Sunday, December 9, 2012

Term 2 -Week 6 Practice Video 2

In this video, I played my Rondo composition, but in the tempo 'Allegro'. I played it in this tempo because Mr. John thought that if it's faster it would sound better overall. It was sort of hard for me to play at first, but now it's fine.

Term 2 - Week 6 Practice Video 1

In this video, I played my Rondo composition. The performance is this week so I have to practice a lot. I think I improved than the first time I played my Rondo composition.

Term 2 - Week 5 Practice Video 2

In this video I practiced my Rondo composition. The performance assessment is due next week and I'm pretty nervous about it, so I had to practice a lot.

Term 2 - Week 5 Practice Video 1

During this week, I did whatever I wanted in instrument class, so I played this song. It's called 'Greensleeves'. It's a tradition Christian lullaby. It's not that hard to play on the guitar.

Term 2 - Week 4 Practice Video 2

In this video I practiced my Rondo composition again. I think I did a better job than last time since I had the time to practice more than I do usually.

Term 2 - Week 4 Practice Video 1

In this video, I played the new Jazz song that Mr. John taught us. I thought it was very cool and I loved playing it because I love the feeling of playing Jazz music. The song was not that hard to play in my opinion.

Term 2 - Week 3 Practice Video 2

In this video, I played my own Rondo composition. I definitely did better than I did in my first practice video. While I was playing the guitar, I didn't memorize my Rondo composition yet, so I read the soft copy of my Finale.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

4 - 6 December 2012

THEORY

On Tuesday most of us practiced our Rondo compositions in front of the class. We talked a little bit about the parents/guardians watching and who's going to come etc. I only practiced my Rondo composition in front of Mr. John, not in front of the whole class because I was still unsure of my Rondo composition.
On Wednesday we had to practice a lot for the assessment we're going to have on Thursday. I got kind of frustrated with myself because I didn't remember my melody while most of my classmates do.
On Thursday parents were invited to watch their children play their own Rondo compositions. My mom was one of them. I think I did a better job than I expected. I got sort of nervous though, and I still didn't remember my melody. But, I'm pretty sure I didn't make any mistakes.

INSTRUMENT

On Tuesday we practiced our Rondo compositions. Mr. John decided to play the chords of my Rondo composition while I play the melody. I thought it sounded better that way than just the melody alone. With the melody alone, it sounded very dull and boring.
On Wednesday Mr. John told me the tempo he's going to play for the chords, 'Allegro', which means fast. It was sort of difficult for me because there is a quite fast part in my pattern C, but this way it sounded better, so I just went with it.
On Thursday we didn't have instrument class because of the assessment.

27 - 29 November 2012

THEORY

Mr. John postponed the music analysis written test to Tuesday. In my opinion, this test wasn't as hard as the practice test because in this test, I studied through the whole thing, while in the practice test, I've never learned it before, so it was definitely easier.
On Wednesday Mr. John asked some of us to perform our Rondo composition. I didn't want to perform today because my composition, in comparison to others', in my opinion is not as good, so I didn't want to perform it.
On Thursday Mr. John showed us our test results. He didn't let us keep the test. He just wanted us to revise it over and see our mistakes. I only had one mistake while I was so happy about because I expected worse from myself.

INSTRUMENT

On Tuesday I didn't do much in instrument class, I just watched the others play a new Jazz song they learned from Mr. John while I did my own thing, playing songs on the guitar.
On Wednesday we spent a part of our whole instrument class time practicing our Rondo compositions and another part for doing our own things, similar to what I did yesterday in instrument class.
On Thursday we didn't go to instrument class because we had to continue and finish our MDW for this week.

20 - 22 November 2012

THEORY

We have a written test this week, so on Tuesday we had a "practice quiz". It was really difficult for me because I didn't understand the musical terms at all. It was very unfamiliar to me at that moment and it was difficult for me to understand and get the hang of it.
On Wednesday we learned more about the music analysis written test. We learned new musical terms, such as sf or sfz, also known as sforzando, is a dynamic similar to the dynamic 'staccato', p, also known as piano, means soft, and many other terms. I thought this wasn't a very hard topic to learn because I've learned most of the things taught in the class before.
The music analysis written test was supposed to be on Thursday, but Mr. John postponed it because he thought we should have more time to study, since this is the first time we've learned it. I was very grateful for this because at that moment I was busy with all the other assessments from the subjects besides music.

