Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus

100 Days of Jams
Davis West

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Degree of Master of
Music in Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration)
Supervisor: Casey Driessen

Table of Contents
Abstract

iv

Acknowledgements

v

Introduction

vi

1. The Project

1

2. Objectives

1

2.1 Develop Compositional Techniques

1

2.2 Play Original Repertoire

2

2.3 Collaborate

2

2.4 Production

3

2.5 Grow A Fanbase

3

2.6 Be A Better Musician

4

3. Methodology

4

3.1 Compositional Inspiration

4

3.1.1 Lead Sheet

5

3.1.2 Chordal

5

3.1.3 Electronic

5

3.1.4 Improvised

6

3.1.5 Reharm

7

3.1.6 Lyrical

9

3.2 Theory

11

3.2.1 Classical

11

3.2.2 Jazz

11

3.2.3 Bluegrass / Roots

11

3.3 Production

12

3.3.1 Garageband Loops

12

3.3.2 Ableton Beats

12

3.4 Video

13

4. Analysis

14

4.1 Jam #6: “Japanese Fried Chicken”

14

4.1.1 Improvised Dessert

14
ii

4.1.2 Fried Theory

15

4.1.2 Sitting Chickens

16

4.2 Jam #22: “Tigersuch”

17

4.2.1 Tiger Displacement

17

4.2.2 Such Harmony

18

4.2.3 Tigercam

20

4.3 Jam #28: “Evening In Saffron City”

21

4.3.1 Metronome City

21

4.3.2 Chord City

21

4.3.3 Jam #76: “ヤマブキの夜”

22

4.4 Jam #37: “Is Everything A Camera?”

23

4.4.1 Pickled MIDI

23

4.4.2 Fiddle Rick

24

4.4.3 Memorizing Rick

25

5. Social Media

26

6. Results

30

6.1 List of Jams

31

6.2 Data Conclusions

33

7. Professional Plan

33

8. Conclusion

35

Appendix

36

Bibliography

40

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Abstract
This project is an intensive compositional, collaborative, and artist identity project which
focuses on developing methods to create music, and how to publicize content in an entertaining,
interesting, or otherwise publicly accessible manner. For one hundred days, I composed original
music, paired it to video, and uploaded to social media. Half were done solo, half were “jams” or
collaborations with others. Along the way, all the data were collected and analyzed to formulate
musical decisions. Certain examples are explained theoretically to identify personal musical
habits, which then shaped later compositions; some worked and were used as models, others
were not so smooth, so I learned what to avoid. Technology like Ableton was implemented to
make each individual jam look and sound nicely produced, as well as look unique and
entertaining. Social media analytics were taken from Facebook and Instagram, with focus on
followers, views, likes, and comments. This data also formulated artistic decisions in the creative
process. I hope this project may inspire future musicians to try their hand at creating original
content and shed a light on how to keep the creative process intriguing for the creator and the
audience.

Keywords: composition, jam, collaboration, Ableton, creative process, analysis

iv

Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my sincerest appreciations to my professors, colleagues, friends,
and family who have made this project possible. This would not have been executed anywhere as
successfully without the help of my advisor, private instructor, and program director Prof. Casey
Driessen, who supported me every step of the way and provided wonderful ideas every week. I
would also like to recognize my CE committee for offering their expertise: Ben Cantil, for his
encyclopedic wisdom of electronic music; and Alex Perrin, for critical tips on data analysis and
marketing myself on social media. Other professors and faculty who I would like to recognize
for offering their expertise include: Gary Willis, David Wallace, Mimi Rabson, Victor Mendoza,
Max Wright, and Stine Glismand.
I feel deeply grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate with so many fantastic
musicians within the Berklee family. They are (in order of jam appearance): Carlos Llerena,
Sergio Martin, Chris Black, Tommy Champion, Eddie Takumi Ruddick, Kathleen Chen, Devin
Malloy, Nathan Smith, Rohan Bhatia-Newman, Carolina Magini, Ryan Kimbrell, Sophie Mae
Wellington, David Mehalko, Michael Patsos, Jobi Riccio, Sam Leslie, Korina Davis, Josh
Wallace, Sarah Martinson, Yeji Yoon, Nan Macmillan, Shaudi Vahdat, Jasmine Kok, Diego
DeMarco, Nehir Akansu, João Bouhid, Abaasa Rwemereza, Chris Weigers, Eva Villalba, Josh
Harris, Dan Caton, Leslie Helpert, Ali McLeod, Sylvie Leys, Mohannad Nasser, and Gracie
Laboy. This project would not have been possible without their passion and support.
Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family. All my life they have
unconditionally supported my dream to become an artist. I love and thank them profusely.

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Introduction
Growing up, I learned about music by playing with people of varying stylistic
backgrounds. From before I can remember, my mother taught me the basics of classical piano,
music theory, notation and dictation. I fell in love with it and took to it quickly, using the
instrument as a tool for creating and understanding harmony. When I began playing the violin at
age 9, I still focused mainly on classical music, so I was surrounded by the style in many forms –
orchestral, chamber, concerti – ranging from Mozart and Shostakovich, to Janacek and Schnittke.
However, in high school I found a serious passion for jazz violin, and would later focus my
undergraduate violin performance degree in both jazz and classical music. Diving deep into the
bebop world, I immersed myself with artists like Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane, Bill Evans;
and jazz fiddle players like Billy Contreras and Christian Howes.
After graduating, I was invited to tour with fiddlers for a year and then later moved to
Arkansas to freelance, where I played Grateful Dead and John Scofield songs with funk bands,
and Bill Monroe and Tony Rice tunes with bluegrass bands. I also wrote music to perform with
alternative jazz-influenced string quartets centralized in Dallas, Little Rock, Chicago, and
Detroit; I would love to continue doing this as part of my career. When I came to Valencia, I
found several avenues for playing and composing, but quickly discovered a new interest in
electronic music. This got me started on creating music through technological means like
Ableton. I elected to take the Electronic Dance Music class offered by Ben Cantil, where I
learned how to emulate sounds used by artists I like such as Tennyson, Anomalie, and Tom
Misch.
Every time that I adopt a new style, I want to share the beauty and uniqueness with other
musicians who may not have had the same stylistic background as me. At the same time, I want

vi

to absorb and adapt to their styles as well. Through sharing and embracing different genres, I can
develop not only my improvisational voice, but my compositional skills as well.
Several artists such as classical violinist Hilary Hahn have campaigned with the tag
“#100daysofpractice” which acts as a self-motivator to practice every day.1 However, my focus
is on creating rather than practicing; I want to hone my compositional skills and collaborate with
as many people here as I can, during this short year we all have together. For my Culminating
Experience here at Berklee Valencia, I want to concentrate on composing or otherwise creating
original music every day for 100 days while incorporating the influences which have enhanced
my musical voice and identity as an artist.

1

Greer, Suzanne. “The 100-Day Practice Challenge.” Studiohelper.com, 1 Dec. 2017,
blog.studiohelper.com/performance/the-100-day-practice-challenge/.

