In this first WordPress site post compose a pre-field study well-edited post of 750 words that captures your preconceptions/expectations/anticipations and preparation concerning your spring field study.

On this trip I am leaving with zero expectations. So that my mind is open to all possibilities to how my experience with in these cities will be. Now as a part of my experiences I will be recording, interviewing, sketching and filming, the scapes of the cities as well as its music. My preconceptions are that I will come to California and these Small scale “cities” will all have there own individual concepts and sound. I feel that a lot of the soundscapes with in the cities will be relatively the same, due to the architecture being the same.Though I may not be able to connect certain musical pieces to the sounds of the city, I will have to remember that music is more about taking the sounds and the emotional correlation to that sound and put that sound to an instrument that will then mock that emotional response.
I expect to be questioned on my idea of sound manipulation but its something that most individuals do not see and may have a hard time understanding.(That by using sounds to evoke emotional responses, we can manipulate people into biting the bait, the bait being the slogan or theme that is being presented) I plan on talking to consumers and people of these cities and asking them how this idea makes them feel.
Using the five elements of the city paths, edges, districts, nodes, and monuments, I will direct myself around the cities and there popular areas. By using these elements I expect to find myself talking, listening, and reacting to new surroundings. I can’t wait to meet new people with in these urban ethos’s and compare the sounds that come out of them with my home Olympia Washington.I also want to see the connections and difference with in each city. There seems to be a huge idea of what all cities are like but we don’t hear much about how all of them are different. I want to take what is different from my experience with in these cities and mesh them with the different concepts and sound of Olympia and Seattle. As a multi media artist I will be taking the view of the urban ethos and applying that to my youtube show Blakers, while updating my experiences via twitter, Fascebook, tumblr, and Instegram. While being exposed to this culture and environment, I will try to compose each of my weekly Youtube shows with sounds and music from my soundscape.

So I am taking the idea of the city and placing that on theme parks. Now in order for theme parks to gain a following and have that following consume their products, they will need to draw the attention of many types of people. This means these companies need to be reaching out to a very diverse crowd. As I read and discussed with fellow peers in the first quarter of this program, we discussed that in order for a city to fully be a city that some of the aspects of the city would have to reach out to more people who are multi culturally curious. This to me means for theme parks such as the ones I am studying Disneyland, Six Flags, and universal studios that these organizations have studied diverse techniques within architecture and sound to grab the attention of many different cultures and attract them to these small scale “cities”.The best thing to take away from this experience is to understand how corporations use the soundscape as a way to grab the attention of the people. Ultimately creating a following and a pattern. This pattern is something that many will catch on to and want to be apart off. What I want to take away from this is the ability to find a different pattern that will make my art look and sound great.

Create a week-by-week calendar/itinerary of research work, city exploration, and event attendance.

Week 1
Arrive in Sacramento April 22, Explore For a couple days. Go to art museum Friday 24th. Monday prep for road trip to southern California.

Week 2
Leaving for souther California to DisneyLand Wednesday 29th, Disneyland Thursday and friday. Explore City Saturday. Sunday Return to Sacramento. Explore and rest.

Week 3
Explore Sacramento architecture 6th may, Saturday and sunday the 9th and 10th study of six flag,

Week 4
Wednesday the 13th Travel back down to southern California to Universal studios. Thursday and friday Attend Universal Studios. Come back. to Sacramento Saturday. Come back home tuesdays.

Here’s a sketch of the view out the window of my trailer. The park is right on the sound in a place called Young Cove and there are quite a few pine, cedar, and madrone trees around, which is the only redeeming quality of the situation. Most of the houses on the waterfront are super fancy (a flag can be seen towards the right side). It’s an interesting contrast between the handful of trailers and the neighboring affluence.

Housing update: I’ve found someone else to look for a place with. Hopefully we can find some other people who want to find a house at the beginning of Summer.

Below is a sketch of the home I will be leaving when I head to San José. Since the end of September I’ve been living in a trailer on Young Cove, part of Steamboat Island directly across Eld Inlet from the college. I ended up moving here because over the summer I had endured a debilitating series of events that left me homeless for a few weeks and living in a garage for a month. The trailer itself is not much more pleasant. It leaks. It has ants. It has rats. It’s far from the college and very far from the rest of town. It has quite a nice view out the window, which I will try to sketch and post before I leave. The neighbors aren’t fond of music either, which has made it very difficult to practice.