INSTRUMENT

On Tuesday we learned a new Jazz song. It was very cool because I really enjoy the feeling of Jazz music and I love playing it, so it was a joy learning a new Jazz song. It wasn't very hard, but I had to remember it and I can't remember things very well, so that part was difficult for me.
On Wednesday we practiced the song we learned on Tuesday. I definitely think I did a better job than I did on Tuesday because I practiced quite a lot and I'm quite proud with my improvement. I think it sounded sort of good.
On Thursday, while the others were learning a new song from Mr. John, I played my composition quietly in the background because I didn't want anyone else to listen to my composition as I thought it sounded weird.

13 & 14 November 2012

THEORY

On Tuesday we had to show the draft of our Rondo composition to Mr. John. He just wanted to see how far we've come with it, but he didn't check it thoroughly. I finished my whole composition and Mr. John said it was okay.
On Wednesday we had to submit our Rondo composition in Finale form. I showed it to Mr. John, and when we tried to play it together, he thought it sounded a little bit off, so he helped me and made some changes to my Rondo composition and because of this, he let me submit my final Finale on Friday.

INSTRUMENT

On Tuesday we practiced playing our Rondo compositions. I didn't practice mine, but I watched Matthew and he's got everything covered and it was really cool how he and Mr. John got it together.
On Wednesday I tried practicing my composition. Mr. John tried to come up with the 'background' to accompany my melody, but we didn't settle it yet.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Term 2 - Week 3 Practice Video 1

In this video, I practiced playing my composition. I don't think I did very well because my assessment is going to be soon and I can't make mistakes in the assessment, so I have to practice a lot.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Term 2 - Week 2 Practice Video 2

In this video, I attempted to play Bourree by Johann Sebastian Bach with both parts played together because that's what I learned this week. From this video, I definitely need a lot of practice because I need to be more fluent in this, since this is just the first part.

Term 2 - Week 2 Practice Video 1

In this video, I played Bourree by Johann Sebastian Bach. There are two parts, so I played both of them separately. I think I definitely did a better job than my previous video because I did less mistakes in this video. I have decided to play this separately because I think this is an easier way for me to learn how to combine the two parts and play them together.

6 - 8 November 2012

THEORY

For this week, all we did was practice and rehearse for the singing assessment we were going to have. I was sick the entire week: I had a sore throat, I had a runny nose, and I had a really bad cough. It was the worst timing to be sick, so Mr. John let me postpone my assessment to Thursday, 8 November 2012. On Tuesday, 6 November 2012, I had my first rehearsal for the singing assessment. I don't think I did a very good job because I couldn't reach 25% of the notes of my song, "I Can Hear The Bells" from Hairspray, because they key kept getting higher and higher, but that's how the song goes, so I couldn't change that. On Wednesday, 7 November 2012, I didn't do a rehearsal because my throat was very sore and my voice sounded horrible, so I tried to do a vocal rest, which didn't work because I still talked a lot. On Thursday, 8 November 2012, I felt my condition getting better, so I have decided to do the singing assessment today instead of postponing it again to next Tuesday. I think I didn't do very well in this singing assessment because I was scared my voice would break and I couldn't reach the notes, so I panicked and I forgot one or two lines of the song, but other than that, I think I was okay.

INSTRUMENT

In instrument class, we continued to play Bourree by Johann Sebastian Bach, but this time we tried to combine the two players' parts. I thought that was quite hard because the melody is different for both players, so I thought it was difficult to combine the two.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Term 2 - Week 1 Practice Video 2

In this video, I practiced all the ways that Mr. Herry taught us in the ensemble. There are three ways of playing it and I played them all in this video. I didn't think it was that difficult, I thought it was pretty cool and interesting, especially combined with the other musical instruments.

Term 2 - Week 1 Practice Video 1

In this video, I played the first part of 'Bourree' by Johann Sebastian Bach. There are actually two players for this song, but Mr. John combines it when he plays it, so I'm trying to do the same. But in this video, I played the part of two players separately because I didn't know how to combine as I already had a difficult time playing each player's part.

