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Aries (March 21-April 19) Take it easy over the next two days. Enjoy peace and quiet. Complete something from the past. Invent a possibility for the future. Enjoy beauty, romance and love. Discover new income or other good tidings.
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Group or community projects go well today and tomorrow.
Delegate and support each other. Profitable possibilities arise in the conversation.
Share resources and advice.
Love's the game and the prize. Provide motivation.
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Missy Minear/KANSAN
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Spend time with an attractive person. Let magnetism draw you together. Partnership flowers over the next two days. Make an artistic beginning. Nurture with love and attention. Get more than you barraained for
Senior Josh Mendoza is a music composition major from Hutchinson. Mendoza uses a piano to help him compose music.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
The competition could seem fierce. Buckle down and get to work today and tomorrow.
Someone who was strict is becoming friendlier. Fulfill your promises, and profit from meticulous service. It could get intense.
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Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Relax and play over the next few days. Pay attention to someone attractive. Inject love into the mix. Enjoy the game without expensive risks.
Take your show on the road.
It could get passionate.
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Aquarius (Jan.20-Feb.18) Provide leadership. Turn objections into agreement through gentle persuasion. A loved one's suggestion may be unrealistic. It's OK to make money. Focus on that, and find new income over the next two days.
Music in Focus: Senior Joshua Mendoza finds musical inspiration through science
MINSEON KIM
@adropofsunny
or one University student, medical and music school go hand in hand.
Joshua Mendoza, a senior from Hutchinson, inserts elements of his biological science background to his music compositions. The reason behind this decision: how the body works.
His professors say this is unique. Bryan Haaheim, associate professor of music composition at the University, said Mendoza's strong background in biological science differentiates him as a composer.
"While many composers often use things that are not musical such as paintings or poems in their music but it's kind of unusual to write something that's based on a biological concept," Haa-
heim said.
When Mendoza was a child, he had a personal encounter with these concepts. At two years old, Mendoza had an ear infection that resulted in 90 and 30 percent hearing loss. He had five surgeries by the time he turned seven until he regained his hearing. However, his temporary hearing loss didn't deter him from music - it inspired a recent project.
This semester, he wrote a piece called "From Silence" where he mimics the sound of cochlear implant and conveys the appreciation for the ability to listen to music. Mendoza said he learned that cochlear implants do not translate music very well through his research in psychology, he wanted to show how people might take the ability to listen to music for granted.
"['From Silence' is] kind of robbing people with cochlear implants of that
beauty," Mendoza said. "I tried to say 'Hey, we should know how fortunate we are to have this to be able to listen to what we are listening to each and every day."
Starting with melody lines on piano, Mendoza processed them through a program that filters the sound as if you would hear it through a cochlear implant. Then he incorporated filtered sound into the piece and weaved in and out of the music.
Mendoza began playing piano and guitar when he was five years old. He wrote his first string orchestra piece in seventh grade. That's continued in his college career.
Mendoza wrote a solo clarinet piece for his friend and a full symphonic orchestra piece with 29 instruments.
Recently, he composed a piece called "Resuscitation." He began the writing process with an image of a heart and divided it into
He then took the rendering of the image and spatially assigned pitches to each pixel.
After that, he incorporated the sounds he got to an electronic piece, keeping
There's nobody else that writes music quite like it. A lot of his music has a kind of intricacy to it and a certain level of complexity."
Bryan Haaheim associate professor
in mind how blood flows through the heart from one side of the lungs and back to another.
Mendoza said it's especially interesting to work with the performers because their interpretations of his music left him in awe.
"The sheet music can't tell them everything." Mendoza said. "They'll have their own ideas."
ed: "Sometimes there will be things that you never thought of and you end up thinking 'Now that's how it's supposed to be.'
Mendoza said to hear his work played by other performers, including solo and orchestra performances, are some of his favorite experiences at the University. He said the performers take his sheet music and take it to a new level, which leaves him speechless.
"There are some things that computer programs can't do," Mendoza said. "When you hear the French horn solo that you wrote just coming out of nothing, it's a truly remarkable experience."
As a professor who has listened to the music that Mendoza has written, Haaheim said his music is unique.
"There's nobody else that writes music quite like it." Haaheim said. "A lot of his music has a kind of intricacy to it and a certain level of complexity."
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