Week 8 is over! This should officially be the last week of my Ingram Summer Project. However, I have decided to continue my project for an additional two weeks. I have two more weeks of classes until the end of the summer semester. I found that this was the week when I finally started to feel comfortable. I felt confident in my teaching abilities, I was perfecting my lesson plans, and I began to own what I was doing. In short, I started to fill the position I had carved out for myself. It's interesting that it took me two months to get to this point. Also, I have been working with W.O. Smith for three years. It's difficult to imagine how other scholars could have gotten to this point working within an organization they have never worked with before. At this point in the Basics of Music Creation class, most of the syllabus has been covered. The last two weeks will mostly be focused on working on the students' final original compositions. Now that the majority of the lesson planning is complete, I can start to focus on implementation and the next step in the curriculum. Right now I am thinking that the class should feed into one of three electives: 1) Garage Band Class (MIDI input, sound production); 2) Sibelius Class (composition and arranging); 3) or Songwriting Class.
About Me
- Cayla Mackey
- I am a rising senior at Vanderbilt University majoring in "Music, Language, and Culture." I am a guitar teacher of three years at W.O. Smith and have been heavily involved in music since the age of six. I play the piano, violin, guitar, sing, write songs, arrange, and compose. I have participated in youth symphonies, touring high school symphonies, chamber groups, quartets, A Capella groups, and summer music conservatories. It's an honor to be a part of W.O. Smith!