GEM E-Portfolio
GEM E-Portfolio
INTRODUCTION “Unhappy Refrain” is the title of Japanese musician Wowaka’s (1987-2019) first full-length album, released in 2011, which gained critical acclaim online and launched his successful music career. Written while he was still in college, the album has 14 tracks and features the then newly released musical software Hatsune Miku, colloquially known as vocaloid. Wowaka …
I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Okayama during the summer of 2024 as part of the US State department-run Critical Language Scholarship. CLS is a summer program in which the government sponsors the study abroad of a group of American students to study one of the 12 languages the US Government deems …
Satou-san was very connected in the local music scene and would often take me to various live folk music events going on. It was a wonderful experience, participating in a musical culture that I was familiar with but had only ever read about in academic papers while simultaneously recognizing that my Japanese had progressed enough …
When I lived in Kyoto while studying abroad in the spring semester of my Junior year, I frequented a little cafe near my host family’s apartment. I found it on Google maps (as I found most restaurants in Japan) and was immediately intrigued by the cozy atmosphere. So one day I made the 15 minute …
During my time at Wesleyan, I’ve been a part of 2 ensembles, the Chinese music ensemble and the introductory Korean drumming ensemble. These are experiences that I could have never had without Wesleyan and the incredible resources the music department has in sponsoring programs that go beyond the borders of typical western cannon that you …
INTRODUCTION This is an essay I wrote for my global coursework centered on Japanese popular music, I analyze how the repetition of musical history shows that society’s underlying structural frameworks can be more static than they first appear. This class taught me much of what I know about post WWII Japanese musical history and how …
INTRODUCTION During my sophomore year as part of my global coursework I took an interesting class examining Japanese popular music and its evolution since WWII. During the class I analyzed the pervasive concept of the “Japanese Woman” and her portrayal through music, noting how how it has evolved from WWII Gunka (war music) to the …
(Lyla Normand, 4.2.24, Park in suburban Kyoto ) This photograph was captured during an introspective stroll I took shortly after learning about the history of the famous Japanese cherry blossom, or Sakura, from my host father. I, like many others, only knew them from the pictures—the iconic symbols of Japan, fleeting and beautiful. I was …
INTRODUCTION I applied to the Critical Language Scholarship a total of two times during my college career. The Critical Language Scholarship is a US State Department run summer program that completely funds students study abroad in languages the government deems critical to US Security and Safety. The below post is a collection of my musings …
INTRODUCTION This was an essay I wrote for my Pop Music Revolutionaries in Modern Japan global coursework that later snowballed into a comparative research paper for another class I took. This first music class was a deep-dive into post WWII Japanese music and its intersection in the larger political movements of the time. When taking …
