I am finished! I have raised $12,000!! I am going to Ecuador!!!
Just messing around with an ivy and city generator. Fun stuff! (made with Blender3D)
Tomorrow I leave for Kroka. TOMORROW!!
I am done fundraising, done shopping, done packing. I have said my good byes to lots of people (and have so many friends who I won't get to see before I go). I have said good bye to my town, neighborhood, land, house, garden, and animals. 11 months of fundraising and tomorrow I will be getting up at 5 and heading down to New Hampshire to begin my journey.
And the journey doesn't end here for you because we will have a Semester blog with pictures, posts, poems and more from our adventure! It isn't up yet but when it is I will try to get a link to my blog so check in a couple weeks to see if it is here.
Now for the Fundraising Specs! (They don't match up with my 3D progress charts but at some point it got too confusing with all the gear I was buying and payments to Kroka to figure it out each month.)
Look for me when I return for I will have stories to tell!Adios,
Clayton
Here are some improvisations for you all. They have lots of mistakes and are more experimental as I was just recording for my personal use but they have some beautiful ideas throughout them and I hope you guys enjoy this last musical offering before I leave.
If you haven't bought my CD yet, you still can! My Mother is taking orders for me while I am away. See earlier post or "my music" page
After being gone for two weeks at Fiddle Camp I returned home with the knowledge that I will be leaving again for a very long time. It made me realize how much I appreciate this land, house, family, and community with which I have lived for so many years. I am trying to soak up as much of my wonderful life as I can in the week before Kroka rather than daydream about the days ahead because the future is inevitable while the present tries to slip through my fingers like sand.
What a turning point this is in my life. In a week I will be leaving my home behind to explore our incredible world, traveling far away from the life I have known, having experiences unlike anything I have experienced before. I will be leaving my home for a new home, leaving my family for a new family of Kroka staff and students. I will be living with this family for four months, being cared for when I am sick, something my parents have done all my life. I am finally leaving the incredibly nurturing nest in which I have been raised and am venturing out into the tangled jungle of life.
It is hard to comprehend what a dramatic change this trip will be; my longest time away from home jumping from 3 weeks to 4 months. My mind is a crazy whirl of emotions, thoughts and feelings; excitement for Kroka; love for my family; love for all my friends--old and new; exhaustion from two weeks of Fiddle Camp; satisfaction for life; love of my home and the familiar; mental preparation and acceptance for my departure from the familiar people, places and everything that has been my life for the past 11 years. As confusing as my emotions are, none of them are telling me to stay. They all unify into an awareness of what I am leaving, of what it means to be leaving my childhood behind. I am ready for this adventure and I feel positive that this is the right path for me to take.
Here is the entire progression of 3D progress charts I made for my blog. I have been too busy to do much 3D animation this year so it was nice to have an excuse. I actually learned a lot while making them.
I am exhausted after two intense weeks of Fiddle Camp but I had an amazing time. Hours of improvisation, jamming, accompaniment, singing, and concerts as well as the regular classes. I took the piano class with Neal Pearlman, learning the Cape Breton accompaniment style. Neal is an amazing pianist and a really good teacher.
Before I go on, here are recordings of some jams and performances I was a part of at Fiddle Camp. Don't miss the last track (I put it at the end because it is 10 minutes long).
1 Improv with Will on Mandolin (love that cord progression)
2 Audry's Song (This isquite the epic tune!!! Audry can rock that fiddle!)
3 Strangers Once More -- stage recording (Chris, Jeff and I)
5 IMPROV with Greg Boardman!! (Try to ignore the background noises.)
I did a bit of jamming and improvisation at Fiddle Camp in the past but this year I spent hours between classes playing music with other talented musicians. One of the days I suddenly realized that I had been playing for two hours straight with a few different people and had missed lunch. I played with cellist, Chris Moriarty, during the first week; doing a lot of improvisation and accompanying an epic tune he wrote. We practiced his tune for the coffee house along with Jeff Lewis, a mandolin player, but we didn't sign up quick enough and all the concerts were filled up. Instead we had someone film us playing on the stage.