30 - 31 October, 1 November 2012

THEORY

This week is the first week of Term 2. Since Mr. John was absent on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mr. Herry substituted for him. He taught us a new lesson. In our upcoming assessment, there's going to be one where we have to compose a Rondo, also known as the pattern ABACA. It was kind of difficult for me at first because I couldn't come up with any notes that connect, but in the end, I finished everything from A to C. In the real assessment, we have to put it in the Finale software.
Our first assessment of this term is to sing a song from a musical. Mr. Herry said that we could go solo or we could have a partner, but I chose solo. I chose 'I Can Hear The Bells' from Hairspray, sung by the character Tracy Turnblad. I chose that song because I've always loved it and it's not that hard to sing, so I hope I won't have a hard time performing it in front of class.

INSTRUMENT

For the first day of music class in Term 2, we didn't do anything productive. On the second day, we learned how to play a melody/harmony with the whole class, which means all different musical instruments. I thought it was really cool how Mr. Herry could combine all the voices of our instruments and made it sound very interesting. I loved that. On the third day, me and Darren got the sheet of 'Bourree' by Johann Sebastian Bach from Mr. John. It's a really hard song to play, as I only know how to play both parts separately. I think it's really cool how Mr. John was able to play that song with ease.

Monday, October 22, 2012

16 - 18 October 2012

THEORY

This is the last week of music for Term 1. On Tuesday, students from guitar, piano, and some students from strings class performed in front for the assessment. Mr. John decoded that all students from guitar class should redo the assessment on the next day (Wednesday) because he knew we could do better, so we did the assessment on Wednesday. Also on Tuesday, I played "La Grima", but on Wednesday I have decided to switch to "Sons de Carilhoes" because Mr. John and the majority of the students in music class recommended it.

INSTRUMENT

We didn't do anything since it's the last week.

9 - 11 October 2012

THEORY

For this week all we did in theory class was practice what we're going to play for the assessment and revised on some notations. The revision wasn't that difficult, but I was still unsure of my choice of a Romantic Era song. It was either La Grima or Sons de Carilhoes.

INSTRUMENT

In instrument class all we did was practice on out Romantic Era song. I think I've improved in both songs from a few weeks ago.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Week 6 Practice Video 2

In this video, I practiced Andantino again. I still can't perfect it, but with practice I can do better. I made some mistakes, but I think it was better than before. I think I have to practice more on the parts where I make the same mistake with the previous videos.

Week 6 Practice Video 1

In this video, I practiced the whole song of Romance de Amour. I have made some mistakes, but I think I did quite well, I definitely made less mistakes than I did a week ago, so I'm content about this.

Week 5 Practice Video 2

In this video, I played the second part of Romance de Amour. It was difficult for me because I have never learned it before and I made a lot of mistakes, but I really like this song and I try to practice it every day.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Week 10 Practice Video 1

In the video, I played both parts of Sons de Carilhoes. It is still quite hard for me, even if I practice hard already. I really like this song, and I'm hoping I could play it better at the day of the assessment.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Week 3 Practice Video 1

In this video, I played the two scales that I learned: G major scale and E minor scale. It was not hard for me because I have learned this before.

Week 5 Practice Video 1

I played 'Andatino' in this video. It's a very short song, it just sounds long because of the repetitions. It wasn't that hard. Mr. John gave us a music sheet and a tab to read this and play it on the guitar.

Week 10 Practice Video 2

In this video I played La Grima, also known as Tears. This was my second choice of a Romantic Era song. Even if I played this song longer than I played Sons de Carilhoes, I don't think I'm very good at this. I'm not fluent at all with this song. But it's a really great song.

Week 3 Practice Video 2

In this video I played the first part of Romance de Amour. It was not that hard for me (even if I made quite a few mistakes) because I've learned it before.

