Hello! My name is Chase and I am a '25 from South Carolina. I'm currently considering studying more film scoring and video game composition to learn about writing music for movies and games! But when I'm not hanging out with friends or doing classwork, you can find me composing music. I'm involved in the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble (DCWE), Dartmouth Chamber Orchestra (DCO), and the fraternity Zeta Psi.
As someone who did not know the ins and outs of marine policy, I loved learning about aspects of the blue economy. This class encourages us to be aware of the human aspect of marine problems regarding coastal erosion, pollution, and climate change. Professor Webster is the coolest!
I could not recommend this class enough to anyone who goes to this school! Professor Beaudoin has truly influenced me as both a musician and a student. We learn the music from the 1800's to present day including famous composers like Tchaikovsky, but also music by Beyonce and even the music of Dartmouth's professors. This is much more than a music history class. It is a class about music, our lives, and exploring the concept of sonder through musical lens.
If you're scared of coding or have a love for music, this is the class for you. This computer science class is cross-listed with music to teach students how to code using a language called processing to learn the basic principles of design through coding. We created several projects throughout the term, but Professor Casey really taught me that there is more to music than I think. For my final, I created an interactive keyboard which created a visual effect for each key that created music which made it a musical instrument! Genuinely such an amazing and fun class that I think people should consider.
Although this class is only offered during the F.I.R.E. study abroad program, it was such an amazing class. I absolutely adored having Professor Canepa teach us about Italy from its politics, music, food, and much much more. This class taught me hands on what Italian culture is through visits to famous landmarks, food tastings, or tours of Italian regions. If you don't want to study abroad, I suggest taking a class with Professor Canepa because she truly is one of my favorite professors I have had yet.
FallHanover, New Hampshire
I was on an off term, but decided to live on campus to join a fraternity and work in town. I took the time to write music for one of my friend's short films and learned a lot about the film music industry.
Dr. Moseley has been one of my most favorite professors by far. I have loved taking this class to divulge into my musical passion through creating music and learning about ways to create music. If you are interested in taking a music class, I highly recommend Dr. Moseley if you find a class with him that interests you!
I took this class with composer Miguel Kertsman who was incredibly knowledgeable in every type of compositional technique that I wanted. I studied electronic music composition with him to understand music digital signal processing better.
Although I'm not a fan of reading literature for the classroom, this class completely changed the way I perceive literature. I adored this class with Prof. Hollister as it engaged with the dissections of film, novels, and short stories regarding how humanity views the end of the world.
I took an off-term this Fall, but I decided to sit in on a class on how to arrange music for strings and woodwinds! After many hours of long work, I had a piece performed and recorded by professional musicians that I worked on in the class!
This has to be arguably one of my favorite classes I have taken at Dartmouth with one of the most qualified and talented professors! Throughout the term, I mixed eight different songs of all different genres and learned the ins and outs of sound engineering. This means figuring out the best ways to create and produce music in the industry. Now, I feel confident publishing my own music and have started helping others publish theirs too by working on their projects!
Jodie Mack's "History of Visual Music" truly changed my Dartmouth career. In their class, students learn about the ways artists has dealt with the intersection of sound and sight through film, sculpture, and live performance. Throughout the term, students present two films or performances of their own creative works. Now, Professor Mack is one of my advisors for my thesis which is a long-form piece of visual music!
SummerGreer, SC
During this Summer, I spent time at home with my parents while teaching at a high school marching band. I took a lot of time to write music to prepare my composition portfolio for grad school applications and took time to visit friends before we graduate!
Throughout this year, I am working on a film entitled "Queer Idyll." You can read more about the senior fellowship and my project on the blog, or at the link on above. My favorite part of my research and project this term has been visiting farms owned or cared for by queer individuals. I have witness so many amazing stories, beautiful locations, and friendly people!
It's winter everyone! Although I definitely have enjoyed my time inside drinking hot chocolate and tea, I finally set much time aside this weekend to have fun outdoors! The amount of activities Dartmouth offers outdoors is incredible. This post is going to describe the first time I have done many of these activities since I am from the southern US and have not experienced snow activities!
On Friday after my last class, one of my friends and I decided to go ice skating for both of our first times! After taking a snowy walk to Occom Pond, my friend and I rented ice skates to go on the ice. However, it was a gigantic struggle to try and walk to the ice. Eventually, we decided to just walk to the ice and then put on our skates. Since both of us could not skate, we used flipped over trash cans to help support us so we would not fall. It only took us around 45 minutes until we got cold and went back to get dinner.
A picture of everyone skiing on the pond
and my friend, Grace, and I sitting on trash cans while skating!
During Saturday, I went to the Dartmouth Skiway to go skiing for the first time ever! After buying my season pass and rental with my Dartmouth student discount, it was time to go skiing. Although I thought my friends would say "let's teach you on the bunny hill," they instead told me to just go straight onto the ski lift. I fell near instantly after putting my skis on, but I managed to get on and off of the lift (not gracefully though). I'm quite thankful for one of my friends who spent time teaching me how to ski the first time down the mountain. It would be safe to say that I fell down probably one hundred times on the skiway. However, the second time going down the mountain I did much better! I will definitely be going again several times this term hopefully.
Our hiking group selfie!
p.c. Alex Wells
And to wrap up my weekend, I went on a sunrike (sunrise hike) with the DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) Sunday morning. This was my first hike in the snow, so that is why this was a weekend of firsts! It is somewhat cold whenever you're hiking through snow at six in the morning. In my opinion, it is definitely worth getting up early in the morning to see the view. I would like to do more sunrikes in the future, but who knows if I'll want to do them in the winter again since it was really cold!
A picture of French's Ledge, which is where I did the hike!
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
