American Icons―Eric Clapton
I melted into the family chair alone at home, staring at the television that was not even turned on. A state of lethargy had slapped me in the face, and I had absolutely nothing to do. This was a Saturday two summers ago. I stared at my fathers record player with curiosity. I had never listened to a record before and wondered why he still cared about vinyls. Did they carry sentimental value? Or could they actually still be played? I allowed my inquisitiveness to get the best of me as I reached into his record collection and grabbed the first vinyl to touch my fingers. The record read “Eric Clapton Unplugged” across the center, with an antique looking photography of a middle age man wearing large, round glasses on his face. He gazed at his left hand dancing across the neck of his guitar as his right hand followed over the sound hole. The picture had caught my interest.
I slid the record out of the sleeve and set it on the record player. I turned the sound system and the record player on. My inexperience led to me dropping the needle on the first groove, allowing it bounce around before it rested on one position. I probably scratched that record in a million different places that day. I naturally pressed the large “START” button on the record player and luck had come my way. Music began to flow out of the old speakers my dad had built in his college years. The first song on the second side of the record began to play, and I was in love. “Running on Faith” was the song that was playing. The piano, guitar, vocals, bass, backing vocals, and everything else came together to bring music in my ears. Five minutes into the song, Clapton halted his singing for a few measures to continue by speaking with his guitar. His bluesy, slide-guitar solo still sticks with me today. That moment is what made me pick up the guitar.
Little did I know that my dad once worshipped Eric Clapton as much as I do today. He was a huge inspiration on my father when he first started to play. My dad lived through the era when Clapton peaked in popularity. His music was played on the radio and broadcasted on international television. Everyone knew who Eric Clapton was. It was during this time my dad learned how to play. He got his first acoustic guitar at a music store about an hour away from the town he grew up in. He kept it with him for many years. It was on this guitar I first learned to play. When I started, I immediately went to learning songs by Clapton. His music has influenced millions of fans around the world, including myself. It defined an era from the late 60s all the way through the 80s. He brought a new sound to the blues through his guitar playing. From Cream, to Derek and the Dominos, to his solo work, he remained relevant in the music world. He still remains relevant by touring today. He has influenced many famous guitarist’s playing, such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joe Bonamassa, who share their music today with their millions of fans. Anyone who has heard Clapton’s music, has been a part of something bigger.
One day, I will play a part in this, and influence others with my own playing. I have worked on my playing countlessly since I first started. I have grown to learn different styles of playing, all influenced by Clapton at some point in time. My hopes to improve my playing will move me forward in a new direction of musicianship. In due time, my music will be more than just an echo between the walls of my confined bedroom.
I melted into the family chair alone at home, staring at the television that was not even turned on. A state of lethargy had slapped me in the face, and I had absolutely nothing to do. This was a Saturday two summers ago. I stared at my fathers record player with curiosity. I had never listened to a record before and wondered why he still cared about vinyls. Did they carry sentimental value? Or could they actually still be played? I allowed my inquisitiveness to get the best of me as I reached into his record collection and grabbed the first vinyl to touch my fingers. The record read “Eric Clapton Unplugged” across the center, with an antique looking photography of a middle age man wearing large, round glasses on his face. He gazed at his left hand dancing across the neck of his guitar as his right hand followed over the sound hole. The picture had caught my interest.
I slid the record out of the sleeve and set it on the record player. I turned the sound system and the record player on. My inexperience led to me dropping the needle on the first groove, allowing it bounce around before it rested on one position. I probably scratched that record in a million different places that day. I naturally pressed the large “START” button on the record player and luck had come my way. Music began to flow out of the old speakers my dad had built in his college years. The first song on the second side of the record began to play, and I was in love. “Running on Faith” was the song that was playing. The piano, guitar, vocals, bass, backing vocals, and everything else came together to bring music in my ears. Five minutes into the song, Clapton halted his singing for a few measures to continue by speaking with his guitar. His bluesy, slide-guitar solo still sticks with me today. That moment is what made me pick up the guitar.
Little did I know that my dad once worshipped Eric Clapton as much as I do today. He was a huge inspiration on my father when he first started to play. My dad lived through the era when Clapton peaked in popularity. His music was played on the radio and broadcasted on international television. Everyone knew who Eric Clapton was. It was during this time my dad learned how to play. He got his first acoustic guitar at a music store about an hour away from the town he grew up in. He kept it with him for many years. It was on this guitar I first learned to play. When I started, I immediately went to learning songs by Clapton. His music has influenced millions of fans around the world, including myself. It defined an era from the late 60s all the way through the 80s. He brought a new sound to the blues through his guitar playing. From Cream, to Derek and the Dominos, to his solo work, he remained relevant in the music world. He still remains relevant by touring today. He has influenced many famous guitarist’s playing, such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joe Bonamassa, who share their music today with their millions of fans. Anyone who has heard Clapton’s music, has been a part of something bigger.
One day, I will play a part in this, and influence others with my own playing. I have worked on my playing countlessly since I first started. I have grown to learn different styles of playing, all influenced by Clapton at some point in time. My hopes to improve my playing will move me forward in a new direction of musicianship. In due time, my music will be more than just an echo between the walls of my confined bedroom.
American Icons Reflection
The American Icons Project was the first project of the year in Humanities Class. I reflected on an Icon I looked up to in a short reflective essay, and took a self-portrait portraying the continuum between the Icon and I described in the essay. I believe our project should be graded under four categories: the essay, the photograph, deadlines met, and critiques.
