Practice #8

This is my eighth practice for this term. In this video, I was trying to practice the first three parts of my song. I tried to practice from the beginning of the song until the end of the C part of the song. I think, this practice is still really bad because there were still a lot of notes which were off pitch and I sometimes still hesitated about the notes when I played. So, I will try to do a lot more practices to prepare me for the assessment. I will also try to practice the next part of the song.

Practice #7

This is my seventh practice for term 2. In this video, I was still practicing the third part, or the C part f my composition. I decided to practice the same part again because I think, I didn't do well in the last practice. In this practice, I still hadn't done well because there were still some off pitch notes. So, I will need to do more practices in order to be able to play better and proceed to the next part of my song.

Practice #6

This is my sixth practice in term 2. In this video, I still concentrated on my composition because I will have to play it on my practical assessment later on. In this video, I was practicing the third part, or the C part of my composition. I think, I did not do well in this practice because as usual, I played some off pitched notes which were not good to be heard. So, I will have to do more practices on this part again, and also on the other parts of my song again. 

Practice #5

This is my fifth practice for this term. In this video, I was practicing the first part and also the second part of my composition. I think, I did okay in this practice, but there were still some notes which were off pitch. I think, that's the problem that I've always had so far. Until today, every time I practice, there are still off pitched notes. Therefore, I will have to do more practices and try not to play off pitch notes again because the  assessment is coming soon.

28 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we first watched our friends did their rehearsal in front of the class. There were only 3 people who did their rehearsal today. Our teacher also gave us the MDW for this term and we need to finish it on Wednesday. After this, I'm going to do my MDW and also print the screenshots from my blog.

Practical :
Today, we practiced to play G major scale with violin. We played 2 octave scales with some variations to prepare us for the upcoming practical assessment which will be on December 7, 2011. Our music theory teacher asked us to practice to play any major or minor scales with our instrument. After this, I will try to practice the scales and also my own composition again.

23 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we first watched some of our friends rehearsing in front of the class, and we also reviewed about relative major-minor key, enharmonic keys, natural minor scale and its history, harmonic minor scale, and also melodic minor scale. We also got exercise from our teacher which we need to do as our homework. I think, the lesson today was not very hard because the teacher explained clearly. After this, I'm going to do my homework and practice my composition.

Practical :
Today, we practiced "Etude" again, but we tried to play it faster. We also asked our teacher to try playing the next song because we want to try to play it at home. After this, I'm going to continue practicing this song and also my composition.

21 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we first learned about minor chord progression. We also learned the difference between minor natural and minor harmonic. After that, we learned to make our own composition with the chords given. Then, we watched one of our friends doing her rehearsal in front of the class. I think, the lesson today was okay, but still kind of hard because I honestly don't really understand about minor chords and I'm not really good at making compositions. After this, I'm going to practice more for my practical assessment.

Practical :
Today, we practiced to play a song from Suzuki violin book vol.1. I played a song titled "Etude". I think, the song was not very hard because it was not the first time for me to play it. I also learned to play the variation of the song. After this, I'm going to continue practicing my composition and also the songs from Suzuki book.

16 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we had our rehearsal in front of the class. For each instrument group, 2 people had to rehearse as the representatives of the class. I also got my turn to perform, and I think I did okay, but not really good. There were still many off pitch notes which I need to work on. So, I'm going to practice again so I can play better next time.

Practical :
Today, we practiced to play our own composition for the upcoming practical assessment. Mr. Sadrakh also checked our compositions and the chords again. I also practiced my own composition once beause there was not enough time for me to practice again.

14 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we first reviewed on chord progression which we learned last week. After that, we had to compose 8 bar composition with the chords given by Mr. Herry. I think, the lesson today was not very hard and Mr. Herry told me that there was just 1 mistake on my composition. After this, I'm going to practice my own composition again to prepare me for the upcoming practical assessment.

