Crazytown

IT'S FINALS WEEK, Y'ALL

A glimpse into the life of a music grad student, at the end of her 3rd semester.
by Amanda Louise Miller, three-fourths of a Master of Music 

This week was finals week at OCU, where I'm now officially and M-and-a-half (done with three out of four semesters required for my MM degree).  After a week of papers, presentations, projects, and exams, I decided to go with a multi-media blog this week.  :)  So enjoy this glimpse into the life of a grad student at finals time.   (All photos from the Bass School of Music Facebook Page.)

(Average temperature in OKC this week: 50 degrees.)  

(On the OCU Facebook page this week:  "December roses hold on for a second sub-freezing morning in the Naifeh Garden, outside the BMC's student lounge, as we head into Day 2 of juries and exams. Hang in there!")

(Finals in Music Theatre Workshop classes involve scene presentations. This is "Girls Night Out," music and lyrics by yours truly.)

(The other half of the class performed "Dedication," from my yet-to-be-written musical titled Hair World.)

GEEK CHIC

Geek vs. Nerd vs. Dork... and why the battle itself is so darn cool.
by Amanda Louise Miller, card-carrying nerd 

“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.” ― Simon Pegg

Hello, my name is Amanda Miller, and I am a geek. Also a nerd. 

Oh, and occasionally, a dork.  And, like any self-proclaimed "genork," I can tell you with complete confidence that these terms should not be used interchangeably.  There is, in fact, a "genork heirarchy."

Genork: n., A term coined from the words "geek", "dork", and "nerd" combined for those people who fall under the category of all three.  -- Urban Dictionary

I was first introduced to said heirarchy several years ago, at one of the nerdiest locations I have ever visited-- "Blackboard World" (an annual convention for computer programmers and system administrators who use Blackboard educational software).

Sidebar: You have not lived until you've seen a Blackboard World party. If you thought theatre people were crazy...

But the "geeks-are-cooler-than-nerds-are-cooler-than-dorks-are-cooler-than-dweebs" heirarchy briefly outlined for me by Neil (the high-level IT professional from Blackboard World who was, he insisted, a "geek," not a nerd) was only the beginning. These days, geek is chic, and heirarchies, memes, definitions, and totally awesome flowcharts abound in the interwebs....

 
(Image located here.)

(Geek vs. Nerd vs. Dork:  Read the blog post that goes with this picture here.)

(This one is the most common according to my google search and is worth viewing full-size.  Or see it on the web here.)

MUSICAL MAKEOVERS

Anyone can cover a song.  Follow these tips to make your cover amazing.
by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student 

YouTube is a cover artist’s paradise, playground, and stage.  A search for the word “cover” on YouTube yields 2.25 million hits -- a search yielding everything from acoustic ballads to dub-step versions that range from flat out awful to just plain amazing. 

Click HERE for an interesting list of the top 10 most covered songs, as of November 2012.

But what makes some covers soar as artistic and succesful creations in their own right, while others fall flat on their auto-tuned faces?  I've noticed that many of my favorite cover songs have a few things in common.  Putting my "extensive research" (see also:  "obsessive YouTube addiction") to good use, I have put together four easy steps to creating a totally awesome musical cover:

1. Pick a song that is simple and iconic.  
   
   Perfect examples of "simple" cover-prone songs are "Somebody That I Used to Know" (the "Walk off the Earth" cover is my personal favorite!) or "Call Me Maybe" -- simple, catchy melodies and repetitive chord structures allow lots of fun freedom to the cover artists.
   
   Perhaps because they are so musically simple, rap songs seem to lend themselves to awesome remakes.  The group Karmin has some terrific examples of rap remakes.  And I've mentioned my favorite "Gilbert and Sullivan Baby Got Back" in an earlier post; here is another hilarious and delightful remake of that same song:
   
    
   
   And as far as "iconic" cover fodder is concerned, it doesn't get more iconic than "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." (Right, Wicked?)  This Eva Cassidy cover of the Wizard of Oz standard is definitely one of my favorites:
   
   
   
   
2. Make sure to keep the song's amazing/iconic parts (so that it stays recognizeable).
   
   For most songs, this would probably include a combination of melody and lyrics, though the most iconic parts could be a rhythm, an instrumentation, or even a performance practice.
   
   

BEAT BLACK FRIDAY BOREDOM!

