Maddi Rihn - CPSArts Pentathalon

Pentathlon #5: May 6th, 2020

For my final pentathlon of the semester (and I guess of the program!), I edited, reformatted, and added color to the comic I made for Eva’s creative writing workshop. This was the first comic I digitally colored, and I really like how it turned out! It looks much more professional and much more suited for social media or printing.

For the past couple of years I’ve been really interested in comics as both an art form and a storytelling medium. As an English major/literature nerd and an artist I’m really glad to have found this happy compromise between the two.

Comics are also a medium that are perfect for an informative purpose, because they’re accessible, easy to read, and entertaining to read. I recently found this almost 10-year-old comic by JB Brager about the housing co-op I’m currently a member of! Also, this piece by Flynn Nicholls about Mariame Kaba and prison abolition is one of my favorite short comics. 

SHOW & TELL

I mostly finished recording! Aside from a few changes I need to make with the audio and the album artwork, the EP is mostly done. This week I’m going to reach out to friends and peers for feedback and make some changes upon their suggestions, and then gather materials for the rough draft of my wix site. 

SECOND LOOK

Pentathlon #4: DC Punk Archive Zine & Flyer Collection

College Park, MD

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

With lack of access to physical materials in archives and/or the library, I spent much of the last week looking through the DC Punk Archive’s digital collection of zines, flyers, and photographs from the 80s to the present. I’ve been doing this not only out of curiosity, but also because I’ve been working on a curation proposal for the Stamp Gallery’s summer exhibition which centers past and present documentations of the spatial and cultural landscape of DC DIY music. These digitized collections were VERY helpful in doing so.

I really enjoyed looking through these artifacts and especially seeing the intrinsic connection between punk music and activism, which is the subject matter of most of the flyers and zine covers I’ve included in this post. Punk and DIY music is so inherently linked to social unrest and activism, especially in DC. It was so cool to see a firsthand account of this in the form of printed matter like zines.

Process Journal #9: April 12, 2020

SHOW & TELL

This week I was able to record some pretty simple demos of the three songs I have done (linked above)! They were done with acoustic guitar on a single track, recorded mostly as a base of comparison for the final versions, which should be finished next week. I plan to add drum tracks and other guitar parts. 

ADVISOR FEEDBACK

When I went into my advising appointment, I was primarily concerned with the quality of my recordings. I brought the recording from process journal #8, which was recorded on GarageBand on my phone. I was glad to be reaffirmed that the quality wasn’t that bad!

Additionally, Harold gave me some good feedback on the organization of my wix page. He said that including old versions of songs, riffs, and notes would be a good way to show the progression of the ep and my songwriting process, which is definitely something I agree with and intend to include in my final exhibition!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Process Journal #8: April 5, 2020

SHOW & TELL

This is one of my favorite songs that I’ve written! It’s about blood and secrets and feeling connected to the dirt. Musically, I took a lot of influence from the Thunder Thighs cover I posted a few weeks ago - the song has a very simplistic chord progression that is repeated throughout (most) of the song. The original version I planned to upload had a drum track, but in order to include it I would have had to re-record the lyrics. So here it is (bare) for now. I’ve been learning a lot about the recording process (especially all the ways it can go wrong).

In broader project terms, I have a lot done on my capstone! I have 5 songs (music and lyrics) completed, 1 song with finished lyrics but incomplete music, and 4 songs that are still in the works. I’ve started recording three of them (including this one).

CURATION PLAN

1. Online recorded album (likely uploaded to Bandcamp)

2. #1 AND video recordings of me playing the songs

3. #1 AND social media live-stream

4. #1 AND #2 or #3, and an online gallery of writings/notes/etc relating to the creative process.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Process Journal #7: March 25, 2020

SHOW & TELL

This is the song that emerged from the tune I posted for the last process journal! I didn’t have time to add vocals, but I do have lyrics written! I’m overall pretty proud of it, and the riff for the song is one of my favorite that I’ve written (and one that came, surprisingly, very organically). 

CREATIVITY/TIME MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE

I really liked the advice about time management. Many of the things in this category I already use to manage my academic work (such as making to-do lists, prioritizing certain tasks, and setting aside time to do said tasks), so it was interesting and helpful to think about them in a creative framework. This week, I set aside time in 3-hour chunks for writing, and made sure to also factor idle time into my schedule for relaxing and thinking, which I think are vital to the creative process. 