Practical :
Today, my friend and I learned to play two of the songs from Suzuki Violin Book Vol.1. We learned to play a song titled Minuet 1 composed by J.S Bach, and also Minuet 2 which was also composed by the same person. Honestly, the songs were kind of hard, especially when I had to play faster. So, I will probably try to learn and practice playing those songs again so I can play them more fluently.

09 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, I first wrote my reflection on te composition that I mad. Then, I learned about chord progression. For me, it's actually a bit hard cause I don't really understand it. So, I'll probably try to research about it so I can understand better. After this, I'm going to do a bit research on chord progression, and I'll also continue practicing my composition.

Practical :
Today, my instrument teacher was absent, so my friends and I had to practice independently. I practiced my own omposition, and I think I have improved a little bit compared to the previous practices. I also have memorized my song completely.

07 / 11 / 2011

Theory:
Today, we had to write our reflection for the previous singing assessment. After that, we were given a booklet which contains all of our compositions. Then, we were asked to write the chords for our composition. After this, I'm going to write the chords and do more practices. I will also finish writing my final copy of my composition by using finale software.

Practical :
Today, I first asked my instrument teacher to put the chords for my composition because I'll have to put the chords on my final copy of my music composition. Then, I tried to practice my composition accompanied by my music instrument teacher. I think I did okay in my practice today, but I'll just keep practicing so I can play better.

Practice #4

This is my fourth practice for this term. In the previous video, I practiced both the first and the second part of my composition, and I think I didn't do it very well. There were some off pitch notes. So, I decided to keep on practicing those parts again. In this video, I was practicing part A and part A' of my song. Compared to the last practice, I think I have improved my performance and I think I did good in this video. After this, I'm going to continue practicing my composition again to prepare me for the next practical assessment.

Practice #3

In the previous video, I was practicing my second part of my song, and I think I did okay. So, this video which shows my next practice is the video when I practiced both the first and second part of my song. I lhink I still did bad in this video, and there were still many notes which were off pitch. Therefore, I'll still practice these two parts and try to improve my performance.

Practice #2

This is my secpmd practice for this term. In the previous video, I practiced the A part or the first part of my music composition. In this video, I was practicing the second part or the A' part of my composition. The A' part of my composition is similar with the A part, the only difference is on the ending part. So, it wasn't hard to learn the A' part of my composition. I think I did okay iin this practice. So, I will probably try to practice both the first and the seecond part of my composition again so I can play it more fluently.

Practice #1

This is my first practice in term 2. In this video, I was practicing one part of my 32 bars composition. I was actually practicing the A part, or the first part of my composition. Since it is my first practice, I still made a lot of mistakes. Therefore, I'm going to continue practicing this part first, until I'm good at it.

02 / 11 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we discussed the resut of the survey that we made. We shared what each of us found from our surveys. Overall, we found out that people like music because music can affect people's mood and can entertain them. We were also taught on how to use the Finale software because there are some new students in our class who didn't know how to use it.

Practical :
As usual, I didn't do much in practical class. I just practiced our own compositions. After this, I'm going to keep practicing at home so I can play better.

31 / 10 / 2011

Theory :
In music theory class today, we did our pair singing assessment. We sand one of Indonesia's national song, "Indonesia Pusaka" in partners. I think my partner and I did pretty good, but I also think that there were few off pitch notes. I also made the final draft for my 32 bars composition, and I also put the lyrics. After this, I'm just going to continue practicing my composition.

Practical :
Today, I practiced some songs from the Suzuki Violin Book Vol. 1. I played the songs that I have learned before and also learn to play 2 new songs. After this, I'm going to practice "Minuet 1" by J.S Bach.

26 / 10 / 2011

Theory :
Today, Mr. Herry explained our task which has to be done by next week. I have to give our min. 20 samplers and ask 5 questions to people. I will also have to make the report of the survey result. Then, we were given the reflection booklet and Mr. Herry also checked my composition which has been extended. At last, we practiced singing "Indonesia Pusaka" for our upcoming singing assessment. Today's lesson was easy. After this, I'm going to do the survey and also practice singing for the pair singing assessment next week.

Practical :
Today, I didn't do much in practical class. I just practiced to play my composition which has been extended into 32 bars composition. My instrument also checked my composition.

