Summer Goals

Here are a few items I have decided to work towards this summer. Most of these goals have at their core, the purpose of increasing my productivity and really moving toward some larger goals that I have.

Ride My Bike

This being my first summer living downtown, I'd like to take advantage of the area and ride my bike around of some of the surrounding neighborhoods. These older neighborhoods are in a large way undergoing a massive renovation as older occupants move out and younger tenants come in. Many of these houses have already been purchased by wealthy families and renovated into detailed and ornate works of art. The canopied streets come courtesy of large, venerable trees. This stress-reliever will contribute to my overall contentment and relaxation, which hopefully keeps me more productive.

Beethoven Sonata Analysis

In my area of art, the final product is often lost. The interpretation of a piece may be recorded, but as an art, the performer is limited in his creativity. What final product can come from the hours of study at the piano that may be preserved forever? The perfect interpretation really comes from the mind and is never fully realized as sound, for no performance ever comes out entirely as planned. Because of this, it seems befitting to put myself to work on some sort of music research. I'm not completely certain of what the future holds for the great amount of effort I would put into this analysis (there are 32 sonatas, most with 3 or 4 movements), but I am confident that this is the first step towards the creation of something that might be more concrete (i.e. essays or articles). I've already finished a loose outline of the first half of the sonatas, so there should be some content to post here soon.

Start Blogging on a Regular Basis

I have been blogging on and off for the past several years. It is one of the few things that brings me a lot of consistent satisfaction. Even the idea of amalgamating in text the thoughts and ideas of my life over time contributes to the feeling of creating something more concrete. Maybe the practice of writing will serve as an investment for the future, where I hope to eventually write something with significant length.

To be continued...

-Taylor