Kenadie Dawson Blog

  I went to Plainfield East High School and always did the musicals. During my junior year, my choir director asked me to do some choreography for the musical that year. So, I choreographed and taught a couple of dances that year. My senior year we did Cinderella, and I play the Evil Stepmother. My choir director once again asked me to do choreography. I ended up creating almost all of the dances for that show. It was such a fun experience and everyone loved it. My peer had a lot of fun learning dances from me. This year, they did Shrek the Musical. My choir director asked me to come back and some more choreography. They had an actual choreographer come and do most of the dances this year, but she still wanted me to come back and do a couple of dances. I was absolutely thriller to get the chance to come back and work with old friends and peers. I created one big dance and three smaller dances. I came to the school twice to teach the dances and work with the kids. I had such a wonde...

This week was a well deserved break. I spent a lot of time sleeping in, getting my "me time", and seeing my boyfriend. On Saturday, it was my boyfriend's birthday. Before I went to his house,  I went to my old high school and taught choreography for their musical. After that, I went to his house and then went out to eat with his family at Burger Social. Then we ate lemon cake at his house. On Sunday, I went to counseling, and nyso (naperville youth symphony orchestra) in the afternoon. Then, my boyfriend and I went to my house to eat dinner with my family. We all went to Scene75 for the first time. It is this huge arcade and attraction center. We spent a lot of time playing air hockey and playing mini bowling.  On Monday morning, my boyfriend and I made breakfast. We made scramble consisting of eggs, onions, peppers, seasoned ground chicken, and cheese. I took the rest of the day to rest and paint. On Tuesday, I drove to my boyfriend's house. We hung out in the early ...

This week was definitely a stressful one. I had a music theory test, an aural skills midterm, a gender, sex and sexuality midterm, a piano midterm, and documentary project due. My music theory test was a breeze. I took AP music theory my music theory my senior year of high school, so I got a good grasp on theory from that. Music theory also comes natural to me which is nice. Aural skills is the one I was scared for. I am really good at notating rhythm and recognizing chords, but what gives me struggles are intervals. I did poorly on my last intervals quiz, so I was very scared for the midterm. It went better than I expected though which was nice.  For my gender, sex, and sexuality class, the midterm consisted of writing three one page essays. I was really worried about that because I am slow with writing. I can sometimes hit a wall and just sit there for forever and not get anything done very easily. I took an extra half hour to finish it, but I feel confident. For my piano midterm...

I have been working on my summary all week. It is an interesting process because you don't want to put too much information, but you also don't want to put too little and be vague. You have to figure out and find that fine line. Here is what I have for my summary so far. I think it is pretty okay at the moment. I will need to work on it more so it has better flow. Summary of Dinosaur 13 The 2014 documentary Dinosaur 13 directed by Todd Douglas Miller explores the discovery of the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil ever found, and the government’s seizure of the fossil. The film opens with a shot of a motorhome driving through the badlands of South Dakota. Then, through an interview, the film introduces paleontologist and president of the Black Hills Institute, Peter Larson, Terry Wentz, the chief fossil preparator of the Black Hills Institute, and Susan Hendrickson, the field paleontologist and volunteer at the Black Hills Institute. All three describe the scene of how they fo...

This weekend I had two concerts I performed in. On Saturday, I had the Chords for Kids concert. This concert is geared towards kids with disabilities. NCC's Concert Winds performs a bunch of fun tunes. The concert is very relaxed. People can talk, stand, dance around, and sing along. Myself as a performer, got to play all of this fun music and tunes and also got to dance around being silly. It was such a fun concert bring able to give to the community and seeing the kids smile and enjoy themselves.  My second concert was on Sunday with the Naperville Youth Symphony Orchestra. For this concert, the younger orchestra needed help with French Horns. So, the director had me come to all the rehearsals to help out. The reason they needed some extra support was because we were playing Star Wars! It was a lot of fun to rehearse and perform. There are so many fun horn features in the Star Wars pieces which made it extra special. The performance went great. The director was so proud of the or...

This weekend, I saw Mahler 5 at the CSO. The CSO is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They are one of the best orchestras in the U.S. and perform at the Symphony Center in Chicago. It is always super fun to go see the CSO because the wave of sound you hear, feel, and experience is absolutely incredible. I have seen them four times last semester and I hope to watch more this semester. What is even extra cool, is they have student tickets for fifteen dollars and it is a really good deal. Mahler's fifth symphony is one of his best symphonies. It has wonderful brass features that blow you away, hits you with so much emotion, and the quality is wonderful. The CSO performed it magnificently. I loved every second of it. Whenever I heard a horn line, I would get very smiley and happy. What was even more spectacular, is the fact that once the symphony ended, everyone, and I mean the whole audience, rose to their feet immediately. I have been to the CSO quite a few times, but never have I ever...

This week we talked a lot about Microthemes. At first, I did not quite understand what we were supposed to do, but now I do. In school, I was so used to arguing why a problem occurs, why it is important, and providing a solution. It was like rinse and repeat, over and over again. Now I have to switch my mind frame to thinking about bringing awareness to a problem and not trying to solve it. It is definitely an adjustment. Especially making sure I am not leaning towards one side more than the other. I decided on bringing awareness to the problem of procrastination. It is definitely a rough battle to face. It is something we all struggle with and it applies to me as well which makes me want to choose that topic. Some of the reasons I chose to use in my paper of why we procrastinate is, not finding the work valuable or interesting, being simply too tired due to all of the activities students are involved in. I think I am in good place so far. What I need to do is take those ideas and exp...

This week was very exciting for me because it was IMEC weekend! IMEC is the Illinois Music Education Conference. It is where music educators (band and choir directors) from all over the state come together to this huge conference held in Peoria. Music education students who are still in college are encouraged to attend as well. It is held from a Thursday through a Saturday.  Throughout that time people attend all of these clinics. The amount of clinics held is insane. You get to pick and choose which ones you go to based off what interests you. There is also a huge open area where there is an exhibit hall. The exhibit hall has vendors who sell instruments, music, and all lot of tables for colleges. There is a lot to do and occupy yourself with. On the last day, it is the ILMEA band and orchestra performances which are the all state performers. They are high schoolers who are the best in the state. As a future music educator, this experience is super neat. For my experience, I drove...