Week 2 Practice Video 1

In this video I played the A minor pentatonic scale and I also did some finger exercises that Mr. Yoga taught me. The finger exercise was quite hard because I couldn't concentrate, but the A minor pentatonic scale was not that bad.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Week 9 Practice Video 2

This is me playing the second part of "Sons de Carilhoes". This is harder than the first part of the song because this has much more complications, where I have to move, from example from fret 12 to fret 3 so that's kinda difficult, but with practice, I'll get better.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Week 9 Practice Video 1

This is me playing the first part of "Sons de Carilhoes", also known as "Sounds of Bells" which is usually played in weddings. This was my first choice of a Romantic Era song to perform. I think I did quite well in this practice video because I only had a few mistakes, not a lot and that's a big improvement.

2 - 4 October 2012

THEORY

For this week, we watched the members of the strings instrument class perform their choice of a Romantic Era song. I think all of them did a great job I really like the songs they chose. Mr. John also gave us a worksheet with scales and inversions that we have to fill in. I worked with Eun Joo and Pinka. Before this worksheet, we first learned about ledger lines and what it was. This lesson wasn't that difficult, but when we got our worksheet back, we got some mistakes. We had to use the ledger lines, but we didn't. That's why Mr. John taught us about the ledger line.

INSTRUMENT

In instrument class I practiced the Romantic Era song, "Sons de Carilhoes". I had another choice of song, which was called "La Grima" which means "Tears". So I practiced that too. I'm still not sure which song I should pick yet.

Monday, October 1, 2012

25 - 27 September 2012

THEORY

For this week, we rehearsed and/or practiced our performances of a song from the Romantic Era. Matthew S. played Romance de Amour with a little twist of his own, Darren played Fur Elise, but it wasn't quite finished yet, Matthew W. played a sad song, I think it was called Prelude, on the piano. That song was very depressing to me. Pinka played a happier song on the piano. The members of the strings planned to perform on Thursday, but we learned more about intervals instead of that. The intervals were quite confusing at first, but as I went on, it has gotten easier.

INSTRUMENT

In instrument class we practiced our choices of a Romantic Era song.

18 & 19 September 2012

THEORY

For both days, all we did was review on the quiz. Mr. John called the people who did a particular mistake and he's asked them to correct it on the board. He didn't tell us our score, though. Thursday, 19 September 2012 was a public holiday because it was election for the governor day.

INSTRUMENT

In music instrument class all we did was jam out.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

11 - 13 September 2012

THEORY

On the 11th of August, it was the day of the assessment. But we convinced Mr. John to postpone it until the 12th of August. Today we did a review on a ll the things we learnt in theory class.

On the 12th of August, we had the quiz/assessment. Honestly, I didn't think it was that hard for me because I remember (almost) everything by heart, so that made it easier for me.

INSTRUMENT

This week we mostly just jammed out with our guitars. Darren played "Jingle Bells" with Mr. John, Matthew did his own thing, and I just watched everything that was happening and it was a whole lot of fun.

4 - 6 September 2012

THEORY

This week we had a practice quiz because we're going to have a quiz next week. The quiz is going to be about what we learned in theory class like the major scales, minor scales, chords and triads. It was not that difficult for me since the practice quiz was open book/notes.

INSTRUMENT

This week we practiced Romance de Amour Part II again. We also discussed "Andatino" and tried to memorize it some more.

28 - 30 August 2012

THEORY

On the 28th of August, we had to present our powerpoint presentation about the Romantic Era and Chopin. I think I did well because I prepared palm cards and I remembered the content of the presentation. I didn't shake/stutter very much and that's always good.

On the 29th of August, if I'm not mistaken, we learnt more about triads, chords, and 7th chords. I didn't think it was that difficult because I've learnt most of the scales, so I know the note after the next note.

On the 30th of August, I had to submit the 25-page booklet, also a report, on the Romantic Era and Chopin. I didn't have good time management for this task because I procrastinated a lot, therefore I rushed it, and I don't know if I did well or not.

INSTRUMENT

In instrument class we learnt "Andatino". First we had to read the notes, and I needed time to read and play at the same time. Then Mr. John gave us the tab of it and that made it easier for me to memorize it. We also learnt Romance de Amour Part II and that was sort of hard for me because I have never learnt it before, and I have always want to learn it. It was difficult, but interesting and fun to play.

