Dominic DiGesu 

5/13/20

Critical Reflection #5: Metacognition 

My senior project is about making music. Although I didn’t realize when I started, the process I followed is the cycle of metacognition. I knew the task, answer our essential question: how can I tell a compelling narrative/tell a story through music in a time of quarantine. I have a general sense of my strengths and weaknesses around making music. I made a plan with Gus and we actioned it. In executing each part of the plan, reflection and reassessment occurred pretty consistently. When we started, I didn’t realize that making music requires tremendous discipline. It is ironic that music is a shared experience yet to create it, long stretches of introspection are required. I am lucky that I like to play and practice comes easy for me. I also enjoy tooling around on my bass, guitar, and drums – sometimes copying others, sometimes making up my own stuff. It is fun but it takes time. I have also learned to trust my partner Gus. There are no egos or finger-pointing when creating music. Each person amplifies the other person’s strengths and lets the other person lead to elevate their weakness. There is a lot I still don’t know. I had hoped to do more on the production side but as a practical matter, Gus had access to better equipment and had greater expertise. I continue to learn how important a good producer is.