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Cassie Lukas
Susan Lester
Advanced Composition and Writing
18 April 2012
Senior Project Speech
Growing up, I watched my Papa (my mom‟s dad) sing country music in the bars every
weekend and entertain people to the fullest. When I hit the age of eleven my Papa realized that I
was one of eight grandchildren that could decently sing. Coincidentally, at the time he figured
this out, he was in the midst of making a demo and decided to put me on there where I sang
“When I Think about Cheating” by Gretchen Wilson and also a duet with him called “Walkin‟
After Midnight” by Patsy Cline. From that point on I was singing in bars every weekend and
blew everyone‟s socks off. It was amazing to me at eleven years old that people would come up
to me and ask me for an autograph and want to take videos of me singing on stage and take
pictures with me. My Papa brought such inspiration in my life through music and has definitely
filled a huge spot in my heart. For my senior project, I decided to record a demo and sing to
different genres of music which is a country tune, “I Told You So” by Carrie Underwood and a
broad way tune, “For Good” from the broad way production Wicked. The topic of my research
paper is how much the illegal download of music via the internet can affect everyone
individually in the music industry.This topic is linked to my career because as an artist, you put
so much hard work and talent into the songs you write and then record those songs onto a demo
for people to just illegally download my work via the internet instead of paying for my hard

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work. I chose this topic because it is the biggest issue in the music industry today. My research
paper relates to me product because I put myself in the position of recording a demo and how
much it would affect me and my hard work if everyone illegally downloaded my songs instead of
buying them. For example, one person could go to target and buy my demo and download it to
the internet for everyone to have and I‟d only be getting paid for the one demo that was bought.
Now I am going to tell you about my project facilitator. My project facilitator, Charles
Baugh is a middle school music teacher and has participated in multiple events such as the
Atlanta Chorus, performing at the Renaissance Fair and gives vocal lessons at the Peggy Still
School of Music. A quality I was looking for in my facilitator was there had to be a relation
between them and music. Also, they had to have the qualities of responsibility, trust and hard
working. Charles fit that spot perfectly, we had a great connection the very moment we met and I
knew from that point on that he would be a great vocal coach. Shockingly, before I started taking
lessons from Charles, I took lessons for about three weeks from a lady named Laura Smith and I
did not have that connection with her as I did with Charles so I knew I made the right decision.
My project facilitator has been my vocal coach for about a year and a half now at the Peggy Still
School of Music in Alpharetta.Charles has taught me multiple useful techniques to expand my
vocal range. I used to get nervous to sing something that didn‟t sound the best in my vocal range,
but throughout this process, Charles has taught me that u could try and sing anything that I want
and that I would have nothing to lose, and I did and I eventually got to the point where I could
master those high notes and not get so nervous to try them. Also, if I couldn‟t hit the note that I
wanted to, Charles would make me do a technique that would help me reach the note I wanted.
The steps of recording a demo are first, I had to decide what I really wanted to sing on the demo
and since I grew up singing country music I decided to mix it up a little and sing one country

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tune and one broad way tune. Also, I met with my facilitator / vocal coach every Wednesday
night for at least thirty minutes at a time, sometime an hour to get these two songs exactly that
way I wanted them to sound on the demo.In addition, while meeting with Charles, I also did gigs
outside of singing lessons such as I auditioned for The Voice in August, I sang Carrie
Underwood‟s version of “How Great Thou Art” at my Papa‟s funeral which was the hardest
thing I‟ve ever had to do, I took a song writing class for about a month and got to record my song
that I wrote at the end of the 4 week course and lastly I participated in the school musical Grease
and played the role of Marty. While in singing lessons, I had to learn how to change my mood to
„Country‟ to „show tune‟ which was kind of difficult for me because I am so was used to singing
country music with the “country music accent.”Now was the point in time where I had to find a
recording studio. Charles, works with a lady named Linda Uzlac who is a director of the Atlanta
symphony, and she has a recording studio in her basement. I got a hold of her and set a date to
come in and record.I met with her at the end of February where I recorded both of my songs in
less than 3 hours at the cost of $125. It was very interesting to learn how everything works in the
recording studio. And now I have my finished product!Furthermore, there were some obstacles I
had to overcome throughout these steps.The first time I scheduled a date with Linda it turned out
I had a runny nose and a sore throat, so I had to reschedule with her and thankfully she is very
flexible with her schedule.When I went into the studio to record I wasn‟t fully healthy, so it was
interesting and helpful to learn how to sing „over‟ my runny nose and sore throat, and that is a
trait I will always need as an artist.
In conclusion, I learned that I am a very hard worker and that I can do anything that I put
my mind to. I also learned that I am good with staying on top of deadlines and getting my work
done at the right time. My communication skills definitely improved throughout this process, I

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had to get in touch with Charles weekly and I had to get in touch with Linda to get in the studio
and record the demo.I learned that it is very hard to get anyone to notice you in the music
industry and that it is very hard to „make it‟ in the music industry so I will not pursue a career in
the music industry. However, Music will always be a big part of my life because of how much
my Papa has inspired me to sing it, write it and play it. As a matter of fact, my Nana was so upset
that she didn‟t record me singing “How Great Thou Art” at my Papas funeral that I promised her
I would go back into the studio with Linda and record it for her to have.I am attending Lanier
Technical School to complete my Practical Nursing degree and afterwards go off to Kennesaw
State University in which I will become a Labor and Delivery Nurse.
Thank you Judges!! Any questions?