have no idea where or who you might be (that’s just a joke! of course I was thinking of you! How have you been! Great hearing from you! heh heh help.)

Statement of Purpose – Mills College

When I was in high school, I had to decide between pursuing a career in computer programming or in professional tuba playing. On the advice of my tuba teacher, I chose computer science. At Mills, I, finished all the requirements for my major by my junior year, so I took music classes and got interested in composition and especially electronic music. I graduated with two majors.

I started a professional career in computer programming, the plan I chose for economic reasons. It wasn’t long before I realized that studying computer science is interesting, but day-to-day programming is not. I had a hard time fitting in the culture of Silicon Valley. When I got laid off in 2001, I considered making a career change to music, but as a composer, rather than as a tuba player.

Last spring I attended the Composing a Career Conference sponsored by the Women’s Philharmonic. Almost everyone else there had a masters degree and the presenters all assumed they were speaking to a masters-educated audience. Realizing I needed more education, I started looking into graduate programs. Mills College seemed like an obvious choice.

Obviously, since I attended Mills as an undergraduate, I’m familiar with your reputation. There’s no better school on the West Coast at which to study electronic music. I’m especially interested in your algorithmic composition track. My dual background in computers and music makes me a good match to study this. I’m also interested in acquiring new skills in composing for pitched instruments. Because your program covers both electronic composition and pitched composition, I hope to be able to hone my existing skills and translate them, while acquiring news skills, to more pitched composing. Algorithmic composition seems like the perfect synthesis of these goals and Mills is the obvious choice of where to pursue them.

feedback? ok mills is good. why should they care about me? etc

Statement of purpose — Wesleyan

When I was in high school, I had to decide between pursuing a career in computer programming or in professional tuba playing. On the advice of my tuba teacher, I chose computer science. In college, finished all the requirements for my major by my junior year, so I took music classes and got interested in composition. I graduated with two majors.

I started a professional career in computer programming, the plan I chose for economic reasons. It wasn’t long before I realized that studying computer science is interesting, but day-to-day programming is not. I had a hard time fitting in the culture of Silicon Valley. When I got laid off in 2001, I considered making a career change to music, but as a composer, rather than as a tuba player.

Last spring I attended the Composing a Career Conference sponsored by the Women’s Philharmonic. Almost everyone else there had a masters degree and the presenters all assumed they were speaking to a masters-level audience. Realizing I needed more education, I started looking into graduate programs. Yours caught my interest because of your faculty, especially Alvin Lucier whose music I greatly admire and who has been one of my influences.

In the spring of 2001, I collaborated on an installation in the Exploratorium (a hands-on science museum in San Francisco) based on Lucier’s piece I am Sitting in a Room. I’ve used similar decay loops, based on Lucier’s piece, for other pieces of music and will sometimes annoy my neighbors by setting up my computer to run such a delay loop until it finds the resonant frequency of the building and starts to shake the walls.

Lucier’s approaches to music are fascinating and appeal to my engineering background as well as my musical background. I know I could greatly professionally benefit by studying with him. I think my engineering and musical background is a good match.

I’ve heard many excellent things about your school. One of your alums, Judy Dunaway, encouraged me to apply. I hope you will consider me for your program.

Weak ending. Any feedback to this draft is highly encouraged. Too kiss-upy? Lucier is like a god or something, for real. When I did that thing at the Exploritorium, we also put contact micorphones on a bunch of the exhibits and amplified them. A guy on another project came by and ironically said, “Ah, so I see you’re a little influenced by Lucier.” The alum I mention was his personal assistant or something. I just sent her email today, since she told me to talk to her before applying.