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Process Journal #6: March 11, 2020

SHOW & TELL

Above I’ve uploaded a short piece that I wrote about a week ago - it was one of the first warm days in a while, and I sat outside with my guitar and called some friends on zoom and eventually recorded this. It was one of the first pieces that I recorded using GarageBand - since then I’ve turned it into a full song which I’ll upload next week!

ALUMNI INSIGHTS

The advice from alumni that stuck with me the most were comments about the creative process. Damien’s suggestion about taking walks to jump-start or help with the creative process turned out to really help me within the past couple weeks (and especially now during quarantine). Since then, I’ve been walking a lot around my neighborhood, along the trolley trail, and biking a lot to/around Lake Artemesia. It’s been really peaceful - it allows me space to let my thoughts wander as well as to take a break from schoolwork and being stuck at home.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

College Park, MD

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

I have always considered myself a visual artist first, but for the past year and a half or so that I’ve been at UMD, I haven’t had the time or space to practice visual art, painting, and drawing the way that I used to. I’ve mostly stuck to music, since it is a less material-centric medium in comparison to visual art Luckily, the extended spring break and boredom that came with being stuck at home allowed me to revisit a practice that I had so dearly missed!

Though I have always enjoyed visual art, I never really got good at drawing portraits. In addition, I’m working on a short comic for Eva’s creative writing workshop - with both of these in mind, I figured it would be good to practice drawing people and faces.

Process Journal #5: March 4, 2020

SHOW & TELL

This week I learned a song by the artist Thunder Thighs, called Serotonin - above is a very simplistically recorded cover of it. Overall this song epitomizes (to me) the power of lyrics to create a good song. The song itself is very simple, made up of only two chords and a single chord pattern played over and over again. In contrast, the lyrics vary a lot - for example, she goes from repeating a line twice, to singing a verse with a defined rhyme scheme, to repeating a line four times, etc. Whether I want to focus more on lyrics or on music is definitely a source of conflict for me with this project - I think this song exemplifies something that I could reasonably achieve when it comes to focusing on lyrics.

FIRST LOOK

From both observing others’ presentations and from my own presentation, I learned the positive effect that constructive feedback can have in providing clarity for a project. All of the comments I got from my peers provided both encouragement and helpful critical feedback for my work sample and other facets of my project (especially those that I felt conflicted or unsure about). 

ALUMNI Q’S

1. What did your creative process look like during your capstone?

2. How did you find/set aside time to complete your capstone?

3. How has your creative process changed since completing your capstone?

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

The Stamp Gallery, College Park, MD

Monday, March 2, 2020

For the last couple of weeks at the gallery, we’ve been in the process of installing and coordinating programming for the gallery’s current exhibition, a solo show by the artist Leslie Holt called Neuroblooms.

This show has invoked a lot of reflection on how mental illness and other largely internal phenomena can be visualized (or otherwise externalized). For example, Holt chooses embroidery and bright splashes of paint (what she calls “brain stains”) to make mental illnesses (including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, etc.) into visual experiences. This relates much to my capstone as I try to develop a creative process that allows me to transfer internal thought, feelings, and experiences into sonic experiences (music). 

Additionally, Holt’s work deals a lot with the subjectivity of experience and perception, which is something I am very interested in. How might our experiences of mental illnesses differ from the scientific study and explanation of how these mental illnesses feel? How can we look at ourselves and our mental illnesses from an objective (or scientific) eye while we’re going through them - is it possible at all to do so? These questions are all ones I have encountered in my previous thinking about mental illness, and ones that I wish to explore in my capstone.

Process Journal #4: February 26, 2020

SHOW & TELL

Spindly haunted trees above me

February feels to me just like a dream

Unlasting dreary saturation

Concrete, I can’t breathe

This is the first song I’ve written in a while that I’ve felt excited about. I envision it as a sort of sad pop song. I notice that most of my songwriting process involves layers bits and pieces of riffs/chords/melodies over one another, which I definitely continued with this - hopefully in future songs I’ll be able to break out of that and feel comfortable with a single guitar part.