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1. The Project
Between January 28 and May 8, 2018, I have executed this project by creating musical
content every day for 100 days, with an aim to do roughly half solo and half with others. I played
acoustic and electric violin, piano, synthesizer, viola, melodica, drum pads, and some auxiliary
percussion “instruments” like frying pans, ladles, and video game controllers. I have also created
beats and samples using Ableton and Garageband, or notated in the form of a notebook sketch or
a chart on Sibelius. Each one is titled, and for consistency within this paper they will be referred
as: Jam #00: “Title” or alternatively, “Title” (xx). Jams are paired to videos, ranging from practice
room recordings to visual art. Daily videos will be uploaded to Facebook and Instagram, keeping
me accountable to follow through and essentially campaign myself to a wider fanbase as a
musician and a creator. This guided my stylistic decisions influenced by classical theory, jazz
harmony, bluegrass rhythms, and electronic music production.
2. Objectives
My primary objective is to become a better musician. While this project started off as a
personal challenge for myself, it ended up being one of the most comprehensive and intensive
projects I have undertaken. Through 100 Days of Jams, I hope to walk away with a honed
musical skillset focusing on: composition, playing, collaborating, producing, and social media.
2.1 Develop Compositional Techniques
Until this project, I never truly created a compositional plan. In other words I would wait
until inspiration struck. Ideally, I would like to foster a routine workflow and organize a
compositional to-do list for any music across any genre. This means honing my analytical ear by
evaluating and regularly looking back at previous days to identify recent habits in my writing

1

and playing, as well as using technology as a vehicle for composition. I hope to work at a faster
rate and finish more original ideas.
2.2 Play Original Repertoire
Being a student in a contemporary performance program, improving my violin technique
is a main focus of this project. However, I would like to apply it to my original music, thus
expanding my library. 100 Days of Jams acts as a regular flow of original music output to
cultivate my artistic voice and write more songs. With more original songs, I have more options
to choose in a live performance. I can make more careful musical decisions by having access to
songs that check multiple boxes (i.e. songs that require violin vs. songs that require piano). I
hope to step away from this project with ideas to further develop over coming years, as well as
songs to immediately put to test in a live show.
2.3 Collaborate
In our fast-paced technological world, artists today are able to collaborate and produce
entire EPs remotely without even meeting.2 While the circumstances are sometimes inevitable, I
believe there is a certain beauty that can only be attained when playing music in the same room
with another person. To emphasize the importance of playing music together, I played with as
many people from the Berklee Valencia campus as availability and time allowed. There is a
plethora of musical styles that exists here in the Contemporary Performance program alone, and I
aspire to incorporate their unique voices into my project, as well as to share my vocabulary with
them.

2

Rutherford, Chrissy. “Alina Baraz On Creating Her Debut Album Over Facebook.” Harper's BAZAAR, Harper's
BAZAAR, 28 Mar. 2018, www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/interviews/a12553/alina-barazinterview-2015/

2

2.4 Production
A relatively new territory for me, one unintended result of this project sharpened my
abilities to record, mix, make beats, sample, and practice video production. I used iMovie to
create videos and package these musical pieces into 100 easily accessible minute-long
deliverables. Videos range from practice sessions, jams, live outdoor performances, and music
video-type productions, to psychedelic visuals. These skills were self-taught, but made more
easily accessible through resources like the Tech Lab.
2.5 Grow A Fanbase
By means of uploading these videos to social media, I am potentially reaching a global
audience to persuade them to continue listening to my music even after the conclusion of this
project. I will take data analysis from media platforms Facebook and Instagram, to note the
differences in viewership before, during, and after the project. I will record data for followers,
likes, and comments on Instagram at increments of 20 days to note any potential tendencies.
These numbers will aide artistic decisions for later jams.

Figure 1. Instagram analytics – follower growth over five weeks

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2.6 Be A Better Musician
As noted earlier, my most important goal at the end of the day is to become a better
musician. This encompasses everything listed above, as well as bringing the values I learn during
this project with me to future projects. By developing compositional techniques and identifying
my habits, I can compose music much faster. By having a wider selection of original songs, I can
collaborate with musicians by catering to their specialties. By producing these works in rapid
succession, I am able to work at a more efficient pace, ergo involve myself in more projects that
interest me.
3. Methodology
3.1 Compositional Inspiration
Being a composition-centric project, a big challenge for me was to keep myself interested
and vary up my source of inspiration. Some mornings I would wake up with a very clear melody
in my head, which I would transcribe by hand and later layer harmonies; however on other days,
I would have no clue what to do even after playing back a four bar Ableton loop for an entire
afternoon. Eventually, I found that musical preferences and tendencies still exist, regardless of
how inspired I felt. Therefore if I forced myself to just sit down at the piano and play any given
chord, my ear would have some sort of preference as to what might happen next. I would wait
until ideas would strike me spontaneously, but as the days progressed, I was able to play one
chord on the piano and develop ideas immediately without second guessing myself. By the final
days, I had established such a productive routine that I had a “safety” pile of song ideas that I
could fall back on. I took note of the methods I used to compose, and as I categorized them, the
methods helped form new jams. Here are the six methods of composition I aim to develop over
the course of 100 Days of Jams.

4

3.1.1 Lead Sheet
Lead sheet writing is described as a repetitive form of musical notation which denotes
melody and harmony, but does not specify chord voicings, voice leading, bass, or other aspects
of accompaniment.3 This is essentially music which jazz musicians read. Of the 100 jams, 57 fall
under this description. See Appendix for examples of this style of writing: “Tigersuch” (22),
“Dandylöwe” (60), and “Chromeforest” (99).
3.1.2 Chordal
Similar in concept to lead sheet writing, chordal writing was effectively an exercise I
assigned myself once a week. Instead of writing whole melodic ideas with chord changes, I
would sit at the piano for an hour with a timer and write out new chord progressions. If I played
two chords that I liked, I would write it down and develop that idea. Occasionally I would
preplan an overarching shape in my head (i.e. I would want a four chord progression, or a
harmony that would lend itself to a waltz), but most of the time I would improvise until an idea
jumped out and felt right. Chordal writing had a loose parameter ¾ some weeks I would double
down in anticipation for a busy schedule, sitting for 2 hours jotting as many song ideas until the
timer went off ¾ in the end I would find myself making musical decisions more quickly.
3.1.3 Electronic
In looking at compositional methodology, I noticed that one giant pillar glared to me as a
weakness; a gaping hole in my skillset as a musician. This hole was electronic music production,
and I felt it was a necessary skill in an exceedingly technological industry. Therefore, I focused a
lot of my attention in improving my Ableton skills: creating beats using MIDI, creatively using

3

• Webster, James (2004). Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style: Through-Composition and
Cyclic Integration in his Instrumental Music, p.7. Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis. ISBN 9780-521-61201-2.

5

samples, using Ableton as a recording device, and all around production. One example which
emphasizes this facet is “L’Aurore” (75). Inspired by a solo violin composition by Belgian
composer Eugène Ysaÿe, I sat down with a MIDI controller through Ableton and I didn’t get up
until I made a beat that I liked. I started with a simple chord progression that somewhat reminded
me of the violin sonata, then I added a beat which had a 6/8 subdivision. In the second repetition
of the progression, I replaced the beat with a 4/4 subdivision at the same time as adding a
melodic bass line, and then for the last repetition I mashed the two subdivisions and added a sub
octave to the bass line. I also added textural sounds of water into this track. Simply by adding
subtle differences to spice up the musical texture, I learned that I could create a complete (albeit
short) musical product using only a computer.
3.1.4 Improvised
As mentioned in section 2.3, an enormous portion of this project involves collaboration;
being such, my goal was to try and meet up with someone for a jam every other day. Given
students’ busy schedules in a masters level program, it became progressively more hectic to
schedule even a one-hour jam. However, of the 100 jams, 46 were collaborations with other
musicians. Due to this imminent air that existed in knowing that videos were publicized every
day, I believe it pushed my collaborators and me to make more concise and intelligent musical
decisions.
A few improvised jams that stood out were “Japanese Fried Chicken” (6) with Sergio
Martin and Chris Black, “Mother Indecisive” (34) with Korina Davis, and “Fiddle Oud, Little
Food” (96) with Mohannad Nasser. For each of these jams, we sat down for a maximum total of
perhaps 2 minutes. One of us would establish a groove, and the other(s) would follow – we
boiled music down to its bare roots: no charts, no chords, just sharing a good time.

