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HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Complete this proposal prior to your experiences start date and upload it in the UHP Database
(https://webapps.uc.edu/uchonorsstudent). Create an experience (Add a new record) in the Tracking Project
tab and upload your proposal document as an attachment. The deadline for submitting proposals is the 5th of
each month (excluding July).
Proposals are intended to be well developed plans for your experience. However, experiences are exploratory in
nature, and we are flexible with changes throughout the experience. If your experience changes after receiving
approval on your proposal, contact your honors advisor to verify the changes still satisfy the requirements of an
honors experience.

Basic Information
Full Name:

Nikesh Patel

Title of Project:

Homemade Percussion Studio / Ensemble

Thematic Area(s):

Creativity & Leadership

Expected Start Date: June 1, 2016

Expected End Date:

June 10, 2016

GUIDELINES
1. Proposal submission timeline: Proposals should be submitted at least one month prior to the expected
start date of the experience. International experiences require at least two months notice. Contact your
honors advisor immediately for any exceptions.
2. Proposal length: While the quality of the proposal is most important, strong proposals are typically 3-4
pages single-spaced.
3. Proposal format: Please maintain the proposal format (e.g. headers, layout)
4. Time commitment: Experiences should consist of at least 75-90 hours of preparation, execution, and
reflection. This is approximately equivalent to the commitment of honors seminars and pre-approved
experiences.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

All self-designed international travel experiences require two months notice and must be at least one week in
length. You will need to provide a detailed itinerary (dates, locations and activities). If participating in
independent travel (not with UC faculty, staff or student group), you must also fill out a Worldwide: Honors
Experience application via UC International.
Additionally, the Student Travel Policy restricts UC-sponsored travel to countries under a U.S. Department of
State Travel Warning. Those who wish to visit a country with a travel warning must seek an exemption through
UC International. Students traveling without a faculty or staff leader must individually request an exemption.
We cannot allow you to count this travel as an honors experience nor can we give you a grant without an
approved exemption.

1. Abstract
Briefly describe the experience. What makes this experience personally meaningful? What goals do you have for this
experience? What is your timeline for this experience?
From June 1st of 2016 through June 10th of 2016, I will be constructing an ensemble of percussion instruments using
mainly household items. Once all of the instruments have been built and set up to my liking, I plan on sharing my
experience through a live performance. The performance will be of an original composition featuring only the instruments
Ive assembled in the project. This project puts a heavy emphasis on creativity because I am using everyday objects and
transforming them into musical instruments that can be used in a performance setting. The project also focuses on
leadership because there is no doubt that I will need lots of help in order to complete the project and do so successfully in
the allotted time span. While the times are not decided, the following lists the agenda from the beginning to the end of the
experience:
Day 1: Purchase the items listed in the budget as well as any others that have musical potential.
Brainstorm for any additional instrumentation ideas / ways to use objects.
Finalize a list of instruments to make / objects to use\
Day 2-5: Construct and assemble objects according to the planned instrumentation from Day 1.
Day 6-9: Using the created instrumentation, compose a piece utilizing every object used and rehearse it with any
other musicians that may be needed
Day 10: Have performance and instruments set up to be performance ready by ensuring practicality, mobility,
and other logistical details
TBA:
Share the original piece in a live performance setting
I have chosen to go this route with my Honors Experience because music plays a major role in my life. Its something that
I believe everyone should at least try at some point in their lives and can even provide benefits down the road. While Im
not pursuing a career in music, it is still one of my biggest interests and will continue to remain more than just a hobby.
Percussion specifically is involved in this project because I believe the visual aspect and physical ease of various
percussion lends itself well to peaking interest in other people and make it more fun to share. The ultimate goal I have for
this project is to be able to show people that if you can be creative, then ordinary things can become extraordinary. This is
demonstrated in my project by using everyday household objects and elevating them into performance-ready instruments.
I hope that through this experience, those who see the final result are inspired to be creative and find music all around
them in their own everyday lives.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
Brief description of the experience
Personal connection to the experience
Identified goals for the experience
Timeline from start to finish
*Itinerary (international experiences only)
**Explanation of differentiated experience
from what is required of other students

Required Revisions:

Effective:

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2. Experience Advisor
Identify an experience advisor and provide their contact information. Explain why you chose this person and how you
plan to utilize your advisor for this experience.
Mr. Vern A. Spevak
Spevak Percussion Concepts
vernspevak@gmail.com
As the education director of Spevak Percussion Concepts, one of the most widely acclaimed private percussion schools in
the Midwest, Vern has based his whole life around percussion. Hes been a studio musician, composer/arranger, and
performer as well as an instructor. Hes played many different genres of music both within the country and abroad. For
instance, he studied percussion while in Uganda and performed in schools around Kampala. His knowledge of how
percussion instruments are designed and crafted will help me plan and execute the construction of my homemade
percussion studio. Additionally, his composition expertise will help me arrange a piece based around those instruments. I
plan on meeting with him prior to any building to present my plan to him and then 3 times throughout to consider any
changes or new ideas that he may have regarding the project.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
Experience advisor name and contact
information
Description of why advisor was selected
Specific plans to engage with advisor

Required Revisions:

Effective:

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3. Connection to Learning Outcomes
List 3 learning outcomes from any thematic area(s). Provide specific activities you plan to engage in to help you make
progress towards the chosen learning outcomes. Describe how you expect each activity to help your progress. Include an
estimated time commitment for those activities.

