December 29, 2021 by Kyle
Things I learned and/or did this year:
- I never really understood when classmates (or students) said they were “done” with school. I get it now. Learning is fun, but I have work to do.
- It’s hard to balance being a human, a student, a professor, a composer, and a programmer. I have to start curating this down.
- I started and finished the Publishing certificate at NDSU. I learned a lot about literary publishing (and saw some book projects to fruition), and it was SO MUCH FUN. I did the program to learn more about music publishing because I thought some things would transfer over, and they do.
- I also learned that there’s not much structured learning with music publishing—it’s very much apprenticeship and make-it-up-as-you-go. And if that’s the case, what’s stopping me from making up more stuff?
- I started making up publishing stuff for my students.
- Are we going to start a music publishing certificate in ND? No. Are we going to nudge composers to work with the NDSU Press to get some experience in publishing? Very yes.
- I proposed and implemented a new BM Composition program (the first in the Dakotas), which was either the product of or the cause of taking a full-time position at NDSU.
- Hey, conferences are a thing again! I presented a piece at the College Music Society national conference in Rochester, NY, and at the first Jacksonville Electronic Music Festival in Florida. I also did my annual appearance at the Aspen Composers Conference.
- My parents decided to move to North Dakota—this one is still in progress.
- I started using Johnny Decimal as an organizational system, and I think it’s working.
- I paid off my student loans.
- I stopped buying stuff from Amazon. This was easier than I thought it would be. I have lots to say about this later.
- I moved my cloud computing to Microsoft Azure.
- I got new headshots made (stay tuned!) and had my sheet music covers redesigned.
- We adopted another cat, Lorraine.
- I only wrote three pieces, which is embarrassing. But I like them all, so that’s good.
- I took on a piece for adaptable instrumentation (flex band) and electronics, which has been a whole new experience.
- We installed new livestreaming equipment at NDSU.
- I learned how to use printing equipment from the 1880s.
- I learned that I like to use printing equipment from the 1880s.
- I found out how much money it costs to buy printing equipment from the 1880s.
- I found out how much money it costs to find out you’re probably lactose intolerant. But as a bonus I found out I don’t have gluten sensitivity. Either way, I still can’t have pizza.
- I learned that you can do whatever you want to do with commas, as long as you’re consistent. I also learned that I still don’t know how to properly use semicolons.
- I learned that the drive from Red Lodge, MT to Aspen, CO is something like 14 hours of mostly 2-lane roads and gravel. Only like 100 miles of that are interstate.
- I had two VCSU students apply and get in to grad schools in Composition.
- Trying to remember everything from the year in the week after Christmas is hard, and next year I’ll be making an ongoing list.