24 / 10 / 2011

Theory :
Today, we focused on our music compositionn for this semester. We learned on how to expand our previous 16 bars composition into 32 bars composition. There were 2 ways to expand it, but I prefer to add more notes than the other way. After that,, we had to try to expand our own composition. It was a bit hard, honestly. After that, Mr. Herry checked it and according to him, my composition was okay. After this, I am going to practice my composition.

Practical :
In the music instrument class, me and my friends practiced independently because our instrument teacher was absent. I practiced to play my own composition and tried to check if I needed to change something with my composition that I made.

12 / 10 / 2011

Today, we were first given handout about music notation. We were given some time to read it and prepare questions that we wanted to ask. I asked a question, and now I already know the answer because the teacher explained it. After that, we wrote our first draft for the music composition for this semester on a sheet of paper and we submitted it to our music theory teacher, Mr. Herry. I think, the lesson today about notation was not very hard, but I will try to read the handout again at home to understand better. After this, I am going to check my composition with my instrument teacher and try to play it. I will also ask for some advices from my instrument teacher about my composition.

26 / 10 / 2011

Today, we first learned about scales. We were told that western music uses the diatonic scales, which are the major and minor scales. We also learned about the types of music, such as rondo, sonata, and also concerto. After that, we got homework. Our homework is to make the 16 bars composition of pop song with the pattern AA'BA'. We were also given our scores of the practical assessment. I was told that I got 9 out of 10. I am satisfied with my score, but I will have to learn to play harder songs because I am in grade 10. I think, the lesson today was not very hard, it's kind of simple and easy to understand.

Practice 7

This is my last practice before my term 1 practical assessment. Therefore, I did my practice alone without my friend. I think, my preparation so far is already good, I just need to do regular practices before my assessment so that I can do my best on the assessment and I will be able to get high score for my assessment later on. If I take a look at the previous practices, I think this one is already improved and it's quite good already.

Practice 6

This is my second video practicing alone without my friend. I think, I have improved a bit compared to the last practice. I didn't do any major mistakes this time, which will affect my score on my real practical assessment later on. I just need to practice again to make it more fluent and I will also have to practice with faster tempo because I will have to play faster on the assessment later on.

Practice 5

In this video, I tried to practice my assessment song again. But, this time I did it alone without my friend, and I asked my friend's feedback after I recorded this video as the input for me. I think it's quite good, but I still made mistakes. So, I will need to practice more.

Practice 4

In this video, my friend and I tried to play the song "Perpetual Motion" in faster tempo to practice our hands (bowing). However, I dont think we can play in this tempo in the mean time. We still need to practice a lot more so when we play with faster tempo, the notes will still be clear and sound good, unlike this time.

Practice 3

In this video, my friend and I were doing our third practice before our assessment as our preparations for it. I think, both of us have improved compared to before. But, there were still some off pitch sounds which were made by both of us. Therefore, we still need a lot more practices and we have to learn to play the song on pitch to avoid bad sounds.

Practice 2

This is my second practice with my friend as the preparation for our upcoming practical assessment. Compared to the last practices, I think this one is a bit better than the previous one. However, this is not good enough for our assessment. So, I will do more practices to prepare myself for the assessment later on.

Practice 1

In this video, I was practicing the song that I chose for my practical assessment. I did the practice together with my friend because we chose the same song for the assessment. Since this is our first practice, we were not good enough, so we will just do more practices to make our performance better later on.

Practice

In this video, I was practicing one of the songs from the violin book. I actually wanted this to be the song for my practical assessment. But then I changed my mind and my teacher also suggested my to play the other song instead of playing this song. So, I count this as just the warming up or the practice before I play my assessment song.

Warming up

In this video, I was playing one of the songs in Suzuki Violin Book Vol. 1 which is a good song for warming up. This song helped me to practice on the fingering because my fingers need to move fastly in this song. It helped me to play violin more fluently. I think there were some notes which were still off pitch in this video. So, I will need more practices to be better.

