Semester 2

Arts TRYathlon #1: Choose your own adventure

February 13, 2025, @ The Clarice

(Cuckoo - Jaha Koo)

#music #theater #film #presentation

Although I was not a part of the field trip going to seek Jaha Koo's Cuckoo, I went anyway. Cameron was doing an article on it, so I tagged along! I really enjoyed this show. Cuckoo was a story about the Asian economic crisis of the late 90s, rich with personal anecdotes and witty humor. Despite its lightheartedness at times, it was extremely thought provoking and brought light to the harsh realities of Korean life at the time while providing ample social commentary about government action and the people who sparked the crisis. All of this was told through narration and acting from Jaha Koo, beautifully crafted film and music, and three rice cookers. The three rice cookers (Hana, Duri, and Seri - one, two, three in Korean) were programmed to speak and sing - adding to the intrigue of his story and the deep culture entwined with the performance. Overall, this show was one of the best I've seen in a while, and I learned a lot about the history of this event.

Arts TRYathlon #2: Choose Your Own Adventure

March 1, 2025, @ The Clarice

(The Wonders of Shostakovich with Melody)

#music #presentation

I attended the UMD Symphony Orchestra's first concert this semester as a craft and chat with Melody! They played three songs, and the final one was Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, which was excellent. UMSO is the orchestra for music majors and I'm in the orchestra for non-music majors, so I was going to go anyways. It was nice to go with a group, though. I hadn't seen any of UMSO's performances before this one, so it was great to see how well they played and how vibrant Maestro Neely's conducting is. The most I'd seen of him before was when he came in to give feedback to the grad student conductors for my orchestra, and he never really conducted us himself (though I wish he would have!). This experience helped inspire me to put more effort into practicing for the pieces my orchestra was working on at the time and also helped me understand Maestro Neely's teaching methods with the conducting grad students more. I never realized how intricate good conducting is, and how thoughtful conductors have to be through rehearsals and studying the pieces on their own time - this has definitely made me respect them more. Overall, the performance was phenomenal, and I will most likely be going back to see their other concerts - especially if I can't fit orchestra class in my schedule in the future!

(Photo Credit - Melody)

Arts TRYathlon #3: Arts Scholars Event

March 26, 2025

(Paperclip Jewelry with Sophia)

#visualart

I really enjoyed this craft and chat! When I was younger, I used to make crafts like these as gifts for my friends, so it was fun doing something like that again! Although it was difficult to bend the paperclips into the shapes I wanted, I used the tools available to get as close as I could. I made earrings as a gift for someone, and a few had paperclip spirals. Those were the trickiest to make since the paperclips were pretty rigid. This was a fun craft to do and one that anyone can try with regular household items like beads, pliers, and, of course, paperclips. This craft and chat challenged me to make something that I hadn't made in a while and helped me exercise my dexterity - both good skills for future art projects. Overall, this was super fun and a great break from all the midterms I've had recently. I love small crafts like these that are also functional, and I think it's great that they're super accessible to people who may not have many materials or who are not that confident in their artistic skills. In the future, it would be fun to make charms or jewelry out of clay or other small objects too.