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.