6

What resulted was a beautiful series of interactions and musical dialogue that could not
have otherwise occurred. In “Japanese Fried Chicken,” there is a brief moment when Chris loses
grip of his halo handpan, to which he mutters quiet expletives and Sergio and I burst into
laughter. Not a beat was lost however, and the whole interaction made the final cut. Our music
was stylistically interesting as well: Sergio provided a guitar riff inspired by Colombian rhythms
and jazz harmonies, Chris embellished the midrange with an ominous hemiola as I chopped and
took a I discovered that the music all of a sudden gained a lighter, fun tone to it where we
weren’t only focusing on playing the next change correctly, or keeping perfect time.
Similarly, Korina and I got together and improvised a four chord groove for “Mother
Indecisive.” We solos over it, gave it a little breakdown section and a recognizable hook; after
playing it through just twice, we had our take. The video ends with us laughing and having a
good time, which really speaks to the music itself and how it made us feel. Playing improvised,
unplanned music was always fun and exploratory; I felt like I came out of these jams knowing
myself and my collaborator(s) just a little bit better. In “Fiddle Oud, Little Food,” Mohannad and
I set up the camera and played the first thing that came to our heads; no rehearsals, run through,
or even discussion of musical content. We ended up stopping a few families in their tracks and
garnering a bit of an audience, inspiring us to play a couple more tunes for them. Letting go of
boundaries and parameters led to accidentally serendipitous moments.
3.1.5 Reharm
While this section could potentially fall into section 3.1.3, compositionally speaking, reharmonizing preexisting nonmusical videos proved to be an entirely different method of creating.
This section encompasses a small but very important subset of jams in which I found videos that
I liked from social media or a TV show, gave pitches to spoken dialogue, added chords to give

7

the voice a “melody” in Ableton, then finally played that “melody” line on violin. The first of
two was Jam #37: “Is Everything A Camera?” inspired by Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. I took
the famous opening scene from Season 3, Episode 3 “Pickle Rick” and did exactly the outlined
steps. There is an option on Ableton to extract MIDI data directly from the melody, however in
this scenario, with background noise in the episode, it picked up some very odd noises as pitches
and I eventually opted not to use it. After putting pitches to every syllable, I added chords to
compliment the line either directly or by giving it some semblance of a groove. Afterward, I
recorded myself playing the initial melody which I knew so well by this point, and synchronized
the two videos together in iMovie. Since there were two characters, I was able to distinguish
between them by emphasizing their respective vocal range on the violin. Morty’s hesitant, quiet
voice tended to resonate best within the A string, and Rick’s more aggressive and crude
demeanor was more appropriate when played on the violin’s D and G strings.
The second of two was Jam #85: “That’s How You End It,” for which I followed the
same steps with a different video. This time, I took a reaction video to an announcement for an
upcoming title in the popular video game series, Super Smash Bros. and added the chord notation
to the video. The response to this video has been amazing and it seems that people of all
backgrounds regardless of musical interest are able to enjoy the content simply for the
entertainment.

8

Figure 2. Ableton project for Jam #85:” That’s How You End It”
Creating the chords for these jams was perhaps the most difficult aspect, as the musical direction
was entirely up to me; would the chords follow the vocal line word-for-word? Or would I
provide a pad for the voice to accent over? Similarly, would the direction of the chords ascend
when the melody also ascended? Would they move the other direction to create counterpoint?
These were questions I was asking myself and trying to work around. Detailed examples of this
will be expounded upon in section 3.
3.1.6 Lyrical
My final category of compositional focus is lyrical composition. This entails songs that
were written with the lyrics first. Words were never my forte in musical composition, but
occasionally I think of certain phrases that sound aesthetically pleasing and write them down.
These compositions are those where such words were the initial piece of compositional
information. Normally my jams come from melody or harmony, but some word combinations
trigger musical ideas, and over the last 5 years, I had collected several notebooks of lyrics, and

9

this project happened to be the perfect outlet for a few ideas. Among them, “Boring Coffee”
(45), “Go With The Stream” (52), “Mister Nuthatch” (58), “Outer Space Is So Great” (80), and
“Roselit Shades” (100) were all songs that began only as words. Since I will be explaining Jams
#45 and #100 in greater detail later, I will briefly outline the writing process for Jam #58,
“Mister Nuthatch.” This song was taken from a series of lyrics I started writing in 2014, with
irregular additions to my “notes” app on my iPhone, and with no intention of publicizing in any
way. In the thick of doing these daily jams, I began looking to the past for inspiration, and found
these words:

Figure 3. Notes for Jam #58: “Mister Nuthatch”
While the Davis in 2014 liked the words themselves and could even make out a rough
melody, he didn’t feel quite equipped to create a full-fledged song out of it. Four years later, with
more confidence in my ability to make songs and 50 jams under my belt, I feel ready to not only
solidify the melody while reading those words, but to play a chord progression on piano at the
same time. It took a long time to feel comfortable with my lyrics – and I admittedly still don’t
feel fully secure – but this project swung the door of songwriting wide open and I now feel that
writing lyrics is something that I am comfortable doing, and even enjoy.
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3.2 Theory
3.2.1 Classical
A large part of my musical foundation has been classical music, and though my current
stylistic interests have shifted, Baroque counterpoint and Bartokian inversional symmetry still
fascinates me today. As such, my jams will extract deep-rooted classical harmonic tendencies
and apply it to my current interests, both as a composer and player. My string-playing colleagues
in the program also come from a relatively classical background, so writing through-composed
material came more naturally. Jams which focuses on these classical harmonic elements include
“Mathly Waltz” (13) and “Paddynini Caprallas No. 1” (49); I expanded my multiple-part writing
and counterpoint through jams like “Liontrot” (72) and “Ode to Ophelia” (87).
3.2.2 Jazz
I wanted to incorporate my background in jazz by including thick harmonies into my
heavily post-bop compositions such as the previously mentioned “Tigersuch” (22), Kat Eyes (47)
and “Nice Shirt Bro” (73). These jams contain harmonic movement which loosely mimics that of
John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” notably in descending major thirds. “Tigersuch” (22) also features
a polyrhythmic ostinato similar to Terence Blanchard’s live rendition of “Footprints” by Wayne
Shorter.4
3.2.3 Bluegrass / Roots
Until I came to Berklee Valencia and took private instruction with Casey Driessen, I
never received formal training for fiddle styles like bluegrass. Together we worked on classic
fiddle tunes and on expanding my bluegrass vocabulary by transcribing artists like Ricky Skaggs
and Tony Rice. In transcribing, I took note of trends and tendencies like sliding into the third of a

4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNEv-31x8rk
11

chord or playing double stops more frequently. Such vocabulary made its way to my jams, which
I eventually grouped into a set that I call “Is This Bluegrass?” which comprises of “Greenfire”
(19), “Redwater” (67), “Silvercloud” (77), and “Chromeforest” (99). I can foresee these songs
being a part of an acoustic live set or an album.
3.3 Production
3.3.1 Garageband Loops
Initially, Garageband was my main method of creating backing tracks and recording for
my jams. Jam #23: “Monday Pork Buns” was the last jam that was created using Garageband, as
I intentionally wanted to improve my Ableton skills and use it as an instrument. Nevertheless,
Garageband provided the basics needed to provide a layered musical demo to play over. Hardly
any use of MIDI was incorporated – and if it was, it was not altered (no modulation or
automation) – but the software provided a glimpse into what my future of integrating technology
could look like. I had thorough experience with using my looper in solo settings and on tour; for
me Garageband was essentially a visual looper. Waveforms existing on top of each other on my
computer screen gives me a more tangible feel to the music, making fine tuning possible.
3.3.2 Ableton Beats
As the jams went on however, Garageband simply wasn’t enough and did not provide the
sounds or manipulation that I was trying to integrate. With guidance from Ben Cantil, I quickly
took a liking to Ableton and used it as a compositional tool as well as an instrument. The first
jam to incorporate Ableton was Jam #17: “Baby’s First Drop,” but I was not comfortable with
recording audio directly into the DAW, resulting in getting a recording of phone audio for both
the Ableton backing track and my violin. While it achieved the intended effect, it was not as
clean as it could have been. Jam #30: “Modern Dreams” was the first which used Ableton as a

12

recording device. Since this jam was a collaboration with singer Carolina Magini, I set up my
Scarlett Focusrite interface and was able to edit and mix our respective sounds individually. My
beat producing techniques sharpened, as did my recording efficiency. Lastly, Jam #79: “Look
Mom” was a jam which heavily featured the use of Ableton as an instrument; this jam was
triggered and manipulated using only an Akai APC40.
3.4 Video
On top of audio production, in order to make my music more accessible and entertaining
to the general public (and myself), I decided to pair everything to video. All visual editing was
done in iMovie. Most videos were taken directly from a playthrough or rehearsal, such as:
“Winnie The Pooh Combo” (26), “Tablewave” (63), “Cookie Jar” (81), and “Chromeforest” (99).
Two were artistic visual mashups of videos and images taken from the internet, “Calamity
Gengar” (94) and “Memehop Dojo” (98). However, a majority ended being a mixture of both. For
example, “Triple Mutton Karate Pork” (82) was indeed a video of a playthrough: I sat outside
with my violin, and played a rhythmic groove only using chopping and nothing else. Upon
editing the audio, I was nearly finished when I realized that it was uninteresting for me to watch
myself chopping in front of the camera, regardless of the nice weather. So I found some images
of popular cartoon characters representing a form of “chopping,” though this was intended
sarcastically as the characters were all karate chopping. I faded them into and out of the video
and lowered the opacity, still making it clear that I was on the other side. This gave the once-still
video something interesting and entertaining to offer to somebody who maybe would not
otherwise enjoy a 35 second clip of contemporary extended violin technique.