In the second week I jammed with quite a few different people and accompanied some of the fiddle jam sessions with the Cape Breton stuff I had been learning. We performed an epic song that Audry wrote on the fiddle for one of the camper concerts. I also did some improv performances during the weeks and sold a bunch of CD's.
One of the most incredible jam sessions I had was with Greg Boardman who I had improvised with years ago at Fiddle Camp. The moment we began to play I felt the connection between our instruments. I have never improvised with someone so receptive who can play my style of music. I wasn't playing too repetitive of a cord progression but our melodies and harmonies blended seamlessly. I felt drenched in the music, caught up in the downpour of notes. Our improvisation was like dancing: we lead each other into different cords, emotions, dynamics with a gentle pressure to steer the other in the right direction. As I was the leader of the cords I used the direction of the melody to hint at the next change, Greg would pick up my messages and we would flow into a new progression as if we had spent hours practicing the piece. It was one of the most incredible musical experiences I have ever had.
Hila and I did intense Kroka training during the first week of Fiddle Camp. We got up at 6:45 every morning and hiked for an hour with our 40 pound back packs (we also did a hike in the afternoon). We were practicing posture which is way more difficult than it sounds. The trick is to stand up straight and tuck your butt in so that you are holding the weight with your core strength so as to not stress your bones. It makes what would be a breeze of a hike into an hour long sit up. After a good week of building up those muscles I was able to increase my backpack weight back to the usual 50 pounds.
Well, soon I will post more about my financial situation and my thoughts about leaving but I need to get back to packing.
Thank you all,
Clayton
Hola a todos, Less than a month 'till I leave for Kroka!!!!
First of all, here is a little bit of music for you guys: 5/04
The first is a orchestral type composition and the second is an improvisation that I did with my brother who plays fiddle. He is becoming quite the musician and is a great improv companion.
1) Unnamed (cello orchestra)
2) Rain on the Water (improv with my brother, Willy)
Now the News
Played at Lincolnville Church
Last Sunday I performed during a service at the Lincollnville Church. The congregation was great, nearly every person who attended church that day came up to me at the end to express their gratitude for my playing and talk to me about my trip. I sold lots of CD's and got numerous, generous donations for my trip. Thank you so much!
Acted at Maine Media
On Monday (25th) I was down at the Maine Media film school acting in a student film. This is the first year in a while that I haven't been in a play so it was great to have a chance to act. It was also great to check out the Maine Media Young Filmmaker's program (which is the whole reason I signed up to be an actor). I tried to apply for full scholarship this year but didn't get it. Maybe next year I will be able to raise the money to go. $2000 is a little less daunting after trying to raise $12,000.
Just wanted to let you guys know that I will be playing music for the Water Fall Arts yard sale in Belfast on the 22nd and 23rd. I will be there in the afternoon for a couple of hours.
Also, I was interviewed by Scot Cannon for his show on WERU which airs on Saturdays at 10am (either the 23rd or the 30th). We talked about my trip and I played some piano. It was a lot of fun.
I will be performing piano for the Lincolnville church service on the 24th.
Oh! There is the lunch bell. (Yes, we actually have a bell that we ring for meals! Sometimes.) Smells like mom cooked up something yummy.
Wow I am falling way behind on my blog entries. No post about the fourth Ecuadorian Dinner. No post about the incredible teen meditation retreat I went to in Massachusetts a couple weeks ago. No post about my CD release concert last Saturday. What have I been doing all this time...?! Oh yeah...school work.
Well, being homeschooled, my school year goes from the end of July to the end of July so July is the mega push month where my mom writes up tons of course descriptions and I add up hundreds of logged hours, write essays, print pictures, burn CD's, finish my math book, finish my chemistry course, and ask various people for evaluations. Then we grade everything, sort it all into a neat portfolio, and finally take it in to NARHS (a program that gives high school credit for homeschooling).
So, even though I should be writing a book review on Soul Made Flesh (for my science class) I am going to do a quick summary of the big events of the past few weeks.
Ecuadorian Dinner 4 (June 18th)
Our last Ecuadorian Dinner went fabulously. Part of the way through the dinner (I believe we may have been serving tea) the sun came out through the dripping clouds and a beautiful, double rainbow appeared. It arched over us, a ribbon of color as the setting sun painted the trees and grass yellow-gold.