14 August 2012

THEORY

Today is the last day before the Lebaran holiday. Today we discussed one of our assessments which was the powerpoint presentation about the Romantic Era. Mr. John also asked us to pick a great composer from the Romantic Era, and my group (with Eun Joo and Pinka) chose Chopin. I already had a bad feeling about this because me and Pinka planned to go out of town, but Eun Joo didn't plan anything for that holiday, so it was quite difficult to manage the time. We also had the Western song singing assessment today. I was very happy about my performance because for once, I didn't shake as much. I mean, people could hear in my voice that I sounded really shy because I still had a tiny level of stage fright, but other than that, I thought I was fine. I honestly think that I did quite well in this assessment and I am very proud of myself for being brave.

INSTRUMENT

We didn't have time to go to instrument class because we had the singing assessment, also the discussion of the assessment, so it took a lot of time.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

7 - 9 August 2012

THEORY

On the 7th of August, all of us had to perform 'Rayuan Pulau Kelapa' in front of the whole class. Originally, we had to do it individually (sing it solo), but we convinced the teachers so they could allow us to sing in pairs. I paired up with Eun Joo, and honestly, I was freaking out because as hard as I try to memorize the lyrics, I couldn't and I had no idea why, but I still had to go front, so I did. And if this was an assessment, I bet I would get a 7 because I forgot some of the lyrics which is not good.

On the 8th of August, we had to give Mr. John the choice of our Western song. I chose Bob Dylan's song, re-arranged by Adele called 'Make You Feel My Love'. I think it's a really good song and it makes my voice sounds extra soft and smooth. If I'm not mistaken, I think we also did a rehearsal for this Western song singing assessment. I remember very well when I went in front, and I was shaking very badly because I have stage fright and I can't do anything in front of an audience, even if it's only one person, so yes, my voice sounded very shaky, but I'm happy that I got to practice that so I would probably be used to the feeling of performing in front of people. I didn't do bad, but I think I didn't do good either, but it's okay. It's a fear that I have got to face.

9th of August was the day of our Western song singing assessment, but we decided to postpone it to 14th of August.

INSTRUMENT

This week we learnt a classical song, I'm not sure what it was called and since we didn't have anything else to do, I just practiced the scale that I learnt already - G Major and E Minor. Mr. John also taught us Romance de Amour Part I.

Monday, September 17, 2012

31 July, 1 - 2 August 2012

THEORY

This week Mr. John was absent, so Mr. Herry substituted for him. This isn't the first week, this is the second. We learned about the major scales in the first week. We also learned the scales that have sharps and flats, 1 - 4 sharps and 1 - 4 flats. I think this subject wasn't that difficult for me because I've learned them before in previous grades. I've also played them before in the piano.

For this second week, I learned the minor scales. Not only minor natural scales though. We also learned  harmonic minor and melodic minor scales. Mr. Herry gave us the work. We had to do A minor, E minor, B minor, F# minor, and C# minor. I think I did well in this exercise because I've figured out an easy way to know where to put the sharps.

On the 1st of August, Mr. Herry handed us a music sheet, with the song 'Rayuan Pulau Kelapa' on it. First, we had to do vocal warm ups with the vocal teacher, Mr. Hary Wisnu. Then we listened to Mr. Herry singing it with the song on the piano and then we tried to hum it, and after that we tried to sing along with the words. I don't think I did quite well in this because I guess the key was too high and there are quite a lot of high notes in this song, so I couldn't reach most of the notes.

On the 2nd of August, we had to do a rehearsal of our performance on 'Rayuan Pulau Kepala'. I don't think it was an assessment, but we still had to perform it. I performed it with Matthew and Darren if I'm not mistaken. Again, I don't think I did well because I still didn't remember the lyrics and it frustrated me.

INSTRUMENT

Since Mr. John is still absent, Mr. Yoga substituted for him this week. He didn't teach us that much, we mostly just played the guitar for fun, but I think the previous week, who was substituted by Ms. Jen, she taught us the A minor pentatonic scale which I kind of still remember, and we also studied blues, therefore we added 'blues notes' to the A minor pentatonic scale to make it sound blues-y. Ms. Jen also made us read some notes and play some classical songs from a book. I didn't do bad, I guess.