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4. Analysis
In this section, I will be thoroughly analyzing four of my 100 jams. The points of analysis
are: compositional, theoretical, and production. In compositional analysis, I will talk in depth
regarding the methodology listed above in section 3.1. Theoretical analysis takes an academic
look at my musical tendencies; I will talk about the theory behind respective classical, jazz, and
bluegrass influences incorporated into my music, as well as dissecting harmonies. The jams I
will analyze are: “Japanese Fried Chicken” (6), “Tigersuch” (22), “Evening in Saffron City” (27),
and “Is Everything A Camera?” (37).
4.1 Jam #6: “Japanese Fried Chicken”
What started as a dinner and casual hang with my two friends ended up being one of the more
memorable and entertaining jams for me to watch, to this day. My friends Sergio Martin and
Chris Black invited me over to their apartment, and I decided to make them some Japanese fried
chicken (called “kara-age”). What resulted was this jam.
4.1.1 Improvised Dessert
After dinner, we decided to play some music so I took out my fiddle, Sergio uncased his acoustic
guitar, and Chris brought out his steel handpan: a large, uncommon, lap-cradled percussion
instrument with seven pitches. Using the restriction of the handpan’s pitches as guidance, Sergio
and I played a groove over it. Chris played a hemiola which emphasized groups of three eighth
notes:

Figure 4. Transcription of handpan ostinato

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The chords notated above were improvised in the moment, and though we wavered at
first, we eventually agreed on that chord progression. As described in section 2.1.4, there was a
moment in which Chris’s instrument slid down his knees and nearly tipped over – I remember
thinking within that moment that Sergio and I hadn’t verbally communicated our chordal plan
whatsoever, however the three of us all felt comfortable enough musically such that we were
able to genuinely respond to the situation and laugh. We could very well have lost control of the
rhythm or chords, but we were able to share the moment and still keep the music going.
4.1.2 Fried Theory
As shown in the previous figure, the chords used in this jam were: c minor, F dominant
sus, A flat major 7, and G dominant. The c minor shown in the last measure almost acted as a G
sus chord over C, resolving to the tension-filled G dominant by the third beat. In terms of Roman
numeral analysis, the form is: i IV7 VI V7, which is a progression coincidentally shared by the
chorus of “More Than A Feeling” by Boston (with a major tonic as opposed to the minor). I
happened to perform this song over 80 times on tour, so it is quite possible that the progression
was somewhat ingrained into my muscles, despite solidifying it after identifying the pitches of
Chris’s handpan.
Another one of my tendencies began to show its face during my solo. Over the G
dominant chord, I played this figure:

Figure 5. G dominant example
Over the G dominant, I play the B natural on the third beat following a B flat, essentially
delaying the third by arriving chromatically. I then play E flat and F, both pitches which hint at
15

an augmented chord in this context. The idea of B flat ® B natural ® E flat ® A flat is taken up
the octave, bridged by the F. Just as the figure begins by delaying the chord tone from a semitone
below (the third), it ends by delaying the chord tone G from a semitone above, A flat; a series of
colorful note choices implying a G altered chord. However upon review, I discovered that a over
year prior to this jam, I did a transcription of a solo by fiddler player Billy Contreras playing a
live version of “Groove Merchant.” Over the third chorus, he plays this figure:

Figure 6. Billy Contreras transcription
Admittedly, I have tremendous respect for Billy, and his playing has influenced mine
greatly. However, I did not expect to be using his ideas note-for-note in a completely different
song than he played. In the second measure of the figure, it is apparent that he plays the exact
same eight pitches in the same order that I played.
4.1.3 Sitting Chickens
The resulting video for this jam was actually our second take. Production-wise, this jam
actually took very little to no effort. I simply set up my phone on a stand and played. Our first
take was only about 30 seconds long, as we needed to check the levels. We first had me sitting
right next to the camera, where Chris sits in the final video. Sergio was in the middle, and Chris
was on the left. However, upon listening back we realized that the violin and its higher register
cut through the instruments too well, resulting in drowning out the handpan. Additionally, since
the violin is played pointed leftward from the left shoulder, the angle only showed the back of

16

my violin. When we switched places, it immediately solved not only the sound level problem,
but the visual problem as well.
4.2 Jam #22: “Tigersuch”
Tigersuch is a tune of mine that has been written and rewritten to fit several different
formats. It first existed as an eight bar Garageband loop. I tried to develop a melody over it, as
well as a drum groove. I wanted to try and play it with friends, so this acted as an initial demo for
the song. Then, I notated it as a musical score on Sibelius. This, paired with the demo, allowed
for a smooth first read-through and still gave room for feedback from fellow musicians. Next, we
recorded the song at the Ann Kreis Scoring Stage (AKSS) at Berklee Valencia. The final video
used for 100 Days of Jams was recorded on my iPhone, capturing audio coming from the sound
booth at the AKSS and video straight from the live room. Musicians featured are Carlos Llerena
(tenor sax), Sergio Martin (guitar/bass guitar), and Devin Malloy (drums).
4.2.1 Tiger Displacement
As introduced in section 2.1.1, “Tigersuch” follows the lead sheet style of composition.
There is a melody and chordal structure, but most of the rhythm and bass parts are up to the
performers to fill in. It started off as a rhythmic motif, arranging sixteenth notes in groups of
seven. The ostinato is a two bar rhythmic motif:

Figure 7. Jam #22: “Tigersuch” rhythmic motif
Though it looks complex on paper, what resulted was a lopsided, almost laid-back feel.
Some of us felt the idea in groups of seven sixteenth notes, others felt it as an echo of dotted
eighth and sixteenth note being anticipated each time by one sixteenth note until the cycle

17

matched back up in four repetitions. The problem with this concept was that I had heard the idea
so many times that I started feeling it rather than reading it. For those who need a more solid
visual representation of the rhythm, this was not helpful. My first draft of “Tigersuch” had the
ostinato written like this:

Figure 8. Jam #22: “Tigersuch” motif before
While it is the same number of beats and technically just as accurate as the later edition,
this notation simply caused more confusion than necessary. Clearly my intentions were to
communicate that the rhythm was 3+4 sixteenth notes, but I learned that it is crucial for
musicians to have a visual representation of where the beats of the bar fall.
The melody was a vague, hardly existent idea when we first read it through. The only
musical idea I was married to was the rhythmic ostinato shown above. Even the form was quite
rough and took a few play throughs for me to feel like it was performable. However, in following
my format of lead sheet writing, I took elements from rehearsal and incorporated them into the
final product. For example, in an early rehearsal, Sergio played a C natural over an F sharp major
chord – normally, unless the chord itself dictates, playing a sharp 11 scale degree runs the risk of
clashing, or just sounding wrong. I ended up liking how it sounded, and I wrote a C natural into
the melody over that chord.
4.2.2 Such Harmony
The harmonic development of this jam took form over several weeks, and I feel that
perhaps even now it can be improved. I felt that since the rhythmic movement was so dense and
complex, the chords should be a little more palatable. The A section finds the chords descending

