I am moving my Genius Hour website!
You can find it at fixintheforge.weebly.com Or you could click the button at the top. That works too.
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As much as it pains me to do this, I think I may have to change my project.
Due to the rapidly spreading COVID 19, SR7B has moved the section Conclave to the end of August. Conclave is the yearly gathering of arrowmen from across the state. We hold powwows and competitions at conclave, and I was going to compete in dancing and drumming as my end goal for this project. Our lodge's weekly drum practices are likely to be canceled, as this past weeks was called off at the last minute when people started to bail. Without Conclave or the lodge's drum practice, I don't know how I can show my success or progress. I have been brainstorming possibilities for new projects, and as I narrow that list down, I will start working on a new project pitch. Within the next few days, I will be working to officially change my project and announce what it will be. More updates will be posted later this week. Another week, another hiccup!
This weekend, our lodge was supposed to hold our annual Spring Fellowship. Spring Fellowship is a campout spanning Friday night to Sunday morning, where we begin preparations for the section Conclave. During this time, we also hold lodge elections, give out awards, and hold the Vigil Callout ceremony. The AIA team usually meets all day Saturday and we hang out in one of the buildings and discuss Conclave. However, much like just about everything else, Spring Fellowship has been postponed to an unknown date. The Old North State Council has said not to hold any sort of meeting that more than 100 people will attend, and that includes Spring Fellowship. This week was rather eventful. I started out busy, then I got sick, then every event that I'm a part of got canceled for the foreseeable future. So given that last part, I should be able to make drum practice for the next few weeks, as Hunter Ed has been suspended, the DC Tennis season has been suspended, and our local Scout events have been suspended. However, I'm not even sure if we will have drum practice for the next few weeks, because I can't seem to get an email through to our advisor. In the mean time, I will keep working on my drumstick and keep learning songs. Until next week! It's that time again!
The second official week of Genius Hour. Where to start? Coming into this week, I had hoped to get most of my drum stick finished (I'll talk about that later) and I had wanted to get around to learning a Gourd Dance song. At the beginning of the week, I thought "This should be easy, and we don't even have school on Monday". Boy, was I wrong. Starting off on Monday, my amazing time management skills left me driving all over Davie County trying to get last minute signatures for my NHS application. I then had a tennis match at 3:00 which lasted on into the evening. I spent the rest of Monday night finalizing my application. Tuesday, we had another tennis match after school which lasted until about 7:30, and homework took up the rest of that day. Wednesday, we had tennis practice until 6:00, and then turn around to go to Hunted Education (The school's shooting team) practice to find out what the teams are for the District Tournament coming up on the 14th. Thursday, we left school early for a tennis match in Hickory. Once we got there, 10 minutes in it got rained out, so we had to drive back. Friday, we went back to Hickory, beat Bandy's High School 9-0 and came home, foiling a senior assassins attempt along the way. We got back around 8:30, and I spent that evening doing the Article of the Week, and that was the first time I had gotten to bed before midnight this week. So, I didn't get much done with my Genius Hour project, and I am trying to work on my drumstick here and there. I was able to get the right kind of glue to wrap the beater end, so now I can start working on that. I have been trying to contact the AIA advisor for our lodge to see about the possibility of moving drum practice to a Friday, because if it remains on a Wednesday, there is just no way I can get to it. This week, I am hoping to finish the handle of my drumstick and to get the beater end wrapped and prepped for the leather cover. More updates later this week! This is my first official blog post of my Genius Hour project! Over the course of this project, I want to be able to competitively Grass Dance and expand my arsenal of songs for the drum. My goal is to try and learn a song each week.
At our last drum practice, we worked on learning a War Dance song. War Dance songs are particularly tricky, because they are "word songs", not "vocables". This means that each song has words and structure, as if to tell a story. Leaving practice, we all agreed to try and learn a Kiowa Gourd Dance song (specifically number one). Gourd Dance songs are also more difficult to learn, as the lead of each song is different, and the beat changes during the song. I have learned part of the song, but I was not able to make drum practice this week because of school work. This week, I was able to learn part of the song I mentioned earlier, and I was able to get a good chunk of my drum stick finished. To make a drum stick, you first have to wrap each end of the stick (typically a fiber-glass rod) in a choice material. I am using strips of spandex/swimsuit type material. The amount of tension you apply when wrapping determines how firm your handle is. Each layer you wrap, you have to glue it in place, so the layers are technically wrap / glue / wrap / glue, and so on. I currently have my handle end wrapped, and I am about half way done sewing the leather piece around the handle. This Wednesday, I want to work on finishing sewing the handle on my drum stick, and start wrapping the beater end. Over the course of this week, I want to try and learn the Gourd Dance song I talked about earlier, and work on learning another vocable. Stay tuned for weekly posts! I am using "Week Zero" as my beginning mark so that I have something to compare my end progress to. Right now, I am just beginning to Grass dance, I know the basics of Straight dance, and I have 2-3 songs memorized completely, but I know a solid chunk of 6-8 songs.
My first goal is to learn Kiowa Gourd Dance #1 |