I think one outstanding thing about my project is the sensory detail I used in my essay. I tried to include sensory details in my essay to make it interesting to read, as opposed to an average report from English Class. “A state of lethargy had slapped me in the face, and I had absolutely nothing to do.” This is an excerpt of my essay where I tried to include some sensory detail. I believe that this excerpt, as well as other sections of my essay showcase this well, and help make my essay fairly interesting to read.
Another part of my essay that I am proud about is the intro. I feel as though it catches the eye, and gets the reader interested. The first sentence of my Artist Statement is “I melted into the family chair alone at home, staring at the television that was not even turned on.” I tried to write an interesting hook for my first sentence that draws readers in. I believe I accomplished this and am very proud of my introduction paragraph.
One other part of this project I think I exceeded on was taking peer-critiques seriously, and using them to display growth in my essay. One critique that I thought was very helpful, was from Fermin. He said, in reference to the third paragraph, “You should elaborate more on your continuum in this paragraph. Maybe you could speak more about you fathers playing.” I took this critique very seriously, and re-wrote that whole paragraph. I tried to include as much of a continuum as I could. I wrote about how my father and I were both influenced by Eric Clapton, and how I was influenced by my father. This helped elaborate on the continuum, and overall bettered my essay.
Another vital part of this process was deadlines. I met every deadline throughout this process, not procrastinating once. I managed my time after school between sports, my social life, and school. I managed to put school as a priority, and completed all work in the properly allotted time. This gave me duration of time I needed to finish my work, and be able to go back and revise to make sure it met the teacher’s and my own standards.
I was pretty proud of my photo for this project. I have absolutely no photography skills whatsoever. I scraped up the only camera we have in my house and used it for my photo. When I got to school, I realized it was only two megapixels and from the 90s. Nonetheless, I made it work, and got my photo completed. Although, I do like my photo, I feel as though I could have consulted someone else with more experience to help me get a better picture taken. Despite that, I am still proud about how my picture turned out.
If this project were to be graded out of fifty points, I think the essay should be worth twenty points, the critiques should be worth ten, the photo should be worth ten, and the deadlines should be worth ten. I worked endlessly on my essay, so I believe I deserve full credit on it. I also believe I should get ten points for peer critiques, since I critiqued five other people’s essays, and had mine critiqued and edited by four other people. I believe I should get an 8 or a 9 on my photo, because, while I feel like I did a good job on it, I could have consulted a more experienced photographer for help. I also believe I should get ten points on my deadlines since I met every deadline.
The American Icons Project was the first project of the year in Humanities Class. I reflected on an Icon I looked up to in a short reflective essay, and took a self-portrait portraying the continuum between the Icon and I described in the essay. I believe our project should be graded under four categories: the essay, the photograph, deadlines met, and critiques.
I think one outstanding thing about my project is the sensory detail I used in my essay. I tried to include sensory details in my essay to make it interesting to read, as opposed to an average report from English Class. “A state of lethargy had slapped me in the face, and I had absolutely nothing to do.” This is an excerpt of my essay where I tried to include some sensory detail. I believe that this excerpt, as well as other sections of my essay showcase this well, and help make my essay fairly interesting to read.
Another part of my essay that I am proud about is the intro. I feel as though it catches the eye, and gets the reader interested. The first sentence of my Artist Statement is “I melted into the family chair alone at home, staring at the television that was not even turned on.” I tried to write an interesting hook for my first sentence that draws readers in. I believe I accomplished this and am very proud of my introduction paragraph.
One other part of this project I think I exceeded on was taking peer-critiques seriously, and using them to display growth in my essay. One critique that I thought was very helpful, was from Fermin. He said, in reference to the third paragraph, “You should elaborate more on your continuum in this paragraph. Maybe you could speak more about you fathers playing.” I took this critique very seriously, and re-wrote that whole paragraph. I tried to include as much of a continuum as I could. I wrote about how my father and I were both influenced by Eric Clapton, and how I was influenced by my father. This helped elaborate on the continuum, and overall bettered my essay.
Another vital part of this process was deadlines. I met every deadline throughout this process, not procrastinating once. I managed my time after school between sports, my social life, and school. I managed to put school as a priority, and completed all work in the properly allotted time. This gave me duration of time I needed to finish my work, and be able to go back and revise to make sure it met the teacher’s and my own standards.
I was pretty proud of my photo for this project. I have absolutely no photography skills whatsoever. I scraped up the only camera we have in my house and used it for my photo. When I got to school, I realized it was only two megapixels and from the 90s. Nonetheless, I made it work, and got my photo completed. Although, I do like my photo, I feel as though I could have consulted someone else with more experience to help me get a better picture taken. Despite that, I am still proud about how my picture turned out.
If this project were to be graded out of fifty points, I think the essay should be worth twenty points, the critiques should be worth ten, the photo should be worth ten, and the deadlines should be worth ten. I worked endlessly on my essay, so I believe I deserve full credit on it. I also believe I should get ten points for peer critiques, since I critiqued five other people’s essays, and had mine critiqued and edited by four other people. I believe I should get an 8 or a 9 on my photo, because, while I feel like I did a good job on it, I could have consulted a more experienced photographer for help. I also believe I should get ten points on my deadlines since I met every deadline.