Anyways, I’m moving out when I go south, and hopefully I’ll be able to arrange something by the time I’m back (the guy who I was going to get a place with bailed out). While in San José, I’ll be staying partly with my dad in the suburban neighborhood of Willow Glen, and partly with my mom in the Santa Cruz Mountains between the south bay and the coast (sketches to come).

I’m at evergreen

If I were to carry out this field study, I would be going into a city (Seattle) and researching the impact that music has on the behaviors of people. My research question goes as follows:

There are many different music venues in Seattle that are set in different places. Does the neighborhood effect the mood? How so? We know that the music effects the mood and actions of people, but I want to delve deeper into this and analyze the different types of moods and groups of people that congregate around different venues and music.

If I were to carry out this field study, I would be going into a city (Seattle) and researching the impact that music has on the behaviors of people. My research question goes as follows:

There are many different music venues in Seattle that are set in different places. Does the neighborhood effect the mood? How so? We know that the music effects the mood and actions of people, but I want to delve deeper into this and analyze the different types of moods and groups of people that congregate around different venues and music.

This is where it all started!! Leaving from This place on my Journey to Southern California.

My destination is Honolulu, Hawaii, ever since I first got the idea to go to Honolulu, Hawaii I was nervous and scared almost because it’d be my first flight out of state, I would be going to visit a new environment, and I’d be going alone. Not being a regular traveling individual, I was quite unsure about this decision. I believed its the right thing to investigate but at the time I was unorganized, had a slight fear of traveling in the spring quarter. As I further worked on this, Gordie and me had found out we were doing a similar location and field study, so we united to work on the following field research/work together in our wordpress. Which turned my nerves into fuel of excitement. I then started thinking that I don’t know what to expect as a researcher in general, questions like what should I expect as a researcher? What should I do first? Progressing into those questions I thought of what I should be looking forward to and I’m going to learn from Honolulu that I can bring back. What I hope for is by the end of this project that me and Gordie will have a database of knowledge and both musically and visually to our show our interest/observation while there at Hawaii to give everyone a highlight reel, but to also show the value of Hawaiian culture. Other then that I wouldn’t know of any more preconceptions of Honolulu, maybe other then that what are more musical or artistic locations in the city? Honestly the best question was this one because scouting out for content when you’re not familiar with the place is difficult indeed, but not only that. It will require speaking with the natives which will also leave us to, how we should communicate with the natives of the Honolulu, and how to approach them for help or guidance to a certain place in Honolulu? I am interested in the culture of a Hawaiian native along with the exploration. I wouldn’t be able to anticipate a totally different culture because its going be a unnoticeable soundscape for my learning until I’ve soaked up the sun. So I thought of personal questions like what music do they use for certain celebrations or main events? Where is the influence of the music/architectural industry? Which prepare me with this preconception of maybe very rural environments and very happy uplifting music which many variations of odd music. As I’ve prepare for this though, I still find myself from time to time wondering what will happen, What me and Gordie will accomplish, observe and learn from Honolulu? We could come across many things from oceanic parts to bustling city street environments to find the truth. I’m taking the time to coordinate with Gordie on our expenses for Honolulu, we’ve talked about tickets to living arrangements from back to back conversation. Through these conversations I grown expectations, of gorgeous weather, a beautiful soundscape, plenty of record able evidence/data for our wordpress and enjoyment throughout this whole experience. This experience I hope will change us for the better, and give us perspective on the value of Hawaiian life and what they’re musical/architectural means to them. In which it does I believe that will have some really fun and exciting things to present to my fellow classmates, I wonder what they’re all thinking as well, what could we all be feeling? what is our process of taking a step forward as an active member of musical cities? Touching more on this idea of Hawaii though, personally it’s an exciting thing because having this chance to explore another culture and setting while exploring your own I think is wicked. It teaches you a perspective and new way of life as a possibility to yourself as the observer, it breathes creativity and new life, which leads me to thinking, when I come back will I have a new perspective on my own musical craft, I have a double-edge sword on this question because the more I learn the more I can enhance my own style, but I can totally disregard this and just work on data collecting without actual reflection of self. I would say that I’d take the right side of the sword. I am definitely excited to depart for Hawaii soon.