18

by whole step every two bars, starting from B flat and eventually reaching down to E. With this
framework, I wanted to give each chord one “color note” that didn’t naturally exist in a diatonic
triad: the B flat chord is a minor with a suspended 11; the A flat chord is a minor with a grinding
tension between the minor third and the 9th; F sharp major contains a 9 as well, with the melody
playing sharp 11; and the E major contained an optional sharp 11 from the countermelody.
The B section of this jam (which was not featured in the video) is a direct quote from a
previous jam that I uploaded, Jam #17: “Baby’s First Drop.” The line I play in the jam inspired
me and stuck in my head so long that I decided to use it in Tigersuch. The C section contains this
phrase:

Figure 9. Jam #22: “Tigersuch” C Section
The melody was memorable for me, and the chordal movement was interesting as well. I
especially liked the F sharp minor, as it delays the arrival to F by a semitone. In roman numeral
notation, the chords function as: I vi #iv IV. It was not until after recording and listening back
that I realized I had completely ripped off my own tune. A year before this jam, I wrote a song
called “Haku” and arranged it for string quartet. Measure 68, also coincidentally its respective C
section, contains this phrase:

19

Figure 10. “Haku” excerpt
As evident, though the rhythm is slightly inexact, the melody is almost identical in
movement to “Tigersuch”, simply pitched down a minor third. Harmonically speaking, the chords
in “Haku” over this section move: A flat major ® f minor ® d minor ® D flat major, or I vi #iv
IV.
4.2.3 Tigercam
By the time this jam was uploaded, I was still less than a month into 100 Days of Jams.
As such, certain production elements were still missing – musically, I wasn’t editing anything
yet, aside from adding a filter to the video. The difference between the audio in the final mixed
studio recording and my phone recording is staggering. However, I did implement something
into this video that others did not: movement. All of the jams until this point were still shots. A
big reason was that I had not implemented iMovie or any form of video production until around
Jam #30; I simply didn’t know how. For this jam, I asked my friend to come record and move the
camera around so we could get a nice shot of all the musicians, as well as some interior shots of
the soundboard. The result was an action-packed video that showcased multiple points of
interest: the music, the performers, and the recording studio.

20

4.3 Jam #28: Evening In Saffron City
Some days, the task of creating music from scratch felt so daunting that I would have to
reserve time at the school practice rooms to force myself to come up with an idea. This was one
of them. I turned on a metronome and sat at the piano.
The analysis for this jam will be a slightly different one than the rest, as this jam was later
adapted into an entirely new jam, turning it into a completely new piece of work. I will be
discussing the compositional and theoretical elements of this song within the first two sections,
and in the third I will explain the production, as well as the adaptation.
4.3.1 Metronome City
The compositional process for this follows my method for chordal composition. I played
a chord, and I let my ear guide me. After ten minutes, I came up with some chords that I felt
happy with, and they were: b flat minor, C dominant, and f minor. I had no rhythm or melody in
mind, so I set a metronome to a 30 bpm and played it back until something felt right. The
constant click felt monotonous, so I removed the second click per each group of four clicks, and
it felt much more musical. I had to keep a steady inner pulse and subdivide whilst playing the
ideas I wanted to convey.
4.3.2 Chord City
By focusing on the chord structure first, I was able to simply “fill in” the melody rather
than composing it from scratch. With the chord structure from above as my framework, I played
a G dominant after the f minor, and eventually I colored the chords by using extensions within
the melody. For example, the first note of the melody begins with a C: the 9th scale degree in the
chord b flat minor. This created a tension with the minor third, D flat. I found a correlation and a
tendency for myself between the voicing of this specific chord and a chord mentioned within

21

section 3.1.2 of “Tigersuch” (22): A flat minor. In this chord, I use the 9th scale degree B flat to
create tension just as the 9th degree of B flat minor is used to create tension in this jam. Rather
than focusing on creating a melody, I let the chords shape the melody for me. In the end, the jam
became twice as long as the intended chord structure. The first half acted as a ii-V7 turnaround to
f minor. Instead of playing the same chord voicings twice, the last chord changes every other
time to a second inversion E major with an F in the bass. This alternate chord is also a respelled
G dominant with a flat 9, which creates an expectation to resolve in c minor. I use this voicing to
reassign a given subdominant as a pivot point:

Figure 11. E major with F in the bass
4.3.3 Jam #76: “ヤマブキの夜”
In terms of production, this jam was the first that used a microphone that was not built
into my iPhone. My friend was nice enough to lend me a Shure MV-88 microphone for a
majority of these jams – the quality of audio became significantly higher than the previous days.
Being an even-numbered jam, the video was slated to be in black and white; the palette matched
the style of the song.
As introduced at the beginning of this jam’s analysis, section 3.3.3 will be focusing on
both the production elements as well as “an adaptation.” The adaptation refers to Jam #76: “ヤマ
22

ブキの夜” or “yamabuki no yoru,” which is a direct Japanese translation of “Evening in Saffron
City.” The first video game I ever played was Pokémon: Red Version in Japanese, and every time
I listened back to Jam #28: “Evening in Saffron City,” it reminded me of the game. I took the file
which contained the original audio and put it in Ableton. I pitched up the track 3 semitones, sped
it up, added a bass line, and put beats to it using only sounds found in the video game. At Jam
#28, I wasn’t editing using iMovie yet, but by Jam #76 I had lots of practice. I downloaded half
an hour of Pokémon: Red Version gameplay footage, sped it up by 1470% and lowered the
opacity. The combination of the sped-up gameplay and sped-up piano playing was a bit
overwhelming at first, but ended up working well with each other.
4.4 Jam #37: “Is Everything A Camera?”
4.4.1 Pickled MIDI
I had never reharmonized human speech before, but once I learned it was possible, I
couldn’t resist. To sample, I used an episode of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty – an episode titled
“Pickle Rick” which gained a cult following. I extracted the audio from the first minute of the
episode, and I transcribed and assigned pitches for every spoken syllable, into MIDI. I then
played harmonies underneath it with a MIDI keyboard, and recorded violin. Composing in this
fashion was extremely new to me, but it was a lot of fun and opened up possibilities to many
future projects.

23

4.4.2 Fiddle Rick
When I tried to export a Sibelius score from the MIDI part that I extracted for the voice,
it turned out impossibly difficult to read. Here are the first four lines:

Figure 12. MIDI auto transcription
As evident, since there was no consistent tempo within the speech, it was impossible to
fit it to one time signature or metronome marking. In addition, segments of voices were
identified as multiple parts with both upward and downward stems, such as in measure 4 of the
example. I knew in that moment that if I wanted to do this jam, I had to transcribe everything
note for note.
With the notes in place, I could harmonize it how I wanted. For the large part, the bass
line came first and dictated which chords should be played. As a guideline, since the vocal line
jumped around in range quite a bit, I tried not to move larger than a whole step in the bass at any
time. These parameters made the composition process more enjoyable, as I could make

24

contextual decisions which would alter the mood, but there were already expectations and a
melody in place, which gave me a fun workaround. Not having to make melodic decisions let me
focus on chord inversions, chord movement, and rhythm.

