Tag: applications

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.

Ok, I have to write a statement of purpose for my applications. I have a book that adviss me of things to think about (it also advises me to start my application process 1.5 years ago. arg)

• How you came to be interested in a field and why you think you are well suited to it.
• apsects of you life that make you uniquely qualified to pursue study in a field
• experiences or qualities that distinguish you from other applicants.

etc etc. it’s all dull and weird and hard. yikes.

Statement of purpose

When I was in highschool, I had to make a descision between pursuing a career in computer programming or in professional tuba playing. After getting advice from my tuba teacher, I decided it would be smarter to study computer science. In college, finished all the requirements for my major by my junior year, so I started taking music classs and got interested in composition. I graduated with two majors.
I started a professional career in computer programming, the plan I chose for eceonomic 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 the culture of sillicon valley. When I got laid off in 2001, I didn’t look for a job right away, but instead evaluated making a career change to music, but as a composer, rather than as a tuba player.
Last spring I went to the Composing a Career Confrence 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 master’s programs. Your caught my interest because of you faculty, especially [professor] whose music is very intesesting and whose books I’ve read cover to cover.
Your program is also interesting because of it’s electronic music program. This is where my current skills lie, but I’m also interested in aquiring new skills in composing for pitched instruments. Since your program covers both types of composing, I hope to be able to hone my existing skills and translate them, while aquiring new skills, to more pitched composing.

It doesn’t matter who I’m trying to kid because all the applications are due January 15h and I haven’t taken the GRE yet and I don’t have an appointment and I don’t know any vocabulary or highschool math. And more importantly, I don’t have much of a portfolio, especially in regular composition, which is what I want to study, I think, or not. Maybe I want to be more electronic.
christi keeps telling me to apply to Mills. But all of my academic reccomendations would come from Mils people. How would that work out? and I wasn’t very serious as an undergrad and wasn’t very sauve or polite and there are plenty of peope around who probably still don’t like me or think I’m a trouble maker. the old head of campus computer services thought I was compromising security on the netword and was convinced I was behind every computer misdeed that occurred. (It didn’t help when the Mills Weekly quoted me out of context when I was answering questions about denial of service attacks. It ended up as looking like a how-to manual, which is stupid because even though I know how to do stuff in theory, I have no practical computer cracking skills.) I only caused a minor system disruption once and it was an accident.
Anyway, I’ve already gone to Mills. I’d feel like a loser going to the same college forever. If they’d even want me back.
My plans are all in conflict. I want to stay here. I want to go away. I want to study regular composition. but I don’t know anything aout it, there’s nothing to reccomend me to the program. I want to use my degree to get research appointments. Appointments are for people who do electronic music. I already know how to do electronic music, I don’t need to go to more school. Research locations only want people with advanced degrees. Yarg, if I knew how to do everything they seem to want for me t get in, I wouldn’t need more education. How does that work?
whine whine whine. I’m so privledged. My whines ought to make people want to kick me. A freind of a freind is making lists of people who will be killled in the revolution. I’m probably on hiz list. I don’t think I want hiz revoltuion. (Hiz is a new genderqueer pronoun I just made up even though I’m not genderqueer. Yet another reason to be targetted by that sort of revolution.)
I just reread Ecotopia. I don’t have a single original idea in my whole head.