The TED Talk: Making the Most of a Niche Topic

The preparation for my TED talk was relatively simple, at least compared to the preparation for my civic artifact speech. I had already thought through most of my material, and, in fact, had already talked through most of it as well (my writing process consists mainly of talking to myself). The real challenges lay in the visual aids and the time limit.

I decided to keep the visual aids simple, as the focus should be mostly on the music and composers. I kept text to a minimum and maintained a black and white scheme for this reason. To make the audio clips, I used a composition program called MuseScore 2.0. The inclusion of the audio clips was suggested to me by Dr. Kramer, and I agreed that it would be effective.

When I initially talked through everything I wanted to say, my speech was around 7 minutes long. I decided to narrow the focus somewhat; while my research paper had extensive material regarding the time periods surrounding serialism, the talk is more focused on just the movement of serialism. This had the added benefit of simplifying the talk, making it easier for the audience to follow.

Due to the somewhat niche nature of my topic, I joked with a classmate that I would have to keep the audience engaged with a series of jokes. Ultimately, I managed to make my talk far more straightforward and relatable than early drafts, but remnants of the humor I tried to inject remained in the form of the "it didn't" joke near the middle of my talk.

I believe that I was rather well-prepared for the talk. I had a good handle on my visual aids, and I got a good night's sleep. In retrospect, however, I should have finalized my talk earlier and given myself more time to rehearse the finalized version.

As for the talk itself, it suffered the usual problems I experience: a lack of variance in my voice and somewhat closed-off body language. Both of these were improved from my civic artifact speech, but they were still not up to par. My posture, especially, is something I wish to work on in the future.

In addition, I could have certainly used my hands more. I tried to demonstrate some concepts with my hands when explaining how composers manipulated tone rows, but, upon watching the video, I have realized that my gestures were not clear enough to get the point across. In preparing for my speech, I should have made a more conscious effort to prescribe the motions of my hands and arms in order to better convey both emotions and messages.

The Paradigm Shift in 20th-Century Music

Photo credit: Jean-Pierre Dalbera

Topic: My essay will cover the rise of serial music (music composed based on mathematical formulas and numerical values) in the 20th century.

Thesis: In the first half of the 20th century, having recognized the limits of tonal music, Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School of composers ushered in serial music, a new type of music based more on math than on chords.

General Direction: I will start by describing the state of classical music at the turn of the 20th century, citing works by late Romantic and early modern composers like Mahler and Stravinsky. I will then explain the limitations of the tonal system, and why Schoenberg composed using his new, twelve-tone, serial system. After this, I will describe the development of twelve-tone music by the Second Viennese School. I will then show how this twelve-tone system was adopted by composers like Stravinsky and expanded into serial music. Finally, I will explain the musical movement's overall effect on both classical and popular music.

Preliminary Sources:

Haimo, Ethan. “Developing Variation and Schoenberg's Serial Music.” Music Analysis, vol. 16, no. 3,

     1997, pp. 349–365. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/854403.

Kostka, Stefan M. Materials and Techniques of Twentieth-century Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
     Prentice Hall, 2006. Print. 
Lecture 131 - 23.5 - Schoenberg and the Twelve-tone Music. Perf. Craig Wright. Coursera. Yale
     University. Web.

Music and Beards

Paradigm Shift 1: The Rise of 12-Tone Music
 

Source: Ali Wade

In the first few decades of the 20th century, composers were becoming exhausted trying to push the limits of tonal music. Some still succeeded by taking rhythms and dissonance to the extremes, most notably Igor Stravinsky, but many were frustrated.

Enter Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg pioneered the 12-tone system of music: instead of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale being defined by their relationship to a modal scale (a major or minor scale), they were arranged into a tone row. In a tone row, each of the 12 notes is played once and only once, and no note takes precedence over any other in the row.

Schoenberg's 12-tone system was one of the most influential musical ideas of the 20th century. My essay would explore: why Schoenberg was prompted to create it; why other composers accepted it; why some (like Stravinsky) opposed it; and the lasting effect it had on music, classical or otherwise.