Also, the song (including both the guitar and lyrics) are unfinished, and I’m not totally sure where to go with it from here. But so far, I like the song.

FIRST LOOK

During my first look presentation, I was mostly seeking feedback regarding the presentation of my capstone. I wasn’t sure if I should focus more on having my capstone as a transient performance, or if there should be a visual/recorded aspect to it. Many of my peers suggested the latter, not only because it would be easier for an audience to conceptualize and visualize the ideas behind the project, but also because the audience would be able to see the evolution of and development behind the project.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Two of the biggest issues I have with songwriting:

1. Breaking out of repetition: the way I write songs often involves a loop station - I start with a chord progression or a riff that gets repeated over and over, and then I loop or play live other parts to the song. I often feel like it’s a cop-out, a cheat, for developing a single, fuller melody for the song - I’m not sure if I should try and write a single melody or continue with layering; doing the former would certainly be a challenge.

2. Actually finishing a song: I have many, many unfinished songs, music-less lyrics, lyric-less songs, floating riffs, etc. I find it hard to actually call something finished and have it be complete.

Process Journal #3: February 19, 2020

SHOW & TELL

This week I was able to actually get a recording of the music I have been working on instead of simply submitting a copy of the tabs/sheet music/overall written part. I experimented more with layering guitar over itself using a loop station, and focused on writing a defined melody part to this specific picking pattern/chord progression.

ADVISOR FEEDBACK

During my meeting with Harold, I told him I was mainly struggling with time management issues when it came to my capstone. I was having difficulty finding time to actually do my project. He recommended I build creative time into my schedule to complete the project, which I found really helpful and hope to implement in the upcoming weeks. 

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Process Journal #2: February 12, 2020

SHOW & TELL

Though I have not made (I think) very significant progress on my capstone since last fall, I did spend the break writing lyrics, pieces of songs, and riffs that could be used for my completed capstone, in addition to playing music with other people, which especially helped with getting inspiration, learning different styles of music, and holding myself accountable to play music in general.

Generally, I’m looking forward to the process of completing my capstone. Most of my worries have to deal with simply making time and space to write, and also with the process of recording. I have very little professional (and even casual) recording experience, so I find myself a little unsure of where to start when it comes to that. On the positive side, I did just learn how to use GarageBand, and I plan to show up to the WMUC recording studio hours this Sunday.

As far as the actual content of my writing, I’ve been really enjoying messing around with the different riffs and music I’ve created. I find myself generally leaning towards a single genre and style of playing, which was also the critique of the people who reviewed my work. I hope that playing with other musicians will help me stretch my playing style.

CRITICAL RESPONSE

Questions I asked about my work sample:

Is the guitar too simplistic? Should the piece be developed more?

Should I layer more guitar over this sample and/or add in more instruments (bass/drums?)

Feedback:

Will the final product be a recorded album or will it be a live performance?

For the recorded aspect of the capstone, adding in other instruments in the production process would be beneficial.

WMUC Radio, College Park, MD

Sunday, February 9, 2020

This Sunday I went to the first Third Rail Radio of the semester, featuring the D.C.-based band Owl Pack. 

November 24th, 2019 - The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Over the past couple of weeks, I was involved with a theater production called Revolt, part of UMD’s annual Second Season, in which students have the opportunity to direct, write, and/or produce a play. My role was playing guitar and doing vocals in a band for a short song in the play.

Though my involvement in the play was very minimal, it taught me a lot about all the work that goes into putting on a production (especially outside of the high school realm), and it was very interesting to see how everything came together in the end. 

Being in Revolt also reminded me how much fun it was to play in a band! Though I’ve played a lot in other people’s bands in the past, I’ve never had my “own” band, or directed a music project - it was cool to do so with the song in Revolt. I also definitely want to focus more now on playing music with other people. 

Sunday, October 13th at WMUC

This past Sunday, I attended a solo performance at WMUC’s Third Rail Radio by Anthony Peña of Baltimore-based band June Pastel. 

Eschewing the electric guitar for this intimate performance (an audience of only five people), Peña played a classical guitar, plucking jazz-and-folk-inspired tunes on its warm nylon strings.