Creativity: Explore a new creative competency/medium or seek new ways to engage an existing competency/medium.
The whole premise of this project is based around one idea being able to use everyday items and objects to
make music. In doing so, I will be exploring a new creative way to engage in the already traditional medium of
musical performance and instrumentation. Whether these items are typically used as office supplies or cooking
tools, my aim is to use them in a unique way. By keeping the item as unchanged as possible, but using it in the
entirely different context that music is, my creativity will allow for this traditional medium to be engaged in new
ways.

Creativity: Articulate the broader significance of a creative project and the value of its contributions.
In the past, Ive created my own instruments on a much smaller scale just for my own personal enjoyment.
However, I think that this particular experience needs to be shared with others. Creativity is a quality that I feel
people use less and less as they go through life. I want to be able to show people that by using creativity, ordinary
things can become elevated and used for purposes they may not be made for. There is value in this in regards to
the real world because problem-solving situations are all around us. Without creativity, problem solving becomes
quite difficult. By being able to think outside the box and recognize potential solutions or methods in unorthodox
places, there is a higher solution that the problem at hand can be fixed.

Leadership: Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or goals.
In order to pull off the project that Ive envisioned, I know I will not be able to do it individually. There are many
different aspects to this project and I will need to lead a group of people with a diverse set of strengths in order to
achieve it. For instance, those who are more creative will help and assist me with brainstorming different ways
that ordinary objects can be used to produce different sounds and effects. Those who have more experience with
constructing and using tools and other equipment, will help me form and execute a design plan. Such design plans
will ensure that however the particular objects are used, that they will be altered and/or mounted in a way that
makes the most sense both from a physical and acoustic perspective. Lastly, those who are more experienced in
the musical field will assist me in composing and performing my piece in the best way possible. Collaborating
with these different groups of people and making sure everyone understands what the final result should be is a
vital part of completion of this project.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
3 learning outcomes explicitly identified
from any thematic area(s)
Examples of activities and explanation of
how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome
Estimated time commitment for each
activity

Required Revisions:

Effective:

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4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes
List 1-2 academic resources you plan to use to enhance your understanding of the learning outcomes. Explain how each
resource connects to your learning outcome(s) and helps you execute your experience. Please include the title and
author/creator for each resource.
The Bucket Book A Junkyard Percussion Manual written by David Birrow.
This book in particular would be a great book for me because it focuses on Junkyard Percussion, or the idea of creating
instruments in homemade style way. Much of the content in the book will aid me in the process of brainstorming my own
instruments as well as provide me with existing ideas of how some traditional objects are used for musical purposes.
Based on the description, many of the homemade instruments in the book are geared towards individuals with minimal
musical experience. Since I am planning on performing with my creations, I will also look to elevate some of the basic
instruments in the book in a way that adds an element of performance quality for the audience both visually and in terms
of its sound.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

1-2 academic resources connected to the

learning outcomes
Title and author of each resource
Description of how resources will help
make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection
The on-going reflection should help you process the experience and progress toward your chosen learning outcomes.
Describe your method for reflecting throughout the experience. Indicate specific reflection questions/topics you plan to
use to guide your reflective process.
Throughout the project, I plan to document my thoughts and feelings in a journal. In this journal, I will summarize the
events and progress for the day in regards to the constructing part of the project. For the music composition portion of the
project, I will write about what I want the audience to feel or learn from what I compose that day. I plan on writing about
constructing every 2-3 days and writing about the composition every single day. Afterwards, I will reflect on the project as
a whole. The entirety of the journal will be viewable on my Honors Portfolio as well. Specific questions/topics I will
reflect upon include:
In what ways have I demonstrated my creativity today?
How have I used problem-solving skills to overcome various obstacles?
Is my original vision changing in any way?
Am I enjoying the project as much as I thought I would?
How can others learn from what Im doing?
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
Method for ongoing reflection
Reflection questions/topics clearly
specified

Required Revisions:

Effective:

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6. Sharing Your Learning
Describe how you plan to actively share what youve taken away from this experience with a targeted audience. Explain
why you chose this specific audience.
To share what Ive created with others, I plan on performing an original piece using only the instruments that Ive created.
In order to reach a target audience, I plan to do this performance at the studio of Spevak Percussion Concept, which is
owned by my chosen Experience Advisor, Vern Spevak. Numerous students ranging from beginners to performance
majors take lessons there, meaning that everyone there is at least remotely interested in music. Whether they are a
kindergartener or a college graduate, I want to show people through a personal recital that percussion is not only a fun
hobby that anyone can do, but it can also be found anywhere and everywhere. Alternatively, I could use the instruments to
teach a basic lesson to their groups of younger students who have just started playing. By choosing this way of sharing, it
could be very entertaining to the kids and possibly strengthen their interest in music while theyre still young.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

At least one method to actively share takeaways/learning from the experience

A specific audience and why the audience
was selected

7. Budget (if applicable)

Provide an itemized budget and indicate your source for cost information.
The initial items and resources that I plan to use in the creation of my instruments are as follows:
PVC Pipe (approx. $50 worth), Utility buckets/pails ($20), lumber/wooden boards (approx. $15 worth), glass
drinkware ($25), rubber bands ($1.50), 2 rolls of duct tape ($5), Spray paint ($15)
Listed items total $131.50. All prices were found on Menards.com

Advisor Feedback
Notes:
Detailed budget of expenditures with
sources to justify budget estimates
*Indicates the number of hours per week
and number of weeks of participation

Required Revisions:

Effective: