4 Things NOT to Let Slide During Senior Year

4 Things NOT to Let Slide During Senior Year The following is a guest post written by Anna Carapellotti of Admissionado, a premier college admissions consulting company focused on helping students get into their dream schools. Seniors, youre in the homestretch (well, almost!). As we rapidly approach the Early Decision / Early Action deadlines, knowing that the Regular Decision deadlines are just around the corner, were here to remind you that now is not the time to lose motivation. In order to sail through senior year with success, its important that you keep your grades up, stay involved, and keep your eye on the prize (the acceptance letter, that is). So, with that in mind, here is a list of four ways to ensure a strong finish to your high school career: Grades Raise your hand if youre busy calculating the absolute minimum that you have to achieve this year in order to keep a competitive GPA. Hopefully no ones hand went up, but if yours did, consider this: What if you dont get into the school of your dreams and decide to transfer? What if you decide to apply for a scholarship, fellowship, etc. sophomore year of college and they request your high school transcript? It certainly wont look great if you dont have either a steadily improving or consistent GPA. For one, a significant drop in your GPA shows a lack of motivation and maturity. Why should anyone assume youre willing to work hard now if you werent willing to work hard then? Second, you might actually be missing out on material that will be useful to you in college. And finally, you will risk jeopardizing your relationships with your high school teachers, counselors, and administrators, who might otherwise be able to support you in your ambitions. Which brings us to Relationships Whether or not you have plans to return to your hometown, its important to continue to build relationships at your high school through senior year (and we dont just mean with your friends). As you grow older, you will learn that the connections you make truly matter. So if nothing else, continuing to work hard and make a good impression will simply be good practice for the future. At the same time, you never know when you might need to call upon a former teacher, your principal, or another adult at your school for a letter of recommendation or a reference. However, at the same time, were certainly not suggesting that you build relationships with the sole goal of getting something out of them. Were simply encouraging you to continue to work hard, do well in your classes, and remain involved in extracurricular activities in such a way that people are impressed with your effort. If you do so, these connections will form naturally and you will have a solid network to build upon in the future. Extracurricular activities While you certainly need to set aside some extra time to spend with your friends and family, work on your college applications, and perhaps even visit some college campuses, senior year is not the time to let your extracurricular activities and community involvement slide. These activities will help you continue to build a strong foundation for success with skills surrounding time management, teamwork, and leadership, in addition to helping you discover where your strengths and passions lie. Moreover, staying involved, whether it be in a sport, art, or volunteer effort, will help you continue to strengthen the relationships referenced above. College application essays Last but not least: your application essays. Chances are you already have a solid draft of your Common Application essay (we hope!), but some (if not all) of those school supplements may remain unchecked on your to-do list. We have three words for you: Dont. Burn. Out. With many of you applying to six or mores schools, you might find it difficult to remain motivated until the very end. But its important that you do, and heres why even if youre considering a gap year, feel like youre a shoo-in at a certain school, or think youll ultimately transfer, youll still want to make sure youve put your best foot forward. First of all, this will give you more options. Depending on where youre applying, even the brightest of students arent necessarily guaranteed admission. And a great, truly personal application essay can help tip the scale in your favor. Second, youll simply feel better waiting for those admissions letters if you know you tried your hardest. So write, rewrite, rewrite again, and be sure to proofread for clarity and errors. The end product should be something that youre proud of. If you keep working hard, stay involved, and put forward an application that reflects your best effort, then you should feel confident that you have set yourself up for admission and success. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

Exploring Jazz Improvisation Tips for Beginners

Exploring Jazz Improvisation Tips for Beginners Suzy S. Whether you play saxophone, piano, bass, or another instrument, jazz can be a really fun genre to explore! To get started, check out these jazz improvisation tips from Brookings, SD teacher  Carl S   One of my favorite things about making music is jazz improvisation. Jazz style is a lot of fun, but adding improvisation to that is essential. I, like many of my students, was afraid to improvise at first. Here are some helpful jazz improvisation tips for starting out. Before Step One Before anything else, be honest with yourself and identify what level you’re at. If you’re a true beginner, the worst thing that you can do is try to instantly memorize what all of the chord symbols mean. Yes, they are important, but this is not step one. Even if you’re just starting out with your instrument, you can begin by training your ear. Step One The first thing I have a student do is jam out on one note. I set up a play-along track, or even just a metronome, and then I play a measure of some rhythmic idea. Then, I have the student copy me. We repeat this several times, paying extra attention to style and articulation. Then, I expand to playing three note, then five, etc. All students can do this, and it is easy to customize to their needs. Remember to Have Fun! How do you get better between lessons? When I was in middle school, one of my favorite things to do was play along with the radio. I’d play mainstream radio melodies on the saxophone, not even realizing how important this was to my future as a musician. I was training my ear and having fun doing it! Start with Simple Music Theory Once you can do this, it’s probably time to start checking out some chord symbols. A lot of people start with the blues progression, but that’s a lot of fast changing chords for a beginner. I prefer to start with a slower paced AABA form, such as a tune like “Impressions” or “So What”. Learning two scales and having plenty of time to clearly hear the harmony changing makes this transition much easier. The Blues Now’s the time to try the blues. Many band directors will teach you the “blues scale” at this point. While this is a quick fix for band directors to get students to play something for a concert, it is not really considered playing the changes of a blues form. I suggest looking at Jamie Aebersold’s Play-Along Volume 54 “Maiden Voyage”. These books and many other great resources are available at www.jazzbooks.com. This series of play-along books is very well known to jazzers, and there are well over 100 volumes made for all instruments. Check out the third tune called “Bb Blues”. More Difficult Chord Progressions From here, chord progressions get more difficult. The Aebersold books can be very helpful, since they spell out the scale for each chord symbol. At this point, it is very easy to develop a habit of only improvising while staring at the page. Don’t forget to use your ear! Learning Tunes The Real Book Volume I (6th Edition) is available at www.jazzbooks.com as well as many other places, including iBooks. This is a book with hundreds of standard jazz tunes, and there are several volumes and categories. The tempting thing to do is to learn these tunes by reading, however, it is better to learn them by ear. To do this, start by picking an easy tune that’s in the book, find it on YouTube being performed by the original artist/composer, and go from there. Additional Resources Aebersold has created play-alongs for these books, but there is a cheaper and more customizable option. I use an app called iReal Pro, which is inexpensive and always with me on my phone. First, download the app, then add the content, which includes over 1,000 songs. From here, you can transpose, add dozens of repeats for practice, change tempos, etc. This is a lot of information, but if you first identify what level you’re at and keep these jazz improvisation tips in mind, you’ll be gigging like a pro in no time! Carl S. teaches saxophone, music theory, piano, and more in Brookings, SD. He  completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in saxophone performance at the University of Kansas in 2014, and his Master of Music Pedagogy and Performance from Oklahoma State University in 2011.  Learn more about Carl here!   Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo  by  sebastien letellier