Figure 13. “Morty! Rick? Hey Moooorty!”
4.4.3 Memorizing Rick
For the violin part, instead of reading off of the MIDI transcription, I handwrote a
guideline of pitches which needed to be played at specific moments of the clip (see Appendix),
and I memorized the dialogue. It took hundreds of repetitions of listening, but I memorized it. It
proved to be necessary in order to create a seamless, unedited video of me playing along.
In production of this jam, I encountered a heart-stopping warping accident which
convinced me for a moment, that I would have to toss the idea. After laying down the harmonies
and even the violin part, I tried to sync the original video clip onto the music in iMovie. What I
found was that after 5 seconds, the video went out of sync. I thought it was a warping issue, so I
tried to readjust the audio clip in case I accidentally dragged it…but still to no avail. Eventually,
I found that in order to extend the very last note spoken by the character Rick, I had to slow
down the audio exponentially, simultaneously adding delay and fading it out. What I didn’t
realize was that I had not set a transient before the clip, effectively stretching out the rest of the

25

audio clip ever so slightly. In order to match the video to this Frankenstein of an audio clip, the
first 40 seconds of had to be sped up 105%, then slowed down 88%. I will always remember to
set up transients first.
5. Social Media
Posting content at a scheduled, rapid rate was never something I considered doing. I
mainly thought it was too demanding to keep up every day, but the repetitive action actually
proved to be quite meditative. I also had the impression that people would get annoyed by seeing
me post content on social media for one hundred days, but by posting daily, I got daily
responses, which helped me understand what elements might have contributed to a jam’s
success. Likes, comments, views, and shares were all objective responses which helped me shape
artistic decisions, in addition to suggestions made by family members and colleagues, as well as
in CE advising sessions. Several colleagues of mine (not associated with Berklee) were consulted
as well, for advice on things such as when to post, or what to tag. Several of these friends have
acquired students or playing opportunities through Instagram, so I felt it was important to
develop a presence there, specifically, with all of the posts getting automatically reposted on my
Facebook Artist page.
Overall, the response from people has been overwhelmingly positive. I use the two
platforms (Facebook and Instagram) as my means of quantifying. I have collected the data for
number of followers on each platform and produced the following graphs, where each line
represents number of followers:

26

Figure 14. Data taken from Facebook Business

Figure 15. Data taken from Instagram
These graphs include data from approximately 20 days before and after the project, to
show its impact. As evidenced, over the course of one hundred days, Facebook saw a 379.6%
overall growth in page likes, and Instagram saw a 151.9% growth. I had been active on
Instagram for some time before this campaign, so I already had a bit of a fanbase there. My
prediction was that daily posting would increase my following greatly. I found certain data
points in followers to have a direct correlation with my actions, while others were quite arbitrary.
For example, in the first figure there is a significant growth at around February 25, which I
cannot understand whatsoever. Perhaps it simply took that long for my posts to gain a wide

27

enough reach and become accessible to new viewers, or perhaps people just tend to check their
Facebook more towards the end of the month. For whatever reason, there was an increase in likes
at that time which has no apparent direct correlation. Contrarily, in both of the graphs we see a
steady increase all the way until May, and then each line plateaus, more or less; the angle
becomes less acute near the beginning of May. The project ended on May 8. My hypothesis for
this decline is that I stopped posting regularly. I gathered from this that people like to see new
posts on a frequent basis, and less frequency means less traffic. Below is a representation of both
graphs shown above, overlaid atop each other.

Followers
1200
1000
800
600
400

Facebook

28-May

21-May

14-May

7-May

30-Apr

23-Apr

16-Apr

9-Apr

2-Apr

26-Mar

19-Mar

12-Mar

5-Mar

26-Feb

19-Feb

12-Feb

5-Feb

29-Jan

22-Jan

15-Jan

0

8-Jan

200

Instagram

Figure 16. Followers
In addition to these graphs, I compiled meticulous data for likes, views, and comments
from Instagram in a spreadsheet (see deliverables for full table). The most well-received jam
overall on Instagram was Jam #51: Vaporwavedash, with the most views, third in most likes, and
second in most comments. I believe the integration of pop culture (videogames), recognizable
samples, interesting musical content, and entertaining visuals contributed to its popularity. The
28

results inspired me to make Jam #85: That’s How You End It, which later saw a viral reaction on
another social platform, Reddit.
On Facebook, the most popular video by far was Jam #99: Chromeforest. At 85 likes and
52 shares, this video features Casey Driessen playing alongside me, which I believe contributed
largely. Casey was kind enough to share my video through his own artist page, which also
garnered followers and likes. Referring back to Figure, I believe the sudden growth shown
around May 25 is a result of Casey’s share.
As for jams that were not as successful as I imagined, I was hoping for more response
from “Is Everything A Camera?” (37) as well as “Fast Awake” (54). “Is Everything A Camera?,”
analyzed in detail above, was a jam I worked on meticulously with technical errors and
adjustments ironed out along the way. With a growing popularity in harmonized speech,5 I
assumed this rendition of a recently-popular TV show would gain some traction. Unfortunately,
this jam had a little under 1000 views on it, compared to Vaporwavedash’s 2500. This could
have been simply due to lack of visibility, or not enough tags. Regarding “Fast Awake,” I was
simply proud of the composition and wanted it to be heard, but it ended up with only 288 views.
This could have been due to the video being in black and white, or the audio not sounding very
produced. Going forward, I think there are certain elements which may lend musical content to a
larger audience, but ultimately it seems that you never really can tell what will “go viral,” until it
does. I will continue to experiment with making music with pop culture, and this project gave me
an insight into what kinds of content people like to look at.
Lastly, I noted another trend across the board for these jams: I noticed that while likes
and views kept racking up on older jams, after the initial 20 days, almost none of the jams saw an

5

http://www.nme.com/blogs/tv-blogs/always-sunny-drummer-2019418
29

increase in comments. It was as if these posts had a shelf life for comments. By the fifth and last
data collection day, I copy-pasted the entire “comments” column, and only one post saw
additional comments. Some even saw a decrease – this was most likely due to the fact that there
are many “zombie accounts” on Instagram which are essentially bots liking and commenting on
random posts6; these zombie accounts, if reported, get deleted, as do their respective likes and
comments. Whether it is due to these zombie accounts, or simply due to people not wanting to
scroll back more than 20 posts and add additional input, is unclear. However, I believe that if I
want to change this result for the future, a viable solution may be to request some sort of
interactive response from the audience, for example: “What artist does this song remind you of?
Write in the comments below!”
As a result of this constant connection with social media, I feel less apologetic about
posting content and promoting myself. As an artist, I believe it is a necessary facet of my
professional life and my goal is to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I have learned that in
order to achieve this, I must promote often and across many platforms.
6. Results
This section will outline some numerical conclusions that I drew from this project. First I
will list all 100 jams by title, then draw some broad conclusions. These conclusions are objective
and are a numerical representation of my execution. If I choose to do a similar project in the
future, I believe these numbers will help guide me.

6

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/what-to-dowith-zombie-social-media-accounts/article33298286/
30

6.1 List of Jams
1. ONE

28. Evening in Saffron City

2. Triple Stop Triple Chop Hip Hop Glip
Glop
3. Amstel Oro

29. Falling Yo-Yo

4. Semi-Lion

31. Staple Your Fate To The Curtain

5. Eleven Hours

32. Mørkenbøiß

6. Japanese Fried Chicken

33. Living Life Like The Edge

7. Tengu Defense

34. Route 612

8. Blazers For Sale

35. March Showers

9. Wub Wavedash

36. Staying Up

10. El Doc

37. Is Everything A Camera?

11. Shinkansen

38. Needs More Cello

12. Take Your Time (But Hurry Up Cause
We Have Rehearsal)
13. Mathly Waltz

39. Para Flam Fiddle

30. Modern Dreams

40. Homesick
41. Sidon For Smash For Switch

14. ¿Quieres Bolsita?

42. Answer To Everything

15. Zeldamüsik

43. Mother Indecisive

16. Pizzic@o

44. Out With The Mood In With The Blue

17. Baby’s First Drop

45. Boring Coffee

18. Valen-cia/tine

46. Packin Beats

19. Greenfire

47. Kat Eyes

20. Bomberman Jr.

48. All I Ever

21. Ravel Second Movement

49. Paddynini Caprallas No. 1

22. Tigersuch

50. Nuevo Raum

23. Monday Pork Buns

51. Vaporwavedash

24. Kiefer Sutherland in E

52. Go With The Stream

25. r o n a d m

53. Notebrush Jig

26. Winnie The Pooh Combo

54. Fast Awake

27. Melodica-Moog Stew (con hint de jam)

55. In Need Of Jamswers
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56. Hire Me

80. Outer Space Is So Great

57. Gator? I Hardly Even Knower

81. Cookie Jar

58. Mister Nuthatch

82. Triple Mutton Karate Pork

59. Shadow DATO

83. La Puerta

60. Dandylöwe

84. Band of Travelers

61. Marchtember

85. That’s How You End It

62. Rain Dance

86. You Can’t See it

63. Tablewave

87. Ode to Ophelia

64. Lick The Fool

88. Snoopy&Winnie

65. Run Home Charlie

89. Birds Are Dinos Too

66. Call-Out

90. Calm Before The

67. Redwater

91. That Was Crazy

68. Back To You

92. Disconnectivity

69. Show Me

93. Nostalgia In Valencia

70. I’m Late For Rehearsal

94. Calamity Gengar

71. Terranort

95. Squid Cetera

72. Liontrot

96. Fiddle Oud, Little Food

73. Nice Shirt Bro

97. Error: Title Not Found

74. Casa Cheia

98. Memehop Dojo

75. L’Aurore

99. Chromeforest
100. Roselit Shades

76. ヤマブキの夜
77. Silvercloud
78. Soroti Kware
79. Look Mom

A further detailed spreadsheet of this chart including Instagram views, likes, and
comments is available in the deliverables.