Paradigm Shift 2: Beards on College Graduates
 

Source: Reddit

This is a graph of the type of facial hair college graduates have had through the years. It was created by poring through hundreds of yearbook photos and classifying the beards contained within.

Okay, so yeah, the graph is just the work of some random dude on the Internet looking through yearbooks, but scientific surveys would agree with the results: something happened in 1970 that triggered an explosion of beards.

My essay would explore: what cultural shifts led to the massive spike in beards; how much of an effect this had on the professional world; and why the prevalence of beards gradually wore off.

Mr. Rogers: Delivery and Ethos

In 1969, Fred Rogers, host of the children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, gave the following testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Communication in defense of public funding for television programs:

The testimony is a well-constructed argument, and is organized logically, but the factor that sets it apart from most other speeches is Rogers' delivery.

Rogers' manner of speaking seems odd at first; it's slow, with frequent pauses, and softly monotone almost to the point of being dispassionate. Senator John Pastore, the chairman of the subcommittee, seems to perceive this as almost childish, asking flippantly if it would "make [Rogers] happy if [he] read [his philosophical statement]."

However, as his testimony continues, Rogers' method of delivery becomes clear. He speaks slowly and deliberately, choosing each word carefully. Instead of inserting filler words, he pauses momentarily before moving on. These practices make his testimony far clearer than if he were racing through it, tripping over himself.

Rogers' slow manner of speaking, in conjunction with his soft, consistent enunciation, serves another purpose: building his ethos. By delivering his testimony in the same manner as he speaks on his television show, Rogers proves to his audience that he knows how to speak in a soothing, non-confrontational manner appropriate for children.

Rogers' testimony ends with his recitation of the lyrics from a song (written and performed by him) from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. By this point, he has shown, largely through his delivery, that he and his program are beneficial to children. He recites the lyrics in the same manner as the rest of his testimony, and, once he finishes, Senator Pastore affirms support for the funding of television programs like Rogers'

Of course, not all speeches should be delivered softly and soothingly like Rogers' testimony. However, the care he chooses his words with, the consistency of his delivery throughout the speech, and the use of his delivery to build his ethos are all hallmarks of great speeches.

Rhetoric in Our Heads: The Speaker and Audience as One

Image courtesy of Rik Hartley

Before taking this course, I had never really thought about rhetoric as an everyday tool; I pictured it as a thing reserved to political discussions, public forums, and formal debates. The realization that it is something we use in practically every meaningful conversation was the most striking concept of this course so far.

Though the definition of rhetoric we have used in class was broader than my own to begin with, that definition, upon further reflection, may have an unnecessary constraint: the existence of a second person.

We have applied the study of rhetoric to group decisions, such as deciding where to go out to eat. Each person who wishes to contribute to the decision presents their argument, and, after weighing each argument, the group decides where to eat in a way that is satisfactory for everyone involved. Those presenting the arguments use the tools of rhetoric.

What if this same reasoning could be applied to individual decisions? When someone decides where to eat, he or she goes through a similar process, weighing the perceived advantages and disadvantages of several different possible choices before settling on one.

However, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of different choices is not the same as making a rhetorical argument for or against each choice. In the absence of new arguments from outside sources, people only rarely convince themselves to meaningfully change their mind. Whatever the advantages and disadvantages of a certain restaurant are to a certain person, they will likely remain the same unless that person takes in new information or arguments.

So is rhetoric applicable at all to individual minds? In the case of opinions, probably not. However, it may be applicable to changes in behavior.

Imagine a man who wanted to start going to the gym. However, he could never find the motivation to; every night, he told himself he would go the next day, but every morning he told himself he was too tired. But then, one morning, the man said to himself, "If you don't go to the gym now, then you'll never go to the gym." And so he went to the gym.

The logic of the man's declaration is questionable, but it is a (simple) rhetorical argument in favor of going to the gym. It has a speaker (the man), an audience (also the man), and a message (you should go to the gym). It even achieves its goal.

I believe that situations like this present examples of rhetoric between a person and him- or herself. Furthermore, I believe that, by leveraging the tools of rhetoric, we can, as the man did in this situation, convince ourselves to change our behavior in a positive way.