Meditation Retreat (June 24-28)
The meditation retreat was amazing. Over 60 incredible teens in a beautiful building with old oak and pine trees spreading their shadows across the lawn. Five wise and witty teachers who taught us so much. And many wonderful volunteers who played music with us and smiled a lot. It was so nice to be able to take a break from all the fundraising and high school. I barely thought about home at all for the four days and it was so refreshing to just let it all go for that short time.
When I returned I had a kind of euphoric feeling that didn't wear off for a couple days. It didn't change my life drastically, it wasn't like a turning point or anything but I feel like I learned some useful lessons about life and humanity as well as meditation.
CD Release Concert (July 9th)
It was lots of fun. Had a great performance and talk afterward, sold lots of CD's, had great conversations, only got one brownie. We filmed the concert but didn't manage to record it.
My concert in Winter Harbor went fabulously. Hammond Hall is beautiful. Great piano, impressive lighting setup, balcony seating.... I have done a few performances around Belfast but this concert was much different. Something about being on a stage with lights shining down on me, a real piano under my fingertips (as opposed to an electric one) made me feel so much more alive.
Finally! After months of work my album is finished!
If you want to order, mail a check of $15 to 97 Kaler Rd. Belfast, ME with a return address and I will send a CD back to you!
The realization that I was actually going to be doing Kroka hit about twenty times while I was visiting at the end of April. I would look at the other kids and imagine us in the jungle, walking into an indigenous village or looking out from the top of Cotopaxi and a blossom of excitement would burst through me. In three months I will be beginning the incredible journey that I have been preparing for for so long. THREE MONTHS!!! It feels like forever and nothing at the same time.
I am super excited because I am going to be visiting Kroka on the weekend of the 30th and I will get to meet many of the other 11 kids who are doing Kroka. It is so strange wondering what the other kids will be like, knowing that they will become my close companions during the 4 months in Ecuador. It will also be cool to meet our teachers. Some are coming all the way up from Ecuador to meet the 12 of us during the weekend.
I feel like I am finally part of Kroka now. I got a letter from Kroka with a bunch of information about our trip and how to prepare for the journey. When I was reading the letter it suddenly hit me that I am actually going to be a part of this experience. At the end of August I will begin the adventure that I have been preparing for and working towards for so many months. It is still hard to comprehend and I know that meeting the kids and instructors and visiting Kroka's farm in New Hamshire will make my image of what I'm working towards even more real.
All this time I have been fundraising I have imagined what the four months will be like, using the past Semester blogs and Kroka's descriptions to fuel my excitement. I have used the excitement to keep pushing closer to my fundraising goal, used it to work harder then I ever have before in my life and I have done so much more this year then I ever would have if I weren't doing Kroka. It is incredible that my whole life has been shifted by a single choice that seemed crazy at the time. The choice to raise $12,000 dollars for a four month journey into the heart of another land.
I have a long ways to go in my fundraising but with the support of all the amazing people in my community I know I can make it.
Thank you everyone for helping make this crazy, life-changing decision seem not nearly as crazy.
I have been super busy the past few weeks. I have been working a bunch on my album but I have also been working a lot of odd jobs in an attempt to reach my $1,200 a month goal.
Jobs:
Interior house painting (Finished for a while)
Gardening at Judy Berks
Yard work
Computer work
Splitting and stacking wood at Newforest
We had an amazing Ecuadorian dinner on April 9th. Hila (who is also fundraising for Kroka) and I were collaborating on this event and it went really smoothly and was a lot of fun.
We didn't have to publicize this dinner at all because it filled up so fast!
Here is the delicious menu we served up that night.
Menu
Starter:
Locro de Papa, a creamy cheesy potato soup with avocado Maine Course:
Frijoles Negro with Arroz Amarillo, deliciously spiced black beans with yellow rice
Sweet Plantain
Spicy Chicken Empanadas with white cheese and a Roasted Vegetable Empanada, both served with a Jalapeño-lime Dipping Sauce Dessert:
Flan de Coco a lovely sweet coconut flan (we kept the coconut flan due to its incredible popularity at the first dinner)