Home from shopping already and wondering how to spend the rest of your day off? Look no further!

by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student 

Ah, Black Friday:  that joyous, festive, and truly inspiring national holiday when everyone shows just how thankful they really are by trampling their fellow man to a bloody pulp in hopes of getting an iPad for 24% off.

Though, I have to admit, I have a soft spot in my heart for this annual event (it's right next to my Pumpkin Spice Latte obsession), for a collection of random and sentimental reasons.  

For example:  I remember the year my sister and I stood in line outside an Office Depot in freezing Chicago weather to purchase her a laptop. Clutching cups of coffee from the Dunkin Donuts down the street, we made friends in line, and - despite a horribly managed line and plenty of would-be cutters - managed to snag one of the dirt-cheap laptops.

(Black Friday 2007 -- sis, you owe me for not putting up more of these pictures!)

And then there are the childhood memories: waking up early to go on a "special" shopping trip with Mom, finding the perfect present at a price my allowance could afford, and the more recent ones, like the Black Friday when I bought my favorite pair of boots (*sniff* I remember it well!).  

But, by the time you're reading this blog post, it's likely that you've already braved the crowds and the elements and the thrill of the consumer chase has worn off.  You're probably already home by now, if you went out at all, and debating whether to drag your carload of Christmas presents into the house or raid the fridge for more cheesy potatoes, surrounded by a random collection of napping family members and a variety of sporting events playing on TV in the background.... and possibly, just possibly, you're bored.

Well, never fear, and look no further!  I've compiled for you a list of creative, amusing, and (for the most part) family-friendly activities guaranteed to save even the grinchiest from Black Friday burn out!

BRAINSTORM’S A BREWIN

Everyone loves a good brain dump:  the 5 “W”s of a effective brainstorm.
by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student

Ever since elementary school, I’ve always been “that girl” when it comes to writing papers -- no, not the girl that wrote her speech on the bus the morning it was due and won the school-wide DARE speech competition:  that was my sister.  (grr)

I was the girl who, for starters, never had any trouble reaching the allotted word count for an assignment, who honestly loved book reports and research papers, and who always ended up taking at least 3 or 4 drafts to get her work “just write” (get it?).

(Writing is rewriting.  Just ask Sherlock Bones here.
*image from this great blog about writer's block)

Meanwhile, most of my classmates (and, let’s be honest: probably most normal people) would take out their erasable blue pens, start writing with the first sentence of whatever assignment they were given, write until they had reached the minimum amount words required, tack on a conclusion sentence, and stop.  Later, they would use their red pens to fix spelling and grammatical errors, and recopy the entire paper again neatly onto another sheet of paper (and yes, I did go to school in the time of the dinosaurs, aka “pre-word-processor-prevalence,” and we were required to do just that). 

(Back in my day, people wrote with these things called pens.  *Image from a fun how-to-write-a-paper website)

But that “normal,” linear, start-at-the-very-beginning approach didn’t make sense to my little brain back then, and, frankly, it still doesn’t.  “How can you know HOW to write your paper (or novel, or musical libretto),” I wonder(ed), “until you know everything you want to say about it?”  

...Cut to my classmates counting words and adding superfluous adjectives a la Lucy in “The Book Report."

("...fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.  Hmm.  Eighty-three to go.") 

It’s probably no surprise, then, that brainstorming is a huge part of my creative process.  Now, for many people, the word “brainstorming” evokes memories of unproductive group meetings or excuses one makes for procrastination.  (“My article?  Um... it’s in the ... brainstorming stage.  Yeah, that’s it -- I’m brainstorming.  What?  Surfing YouTube counts as brainstorming!”)

However, when approached with a little bit of planning and wide open mind, brainstorming can be an invaluable tool in a multitude of problem-solving settings, creative or otherwise.  All you need to keep in mind are the “5 W’s”:  What, Why, When, hoW, and What not to do.

A TRIP TO THE MOVIE THEATRE

Why commercial video recordings of theatrical performances are artistically important and potentially lucrative...and an awesome website that proves it!
by Amanda Louise Miller, productive procrastinator 

The inspiration for this post came, as many good ideas often do, late at night as I was surfing YouTube as a means of homework procrastination.  What is normally a half-hearted exploration of cat videos and cabaret performances turned totally awesome when I stumbled across a fact that had my little music theatre nerd heart doing jazz hands in my chest:  the Stephen Sondheim’s Company (in Concert) video recording gets released next week!  (November 13, to be exact:  you can find it on Amazon HERE!)