32

6.2 Data Conclusions
With the confidence and knowledge that I produced this many original pieces of music, I
believe I am now properly equipped to develop a new idea with much faster speed and
efficiency. Here are some conclusive numbers that I have tied with this project:

•Solo jams: 54

•Reharmonized speeches: 2

•Collaborations: 46

•Songs with words: 11

•Collaborators: 40

•Composed solely by me: 90

•Jams made primarily on Ableton: 35

•Composed in collaboration: 10

•Jams including violin: 78

•Videos in black and white: 43

•Jams including keys: 51

•Videos in color: 57

7. Professional Plan
Concluding this project was a bittersweet moment for me. While I was happy to have
completed the challenge, I was simultaneously a little sad about not having the platform to
constantly publicize my stream of musical consciousness on a daily basis. However, it gave me
an uplifting confidence within me that I do have the ability to create content that people enjoy;
people who don’t even know me personally, feel a connection to my music. With this
knowledge, I will bring values that I learned during this journey with me to the “real world” to
give myself more solid professional positioning. My plan for after Berklee is to freelance in
Berlin and establish myself as a solo artist. I will be organizing live sets using a few of these
jams, and presenting them in a manner which I can perform both solo and with others.

33

One set in particular that I would like to establish is a group of jams that I affectionately
dubbed “Is This Bluegrass?” which include “Greenfire” (19), “Redwater” (67), “Silvercloud”
(77), and “Chromeforest” (99). These jams were all composed with bluegrass influences, and can
be shared with others as easily as they can be played solo. Developing this set will entail adding
other folk and bluegrass tunes that may fit this genre. Another set that I have been putting
together is one called “Mostly Beats,” which is a compilation of some of my favorite beat-jams.
These include “Tengu Defense” (7), “¿Quieres Bolsita?” (14), “Kat Eyes” (47), and “Nice Shirt
Bro” (73).
Compiling my jams into stylistic groups will establish my own musical voice and present
the most appropriate slice of my musical style in a given setting. For example, while a small café
may be home to “Is This Bluegrass?,” the “Mostly Beats” set may feel out of place.
A plan I have derived through the execution of this project, is to perform more original
music. With these sets, I can more easily reach out to booking agents, promotors, festivals,
schools, and colleagues. With the internet being available to anyone with a computer, I have a
much broader reach, and I can present entire sets to booking agents to give an example of my
playing with the click of a mouse. As such, I will be developing these sets into cohesive Ableton
sets as prerecorded backing tracks. With the help of Prof. Gary Willis, I have been working on
making my preexisting songs sound more “produced.” I believe this will be the key to my
success as a performer.
Lastly, with my desire to continue teaching, I believe I can present these jams in an
interactive, educational way to students who may feel constricted by the violin. I have done
improvisational workshops in the past; now I feel I have a better understanding of it myself, and
therefore I have more to offer in a teaching setting.

34

8. Conclusion
100 Days of Jams was originally nothing more than a personal challenge that I wanted to
see through. Per Prof. Casey Driessen’s suggestions and positive encouragement, it became my
Culminating Experience and I couldn’t be happier with the decision. As one might imagine, there
were certainly days when I felt too tired or lazy to compose, but this project forced me to sit with
an idea even if I didn’t like it. Over the course of the one hundred days, and even beyond that
timeframe, I learned extremely valuable information about how to compose, how to improve my
playing, how to share music and adjust to fellow collaborators’ skillsets, how to produce
interesting content both musically and visually, and how to market myself as an artist on the
internet. Most importantly however, I absolutely feel that I accomplished my goal in “being a
better musician.” I feel more polished after this project. I feel I have the tools necessary to play
the music that I envision in my head, and I am able to present it in a public, unapologetic
manner.
Until now, I never felt that my music was “ready” to play. There was always something
that needed to be fixed. This project made me appreciate the creative process and understand it
on a much deeper level. Creating music feels less daunting, and more meditative. Going forward,
I have the tools to create music on my own, and to translate my musical thoughts into a tangible
format with a fast turnaround. I can develop ideas on my own as well as present them to
collaborators. As I move from this stepping stone that is Berklee to the next, I feel excited,
anxious, and slightly scared. But most of all, with the help of professors, friends, colleagues, and
family members — I feel ready.

35

Appendix

2

37 F©Œ„Š9

EŒ„Š9
Last time play:

™™ ü
nœ # œ œ
& V V V V V V V V V V V V ≈ #œ œ #œ œ
#œ
œ œ b œ nœ œ
œ nœ †

Tigersuch
DW

q = 100
B¨‹11 Intro

A‹

A¨‹9

D¨7

.
&

sim.
4 ° ™™ ™ ‰ ™ r
‰ j
‰ ≈ j™
4¢ V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V

B¨‹11

41

A‹

A¨‹9

D¨7
fills

& ŒŒ bb ˙˙ ™™

œœ

œœ ™™ œ bb ww
nœ

b ˙˙

∑

5

F©Œ„Š9

EŒ„Š9

& V V V

V

V V V V

V V V V

V V

™™ ü
†

V V

45 F©Œ„Š9

[A]
° Œ
& ¢ ™™ Œ bb ˙˙ ™™

9

EŒ„Š9
Œ ‰ ≈b œr bb ˙˙ Ó
bœ
Œ
Ó
R

& ÓV V VŒ b œœ ˙˙

1st time sax
B¨‹11 2nd time +guitar

A‹

A¨‹9

≈ # œ nœ # œ œ
nœ
#œ
œ n œ b œ n œ nœ # œ œ œ n œ

D¨7
bass fill

œœ

œœ ™™ œ bb ww
nœ

b ˙˙

∑
Interlude

49

F‹9 EŒ„Š7(b5)
13 F©Œ„Š9

EŒ„Š9
Œ ‰ ≈b œr bb ˙˙ Ó
b
œ
Œ
Ó
R

& VÓ V VŒ b œœ ˙˙

j
& nœ ™ b œ œ

1st time blow
2nd time play:

E¨‹

DŒ„Š7

F‹9 EŒ„Š7(b5)

E¨‹

j
œ ™ bœ œ

‰ b œ œ ™ nœ V V
J
J

DŒ„Š7

‰ b œ œ ™ nœ œ # œ ™
J
J J

™™ ü
≈ # œ nœ # œ œ
nœ
#œ
œ n œ b œ n œ nœ # œ œ œ n œ †
53 F‹9 EŒ„Š7(b5)

E¨‹

DŒ„Š7

F‹9 EŒ„Š7(b5)/C©

G¨/A¨

G7(#5)

Build

j
& œ ™ bœ œ

B¨7½
17

E7
G‹
A¨‹
E¨‹
C©‹ F©7 B
j j
& ‰nœ ‰b œ ‰b œJ ‰nœJ ‰# œJ # œ # œ # œ œ Œ ‰b eJ b eb eb eb e e e ee e e ‰# e# e# e# e# e# e e e e e
F‹9

j
œ ™ bœ œ

‰ b œ œ ™ nœ V V
J
J

[C]
A‹
° C
& ¢ ™™nœ œ nœ œ ˙

‰ b œ œ b œ nœj ˙
J J
1.
F©‹

57

B¨7½
21

µ
G‹

A¨‹

F‹9

E¨‹

B

C©‹
F©7

j j
& ‰nœ ‰b œ ‰b œJ ‰nœJ ‰# œJ # œ # œ # œ œ Œ ‰b œJ b œ b œ b œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰# œ # œ # œ # œ # œ # œ œ œ œ œ
[B] solos: 1. sax 2. violin
25
B¨7½
E¨‹ D‹ C©‹ F©7 B
E7
A¨‹
° F‹9 j G‹j
& ¢ ™™ ‰ n6 ‰ b 6 ‰ b 6J ‰ n6J ‰ # 6J # 6# 6# 6 6 Œ V V V V V V V V
29 F‹

E¨‹

B/C©

B¨7/D

F

F©‹11

A‹

C

œ œœ œœ œ

F

™™ ü
†

œ œœ œ˙

œ œ œ œ ˙

Sax solo out

61

2.
F©‹ C‹(Œ„Š7)/A¨

[A]

A‹
j
j .
™ r
V ™V‰ V V V ‰ V V V ‰ ≈ V ™ V V

œœœ
bœ œ

& ˙

B¨‹11

A¨‹9
sim.