2 octaves scales practice

In this video, I was practicing A Major in 2 octaves with my friend. This is the continuation of the previous practices which I had before. I think, I still have to do a lot more practices so I can play better than this. I have to be good at this first because this is the basic of any songs that I'm going to play later on. Therefore, I have to be able to play this fluently first before I learn more songs later on.

Higher octave practice

In this video, me and my friend practice A Major scale (higher octave) as our warming up exercise. I think, I still did bad in this video. So, I will learn even more to play violin fluently so it will also sound better than this.

Scale lower octave practice

In this video, I was practicing A Major (lower octave) with my friend. We did this practice as the warming up before we played our assessment song which is the "Perpetual Motion in A Major".

28 / 09 / 2011

Today, we only did our rehearsal for the upcoming assessment which will be held next week. I also got chance to perform in front of the class. I think I was quite good, and I could also remember the song. However, compared to the last rehearsal, the last one was actually better because I made few mistakes today on the third bar of the song. I think I'm going to do more practices starting today so I can get better score.

26 / 09 / 2011

Today, we first discussed the assessment criterias. We were told that the posture of us playing the song also affects our score. Before we do our assessment, we also have to bow in front of the audiences first. Then, the mistakes that we make also affect our score. There are major and minor mistakes. Thirdly, the dynamic of the song also affects our score. After the teacher finished explaining, all of us did our rehearsal again. I also get my turn to perform, and I think my performance was okay. However, I still have to do more practices because my performance was still not very good. Most of the people were good today, but there were few who were not very prepared. After this, I am going to do more practices at home.

21 / 09 / 2011

Today, we just had rehearsals for the practical assessment next week. I also had my turn to rehearse in front of the class. I think I did okay in my rehearsal today. But, I still have to practice more on playing with full bow and also try to fix the notes which were off pitch. Other than me, there were 4 people who did their rehearsal. Some of them were already good. After this, I am just going to do more practices for the upcoming practical assessment.

19 / 09 / 2011

Today, we first reviewed about major scales, major 7th and also about inversions. I think it was easy because we have learned it for long time. However, some of our friends still didn't understand about this. They were still confused in putting the sharps on the notes and also writing the inversions of the major 7th chords. After this, I think I am going to learn more from teoria.com so I will have more knowledge on music theory. I will also do more practices on playing violin to prepare me for the practical assessment which will be held next week.

14 / 09 / 2011

Today, we had our first quiz about scales for this year. The quiz was about major scales, 7th chord and also major 7th chord inversions. The quiz lasted for about 30 minutes. I think the quiz was pretty easy because the questions and similar with the ones given in class. The quiz was actually just a review of our lesson so far. After this, I am just going to practice more on playing my instrument to prepare me for the next assessment which is the practical assessment.

12 / 09 / 2011

Today, we didn't do a lot of things in class. Frist, we reviewed about scales and chords to prepare us for the quiz which we will have on wednesday. The topic that we learned today is about 7th chords and also the inversions. I think the lesson today was not hard. After this, I am going to practice for the practical ssessment and I will also learn more for the upcoming quiz.

07 / 09 / 2011

Today, we learned about chords which we need to know about before we compose our own songs later on. We learned all major, minor, diminished and also dominant 7th chords. I think, it is not hard to learn about chords. It was quite easy. After that, we were asked to compose music ( simple one ) with some chords given by the teacher. After this, I will try to review my lesson today at home and also practice for my instrument assessment later on.

24 / 08 / 2011

Today, we first listened to our friends' presentation. There was one group who did not get chance to do their presentation last week. Their presentation was very good and full of information. I think they were totally prepared and really good. After taht, Mr. Herry asked them some questions too. There were some of my classmates who wanted to redo their singing assessment. So, we watched their performances. Actually, they were really good. Then, we moved to our instrument class to prepare for our practical assessment later on.