This particular video release is uber exciting for me, for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that I played Amy in 2009 and that I have a shameless crush on Neil Patrick Harris.  (le sigh...)

(fact:  this is one of the most difficult-to-memorize musical theatre pieces I've ever encountered!)

As I giddily wait for the Company release date, I keep remembering how excited I was to see this movie in my local movie theatre, and I find myself harkening back to other videos of live performances I have seen - and loved - over the years.  As someone who grew up on a farm in the middle of the Midwest, traveling to New York City to see, for example, Into the Woods on Broadway was simply not an option during my childhood; they might as well have been doing the show on the moon.  However, thanks to that magical VHS tape that my sister and I nearly played to pieces, recorded from a PBS Great Performances broadcast, little Amanda still had the chance to absorb the wit, craft, and spectacle of a wonderful Broadway show into her artistic and creative DNA, from the comfort of her Nebraska living room.

(Seriously SUCH a big part of my childhood!)

From Pippin to Rent (the awesome live-recorded "final" performance, not the moderately crummy movie version), from Putting it Together to Legally Blonde, and from Oklahoma to Memphis, there are many great examples of stage-to-screen translations that I personally find entertaining, educational, and inspiring.  

But there can and should still be more!  One of my biggest wishes for musical (and straight) theatre in the United States is that more producers and production companies would see the potential creative, cultural, and financial profits to be made in the filming and release of theatrical productions for a worldwide audience. 

I DON’T LOVE YOU...YET

Or, "Why my Music Theatre Lit professor says Rodgers and Hammerstein are sexy."
by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student 

Music Theatre Literature is kind of a dream class for a theatre nerd like me -- we get to listen to musicals, watch videos of musicals, and talk about musicals, working our way through history from ragtime and operetta to the modern day.  (Click HERE for a link to my previous "Modern Major General" post, fearing members of the class.)  This week, we have made it to those kings of dramatically-validated music, Rodgers and Hammerstein.

"This is so sexy," my professor prefaced us, as he cued up a video from Oklahoma.  "Forget all of the bad productions of Oklahoma you've seen and try to watch this with fresh eyes.  You'll see:  it's seduction."

("Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from Oklahoma.)

My professor was right, of course.  Granted, someone as sexypants as Hugh Jackman could probably make a root canal sexy, but I think there's something profoundly alluring in the subtext and the playfulness of this musical scene.  It's flirty, it's fun, it's human, and it's REAL.  And don't even get me started on "People Will Say We're in Love."  :)

The fact is, good ol' reliable R&H were masters of the "almost" love song.

"almost" love song (or ALS):  (n)  a duet between a musical's romantic leads, happening early on in the show, in which the characters deliberately do NOT profess their love for each other (though we know that they totally will by the final curtain).

There are lots of reasons why "almost" love songs are so awesome:

• They provide a clear starting point for the main characters' arc, and provide lots of room for character development throughout the show -- if a script makes a point to state that two characters are NOT in love in act 1, you can bet they will be in love at some point before the final curtain!
• They are far more interesting than plain old love songs.  Subtext, layers of meaning, sarcasm, and denial -- all are far more meaty feasts for audiences (and actors!) to chew on than plain old vanilla adoration, and ALS's have them in spades.  (Plus, how many words are there that rhyme with "love," really?)
• These songs get the audience rooting for the successful uniting show's main characters.  ("Of course they are perfect for each other -- just listen to them harmonize!")
• They are sexy.  Relationship experts tend to have differing opinions on whether or not playing "hard to get" actually works, but I think most people will agree that the anticipation leading up to that magical foot-popping first kiss is often the sexiest part of the smooching process.  And that's what these "I don't love you yet" songs are -- that agonizingly delicious, cut-with-a-knife sexual tension that boils up between two people who have yet to act on their feelings for one another.
  
  

While Rodgers and Hammerstein were undesputed giants in the "ALS" field (for further "R&H Were Awesome" evidence, see "If I Loved You" and "Twin Soliloquies"), they're certainly not the only musical theatre writers to utilize the magic of the "I Don't Love You Yet" format.

DROWNING (IN DEADLINES)? THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT.

Task management tools:  the good, the bad, and the ugly.
by Amanda Louise Miller, militant multitasker

I don't know about you, but for me, it's been "one of those weeks." You know, the kind of week where you keep climbing uphill-- andworking REALLY HARD at it, too--but never get anything actually accomplished.