V V V V

E
B

E¨‹

E7
65

& V V V

V

V V V V

V V V V

V V

™™ ü
†

V V

& V

V

V

D¨7

F©Œ„Š9

V

V

EŒ„Š9

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

Trade 4 bars

33 [A] B¨‹11

A‹

°
r
j
j .
& ¢ ™™ V ™ V ‰ ™ V V V ‰ V V V ‰ ≈ V ™ V V

A¨‹9
sim.

D¨7
D7/C
69

V V V V

U
w

V V V V
& ≈

1. violin 2. guitar 3. sax 4. keys 5. bass 6. drums

œ #œ œ
nœ # œ œ nœ œ
# œ #œ
œ œ b œ nœ œ

Dandylöwe
DW

Ballad
B¨ F/A A¨‹ D¨7 F©Œ„Š7

DŒ„Š7

B‹

E7

B¨‹

E¨7½

3

4
& œ œ b œ b œ # œ ™ œj # ˙
4

Œ ‰ œ bœ b˙

Œ #œ œ œ #˙

3
5

A¨‹ GŒ„Š7 F©‹ A/F

E‹11

B¨Œ„Š7

A‹

D7(#9)/A¨

G‹

F©

A¨

Œ œ œ nœ ™ b œj
œ

œ œ œ

bœ

#œ ™
nœ
& # œ nœ
nœ

œ ˙
J

36

V

Chromeforest
DW

B7

nœ
& b œ nœ

Fiddle

3

E7

nœ
& b œ nœ

Fid.

G
A7
B7
œ #œ #œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
#
œ
Ϫ
œ
œ
œ
™
œ
œ
#
œ
œ
œ
œ

A7
E7
œ #œ #œ œ œ œ œ nœ G
œ
‰
b œ nœ b œ œ nœ œ #œ œ™ nœ
œ
3
3
3

3

5

Fid.

B7

D
C©‹ D œ
G
n œ œ #œ#œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ FŒ„Š7
œ
#
œ
#
œ
Ϫ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œœ
œ œ û#œùœ œ
nœ œ
& b œnœ œ

C
D‹
œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ
&

8

Fid.

B¨Œ„Š7

D‹

#œ œ

œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœ 3
œ
4

3

A7
D‹ œ n œ
G7
B¨7 œ œ œ C7
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œœœœ 3
Ϫ
œ
œ
œ
#
œ
n
œ
œ
œ
œ œ œœnœ 4 #œœ œ
œœ œ
3
nœœ 4
&4
4
G7

10

Fid.

3

B‹
œ

13

3
Fid.

&4

3

B¨Œ„Š7
G
A
F©7
B
œ bœ œ œ
œ œ œ œ ≈ œ œ œ 4 œ™ œ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ ™ œ
4
3

15

G

nœ
Fid.

& b œ nœ

œD #œ #œ œE. nœ.
œ
œ

G

A

B

3 œ™ œ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ ™ 2 ˙
4
4

3

37

Ode to Ophelia
DW

q = 60

° ### 6 Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
˙™
˙™
Violin 1 &
8 ˙™
### 6 #Ÿ˙~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
™
˙™
˙™
Violin 2 &
8
trill to A
### 6 ˙™
˙™
˙™
B
Viola
8
Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#
## 6
¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿
™
5string Violin &
˙
8
¢

5
° ### bœ≥. œ≥.
&
### ≥¿. nœ≥.
&
bϳ. ϳ.
#
#
B #

ϳ.
ϳ.
ϳ.

nœœ≥. œœ≥. œœ≥. ‰ ≥œ ≥œ
œ. œ.
≥¿. nœ≥. œ≥.
≥. ≥.
‰ œœ œœ

≥
œ. œ
≥¿.

ϳ. ϳ. ϳ.

ϳ. ϳ. ϳ.

≥. ≥.
‰ œ œ

≥≥≥
™™ œœœœœœ
. . .
≥ ≥. ≥.
™™ n¿. œœ œœ

≥≥≥
œ. œœ. œœ. œ
≥¿. œ≥. œ≥.
œœ

≥. ≥. ≥.
™™ œ œ œ

ϳ. ϳ. ϳ.

3
3
™™ j ‰ ≈#œ #œj ‰ ≈nœ
œ
bœ
œ

≥ ≥
œ. œ œ. œ nœœ ™™
œœ≥. œœ≥. nœ ™

n#œœ ™™
ϳ. ϳ. ϳ.

b 44
b 44

bnœœ ™™

œœ ™™
b 44

3
3
3
### j ‰ ≈ 3
Œ
&
¢
bœ
nœbœbœ
bœ

3

3

j ‰ ≈#œnœ œnœ ‰ nœnœ œJ ‰ ≈nœnœn œj ‰ ‰
nœ

b 44

8

° b4 Œ œ œ œ
& 4
Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4
&b 4 ˙
Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
B b 44 ˙

4
¢& b 4 œ
œ

œ nœ œ ≈ nœr #œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œJ œ œ œ œJ œ œ œ
œ
3
3
3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ÿ
œ
œ œ nœ œ
˙
bœ
œ
œ
#œ
Ÿ˙~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
œ
œ
#œ

¿

¿
n œœ

r≈ ‰
œ

38

Œ
œ
œ

bœ

2
10

° b œ
& J

œœœœ œœœœ
J
J
3
3
œœœœ œœœœ
J
J

œ
&b J

3

œ nœnœ œ

nœ
œ œ ™
≈ nœr #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
™

œ 3œ œ œ

3
≈ r #œ œ œ nœ œ nœ œ #œ œ bœ
#œ œ
œ bœ œ nœ b œ n œ œ
œ
Œ
#œ œ œ nœ œ
≈ nœ œ œ
œ bœ nœ bbœœ
R 3
nœ bœ nœ

3
3

nœ
J

Bb ˙

œ nœ
œœ
3

3

¿
¢& b œr ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈
3
œ

3

¿
r≈ ≈ ‰
n œœ

39

3

™™
™™
™™

Bibliography
• Greer, Suzanne. “The 100-Day Practice Challenge.” Studiohelper.com, 1 Dec. 2017,
blog.studiohelper.com/performance/the-100-day-practice-challenge/.
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•“Pickle Rick.” Rick and Morty. Adult Swim. 296, Atlanta. 6 Aug 2017, Television.
• Rutherford, Chrissy. “Alina Baraz On Creating Her Debut Album Over Facebook.” Harper's
BAZAAR, Harper's BAZAAR, 28 Mar. 2018, www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-booksmusic/interviews/a12553/alina-baraz-interview-2015/.
• Webster, James (2004). Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style:
Through-Composition and Cyclic Integration in his Instrumental Music, p.7. Cambridge
Studies in Music Theory and Analysis. ISBN 978-0-521-61201-2.

• Westberg, Megan. “Hilary Hahn Commits to Practicing for 100 Days in a Row—with
Unexpected Results.” Stringsmagazine.com, Strings Magazine, 3 Nov. 2017,
stringsmagazine.com/hilary-hahn-commits-to-practicing-for-100-days-in-a-row/.

40