22 / 08 / 2011

Today, Mr. Herry, our music theory teacher didn't come. So, we had our substitute teacher which is Mr. Hary. Then, he taught us about major scales and also about chords. He also asked us to do some things related to our lesson to test our understanding on the lesson today. I had learned about major scales previously, so it was not new to me, and to most of the students. But, it was the first time for me to learn about chords. So, I had to really concentrate on learning about it. However, I think it was not hard to understand the lesson about chords. It was actually a very simple lesson. After that, we moved to our instrument class and started to prepare ourselves for the practicall assessment which will be held next month. In instrument class, I practiced one of the songs from Suzuki book for violin. After this, I will start to do more practices at home and also try to record videos which I haven't done because I didn't know the song which I need to practice before.

17 / 08 / 2011

Today,  I did not have music class because it's independence day holiday. So, I think I am just going to make my classical music report which needs to be done by this week and also try to make my practice videos and upload them on my blog as soon as possible. I will also do more practices at home.

15 / 08 / 2011

Today, I did my group slide presentation about the history of music. I think I did not do it very well because I still read from the presentation (no palm card) and I did not put a lot of information there. But, before that, we saw some of our friends did their individual singing assessment. However, I think I gained my confidence when talking in front of the class compared to last year when I was presenting. After this, I will do further reading and make the report about classical music which I need to submit next week. I will also try to make my practice videos and upload them on my blog.

10 / 08 / 2011

Today, I didn't attend music class because I was sick. But, I asked my friends about what they did in the class. They said that Mr. Herry divided the class into 3 groups, each group consists of about 5 people. Then, my friends also told me about my group and the topic that I need to research on for the group slide presentation. I was told to make presentation about classical music. So, I am going to start researching and making the presentation. After that, I am going to send my presentation to my group leader, Owen by using email.

08 / 08 / 2011

Today we continued our singing assessment which we didn't get to finish last week because we didn't have enough time. But, before it, Mr. Herry first checked our resources and some of my classmates went down to the business centre to buy music books because they hadn't got one. In the assessment, some of us did pretty good today. But, most of us were still nervous and still sang far from the microphone which made the voice not loud enough. I think I did bad in this assessment because I was really shaking in front of my class. I was really nervous and I couldn't sto trembling there. I think I will need to learn to be more confident next time. I just hope that I can pass this assessment with my not satisfying performance. After this, I will try to record some videos of my practices and I will also do research on western music genres which I have to finish by this Wednesday.

03 / 08 / 2011

Today, we had to do our individual singing assessment. We had to sing a western song and it can be any songs, any genres. At first, Mr. Herry gave us the assessment booklet which we had to fill in. We had to write our preparation, how our assessment was, and the improvements which we need to make on the next assessments. Some of my friends were good, and some of them were still nervous. But, I and some of my friends did not do it today because we did not have enough time. So, we'll do it on the next meeting, which is monday.

01 / 08 / 2011

Today, we first reviewed and also learned more about 7th chords. We learned major 7th, minor 7th, mM7, Mm7, and also diminished 7th. We were also given the worksheet that we did last time. After we did that, we needed to submit the minus 1 version of our songs for the assessment. We also needed to tell the genre of the song that we choose. There was one of my friends who did the rehearsal too. I think the lesson today was kind of easy to understand. After this, I will ractice more for my assessment so I can get high scores.

27 / 07 / 2011

Today, we were given the music unit planner for grade 10 music (term 1). After that, we discussed it together and there were lists of the assessments that we are going to do later on. We discussed all the criterias in music together too. So, the first assessment that we're going to do is the individual singing assessment (Western music song) which will be held next week. At last, we did a bit review about scales and notation. After this, I'm going to prepare for my first assessment and also for the rehearsal. I will also start to put my daily reflection on my blog.

25 / 07 / 2011

Today was the first music class for grade 10. First of all, we sat in groups of our instrument class. Then, Mr. Herry gave us explanations about the criterias in music class and he also told us th things that we're going to do this year. He told us that the first assessment that we're going to do is the individual singing assessment. We'll have to do the general rehearsal next week and we need to bring the minus 1 version of the song htat we choose. After this, I'm going to prepare the song for my assessment and I will also research about the music theory so I can do better later on in learning music.