The Dark Side of the Civic

Image courtesy of Frederic C. Chalfant

Until last month, this monument stood in Bishop Square Park, in Baltimore. It depicts two women: one holds her dying son in her arms, while the other stands defiantly. The scene is one of great courage, determination, and tenderness, depicted beautifully by the sculptor J Maxwell Miller.

It's too bad, then, that the dying son is a Confederate soldier, and that the monument, called the Confederate Women's Monument, was installed not to remember his sacrifice but to advance the dangerously false, patently racist idea of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy.

The monument was installed in 1917, and was funded by a combination of state grants and money raised by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). Though ostensibly meant to honor the sacrifices of Confederate soldiers, its installation in a Union state shortly after the passage of residential segregation laws in Baltimore calls that motive into question.

My speech would examine the intent behind the installation of the monument, as well as the reasons why it stood for nearly 100 years and, if time allows, the reasons why it was eventually taken down, as stated in historical documents and contemporary news sources.

Moreover, my speech would analyze the rhetorical strategies used by both the UDC and J Maxwell Miller to glorify the Confederacy, such as the pathos of losing a child, religious symbolism, and parallels to other, better-known statues.

Particularly notable among these rhetorical strategies is the use of the commonplace. The monument was installed at a time when the portrayal of the Confederacy as a fallen hero was common, but monuments like it and the organizations that supported them were largely responsible for this belief. The analysis of this chicken-and-egg relationship would be an integral part of my speech.

As I see it right now, my hook could go one of two ways: it could either be similar to the start of this blog post (emphasizing the monument's artistic merits before revealing its meaning), or it could emphasize the recent events that resulted in the statue's removal (most prominently, the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville). I am leaning heavily towards the first option, so as to preserve focus on the monument itself, but I am welcome to any suggestions.

Sources

• Confederate Women's Monument, 1915-1917, Special Commission to Review Baltimore's Public Confederate Monuments
  
• Confederate Monuments, Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation

Sci-fi? And engineering? What am I, a nerd?

The answer is yes.

I've narrowed down my options to two passion blogs. As of now, I am leaning towards the first (probably because it gives me an excuse to watch a bunch of movies), but I am open to either. I welcome any suggestions to improve these ideas.

Now, without further ado:

Futures of the Past: Examining the Historical Context of Classic Sci-Fi

Image courtesy of Classic Film

Last night, I watched The Day the Earth Stood Still on Netflix. Made in 1951, it is the UFO story: a flying saucer lands in Washington, DC, and its occupant, named Klaatu, must deliver an urgent message to all of the world's leaders.

Of course, things turn south almost immediately; Klaatu is shot by a soldier, and, while recovering, is told that a meeting of the world's leaders would be impossible due to the Cold War.

For all of its merits as a film, The Day the Earth Stood Still made a greater impression on me as a reflection of the time in which it was made. Its script is steeped in the global tensions of the time, reflecting incredulity at the hostility between the USA and the USSR and fear of the atomic destruction such hostility could bring about.

This blog would focus on one science fiction film per entry, dissecting the film's relationship to the social, political, economic, or religious climate of the time and place in which the film was made. Entries would be in chronological order by the film's release date, starting, perhaps, with Metropolis (released in 1927) and extending... well, as far as I get.

 Why Engineering? I Dunno, I Guess I'm Good at Math

Image courtesy of Behdad Esfahbod

The title of this blog is the answer I usually give when someone asks me why I decided to major in engineering. Though a little tongue-in-cheek, it's true: I don't know exactly why I want to be an engineer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm confident in my choice of major. I enjoy my classes, and I look forward to any career or research opportunities that may come my way.

But I can't really outline the path I took to get here. I've known for a long time that I wanted to be an engineer, but I don't know how, or even when, I made that decision. I hope that, by writing in this blog about my pathway to engineering, I can find the answers to these questions.

I am not entirely sure how to structure the five entries of this blog. I could make them chronological, starting in elementary school and ending in college. Alternatively, I could write each blog post about a specific topic, such as classwork or extracurricular activities. I am open to any other suggestions, as well.