(This poor puppy has a case of "The Octobers.")

And it's not just me - lots of my classmates and friends all seem to have at least a mild case right now of what I'm calling "The Octobers": a low-level of general stress and grouchiness, stemming from lots of projects and goals to complete, and the fact that we're still a LONG way from holiday vacation.  (Oy.)

So, basically:

(Sound familiar?)

I think it's safe to say that all artists, or really anyone who has to juggle work, family, hobbies, art, relationships, obligations, and all of the other mutlifaceted nonsense that goes into being a "productive member of society" get a case of The Octobers now and then.

So, how does one combat this dreaded (if inevitable) "man-in-the-chair"ness?  Well, there are lots of ways - some good and some, not so good.

The not-so-good ways are the most fun, of course.

(click the pictures to see the amination!)

And then there's always my tried and true method:  procrastination via Facebook and/or Netflix.

("Maybe, if I watch one more episode of Dr. Who on Netflix, I'll be able to go back in time myself and get all this crap done!  Yeah, that'll work.  Right?  Right?")

But all joking (and adorable David Tenant gifs) aside, I did find a few non-destructive tools to conquer my mountainous mass of "todo's" --- and my case of The Octobers.

ODE TO THE "HYPHENATES" (PART 2)

This week, we look at three more impressively-multifacted college artists.
by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student 

In last week's post, I started talking about the idea of "hyphenates."  In my book, hyphenates are individuals who persue activities in more than one creative genre.  I first heard of the term as "a thing" on a Barbra Streisand recording:

"Growing up, I always wanted to write music.  Maybe a symphony, maybe something for a movie.  And when I was 14, I remember standing in front of the mirror with a hairbrush, conducing Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and crying.  I also wanted to play the part, by the way.  It was my first dream hyphenate:  'conductor-actress.'"   -- Barbra Streisand, "Evergreen" (frm her Timeless album - watch the video clip here.)

Nowadays, I usually call myself a "writer-composer-performer-educator," but when I was in elementary school, my "dream hyphenate" included at least a dozen different careers. I remember, as a kindergartener, usually answering the "What do you want to be when you grow up?" question with something like:  "An astronaut-slash-ballerina-slash-detective-slash-musician-slash-scientist-slash-writer-slash-fashion-designer-slash-artist-slash-mom..." (at which point the well-meaning grown up who asked the question would start backing away slowly, leaving me to keep listing job after job).

Kindergarten Amanda may be a rare example, but you can find us hyphenates everywhere, working and doing all the things that we love, if you know where to look.  This week, I'm profiling four more particularly awesome collegiate hyphenates from around the Midwest:  Jamie Fields, Kathryn Miller, and Stephen Variames.  Haven't heard of them yet?  You will.  :)

ODE TO THE "HYPHENATES" (PART 1)

Some collegiate artists have too much passion to fit inside a single box. 
by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student 

One of the hardest things for me about completing these blog posts every week is deciding what to put as a "job title" after my name.  “Grad student” is accurate, but boring (and, to be honest, a bit misleading, since I've been working as a professional in education since 2003).  But “writer-composer-performer-educator-faculty developer” sounds silly and pretentious.  Often, I try to err on the side of unpretentious and/or funny, with varying degrees of success.

Fact is, I’m a “hyphenate.”  I play in many different creative sandboxes, and they’re all extremely important to me.  We’re a rare breed, we hyphenates -- we’re generally too busy to let you in on everything we’re doing, we’re probably running on caffeine and deadlines, but we’re out there.

A few fun and famous examples of “my people” include Barbra Streisand, Carla (from Top Chef), and I have to mention Nathalie Stutzmann (the extremely badass conductor-vocalist of early music I recently researched for a grad class in a project that inspired this blog post).

I thought the most interesting way to explore this idea, though, would be to focus on the famous-to-be.  So today (and in some future posts down the road), I’m sharing profiles of some of the coolest collegiate hyphenates I know, sharing - in their own words - their plans, talents, and opinions on what it means to be so fabulously multifaceted.

This week, we'll get to meet an "actor-poet-visual-artist," a "theatrical-dance-opera lighting designer/modern dancer/stage production technician," an "actor-director-choreographer," all persuing undergraduate or graduate degrees at various colleges in the Midwest.