FIRST SEMESTER INDEPENDENT STUDY
Project Reflection
The assignment for this project was to chose a topic, any topic, do extensive research on it, write a paper, and create some meaningful art. I chose to do my research on music and how it affects social change. I focused specifically on the civil rights movement and how it was inspired through music as well as how the music of today is potentially affecting our society. I chose this topic because after having practiced the violin for 10 years and spending a significant number of hours listening closely to all types of music, I was intrigued by the social aspect of this art.
At the beginning of the semester, being motivated and ambitious, I laid out a whole list of subtopics that I wanted to research. I was super excited about this project and couldn’t wait to produce some beautiful work on a topic that sincerely interested me. Unfortunately, that initial motivation and excitement soon faded and my mind was filled with more urgent work in all of my classes. Obviously, this led to the putting off of my honors work. Although I did all of the required research and elements of the project, many of them were done in a hurry and did not meet my personal goals of perfection and refinement. For example, I had all of the holiday break to write my research paper and I wrote it the morning it was due, before second semester classes started. Fortunately, after making this mistake, I began to refine my paper and do additional research before the exhibition. By the time the exhibition came, I had a well-refined paper that I felt went into depth about how music has affected social change. Although I did feel that my paper was good, I wish that I had put more time into the research in order to cover a broader range of subtopics such as music history, musical brain science, and genre differences.
Through this independent study project, I learned the importance of working slowly and steadily, paying attention to detail, and minimizing procrastination. I have participated in many independent studies in the past and each time, I have waited until the absolute last minute to complete my work. If I had simply laid out a calendar plan setting aside ½ hour and hour long timeslots for myself to work on honors, the final two weeks would’ve been much less stressful and the final product would’ve been of much higher quality. In order to have improved the quality of my project, I wish that I had spent more time researching small details and gaining a deeper understanding of my topics.
The first substantial revision that I wish I had made to my project is simply increasing the content of my paper. I felt that although my project showed a good overall understanding of my topic, it could’ve been much longer to give my readers the feeling of having learned something completely new and relevant. At the exhibition, my audience and I discussed many of the questions that I had anticipated at the beginning of my project. I felt that during these conversations, I could ponder and discuss these questions but could not give many answers. Again, if I had spent more time researching my essential questions, these interactions would’ve been more of a learning experience for the audience and less of a time to ponder new questions.
The next substantial revision I would’ve liked to make is the patience and meticulousness portrayed in my art piece. I pretty much made my art piece entirely the night before the exhibition and had to take some shortcuts to finish it in time. First off, I wish I had taken the time to use a gel transferring technique to put images on the canvas. I used mod podge to stick paper pictures onto the canvas which worked surprisingly well. However, using gel to transfer the images would’ve made my art look more cohesive and abstract.
To future honors students, I will highly recommend doing as much research as possible during the fall months of the semester. This aspect of the project is most time consuming and it becomes difficult to find time in which to work as the stress of junior year builds. The research paper and art piece can be put together in a reasonably short amount of time only if most or all of the required research is done. Doing research a long time after proposing your project will only be more difficult and time consuming. To help me accomplish this goal, I wish I had created more, smaller deadlines with Ashley to keep me on track.