Term 3 week 10

Music Theory :
At the beginning of term 3, I did not know much about blues. But then, I started to learn about its history from the handouts that were given by my teacher. After learning its history, I also learned the elements of jazz and blues, especially improvisation. I learned how to improvise when playing jazz songs. At last, I learned to compose a 12 bars blues song and used finale software to help me in writing it. I also learned to improvise it by playing altogether with my friends. After my last performance, I have learned a lot of things about blues and jazz.

Music Instrument Class :
This week was my last week of term 3 music classes before my practical assessment. In my instrument class on monday, I practiced to play my composition with m classmates. I did not have class on wednesday because the session was used for my assessment. I am also happy because finally this week I could play my song fluently and I think I didn't make many mistakes.

Practice video #19

This is one of my last practices before my practical assessment this week. In this practice, I think I did quite well and I think I am quite prepared for the assessment because I have memorized the song and I am also able to play it quite fluently. But, I will just keep on practicing it until the day of my assessment. 

Practice video #18

I think, my practice this time is not that different from my previous practice. My skill in playing my song is also still the same. After this, I will try to do a lot more practices again because I really want to play it perfectly and I don't want to make any mistakes on my assessment later on.

Practice video #17

In this video, I was practicing my own blues composition again. I think, I have improved my skill in playing it by a little bit this time. I was able to play it quite fluently and didn't make any major mistakes. I was also able to play the Eb notes correctly. But, I think I will still need to do more practices in order to get a really good result.

Practice video #16

In this video, I was practicing my 12 bars blues composition. I think, my skill has not improved from my last practice. I don't know why it is so hard for me not to touch the other string while playing on the other string and I am still struggling with it even though I have been practicing for long time. I will try to practice this again and again, especially that part so that I can play better next time.

Practice video #15

This video is one of my practice videos. I think, I haven't done enough practices cause I still made mistakes in the practice. I was able to play the Eb notes, but I still touched the G string when I was playing on the D string. After this,  I will practice playing my song again in order to be able to play it more fluently.

Practice video #14

I feel quite disappointed with my practice this time because I feel that i haven't improved my skill from my last practice. I think, I still made the same mistake as before, that I sometimes touched the other string when I played some notes. I think I will just keep practicing my 12 bars blues composition because I will have my practical assessment this week.

Practice video #13

In this video, I was practicing my 12 bars blues composition again in order to prepare me for my next practical assessment. I think I did quite well in this practice, but not yet perfect. I still made few mistakes when moving from one string to another. But, I feel happy because I could finally play the Eb notes correctly. After this, I will keep on practicing it again so that I can play everything fluently and at the right pitch.

Term 3 week 9

Music Theory :
After learning about blues and also its elements for few months, I now understand more about them. I have also gained my knowledge about improvisation from the activities that I do in my class. I understand that in doing improvisation, I can play any notes that I want to play as long as the chords are the same. I have actually tried improvisation by playing my composition with my classmates. We play our compositions by taking turns and also play them all at the same time.

Music Instrument Class :
Just like in the previous weeks, I still practiced playing my 12 bars blues again this week. In my opinion, I have improved my skill a little bit because I have been practicing regularly for the last few weeks. Now, I am able to play my song quite fluently and most of the notes are at the right pitch.

Practice video #12

In this video, I was still practicing the same thing as the previous practice video. But, I think I have improved a little bit. In my song, there are two parts of it which have the note Eb, and in this video I was able to play the first part quite well, but I still had to stop for a while before playing the second part. Therefore, I will just keep on practicing my own composition again until I can play it more fluently and correctly.

Practice video #11

This is my eleventh practice video for this term. In this video, I was still racccticing my own blues composition    in order to prepare me for my next practical assessment in which I will have to play my 12 bars blues composition in front of my class with my instrument classmates. I think, I did quite well in this practice as I was able to play Eb notes instead of E. However, I dont think this is good enough because this time, I had to stop for a while when I wanted to play Eb notes because I hesitated and I was scared that I would play E again. After this, I am just going to continue practicing the same song again as I want to prepare myself for the next assessment.

Practice video #10

As I had mentioned in my last practice video, I would just keep on practicing the same thing over and over again. In this video, I was practicing my composition again. After listening to it, I think I still made the same mistakes as in the last video and I haven't improved my skill yet. I think I will need a lot more practices in order to improve my skill and to avoid making the same mistakes again. So, I will probably still be practicing the same thing again next time because I don't think this is already good enough for my assessment.

Practice video #9

This is a video of myself practicing my whole 12 bars blues composition. I am still practicing it over and over again because I still made mistakes in my previous practice. This time, I think I have played better than before, but I still made some mistakes which I need to work on again. The E flat notes were still a little bit too high, I think. Other than that, there was one time when my bow touched the other string, which shouldn't have happened. Therefore, I think I will just keep on practicing the same thing over and over again until I can play my song more fluently. 

Term 3 week 8

Music Theory :
Blues music is one of the music genres which gave influence in the early development of jazz music. The chords and also the 12 bars template that are being used in jazz music were developed with inspiration from blues music which had been developed long before jazz music was found and was formed. Many jazz musicians also got their inspirations in writing their jazz songs / compositions from blues music. That is the reason why there are similarities between blues and jazz music.

Music Instrument Class :
Just like what I did in the past few weeks, this week I did the same thing as before, which was practicing my own composition. I practiced in front of my classmates and also my violin teacher. After showing it to him, he said that I just need to practice more on my own, but it was already okay. After this, I am just going to practice my composition again until I can play it better and more fluently.

Practice video #8

Since I had practice every part of my song at fast tempo before, I am now trying to practice the whole song at the same tempo so that I can play it more fluently. In this video, I was playing my whole song at the tempo that I will follow for my practical assessment later on. In my opinion, I have not played it fluently and I still made some mistakes, especially in playing the E flat. Therefore, I will just keep on practicing the same thing again and again until I can play better than this. 

Practice video #7

In this video, I was practicing the next part of my song, which is the third 4 bars of it. I tried to play it with the tempo that I will follow on my assessment later on. I think, I played it well and the only mistake that I made was when I played the last note in my song. When I was playing that note, my bow still touched the string beside it which is the G string. After this, I am going to try to practice playing the whole song at this tempo.

Practice video #6

In this video, I was practicing the second 4 bars of my blues composition at the same tempo as my last practice for the first four bars of my song. I think, I will need more practices to play it again because it was not yet that good. After I tried to listen to it for sometime, I found out that I still touched the other string, which is the G string once and I think I can stop making that mistake over and over again by doing more practices. 

Practice video #5

In this video, I was trying to practice the first 4 bars of my song again, but in faster tempo which I think will be the tempo for my assessment later on. Since it is the first time for me to play it this fast, it was not yet perfect. I tried to listen to it and I think there was a note which was a little bit too high, but the rest was okay. After this, I will also try to play the other parts of my composition in this tempo.

Practice video #4

In this video, I tried to practice my whole composition from beginning to the end in slow tempo. I think, I still need to work on it again because I still made some mistakes. If I'm not mistaken, my bow touched other strings three times in this practice. Therefore, I am just going to continue practicing the same thing again after this until I can play it better.

Practice video #3

In this video, I was practicing the third four bars of my song. Just like in my previous practices, I still practice my song in a slow tempo because I want to be familiar with it first and try to play it fluently before increasing the tempo later on. I actually made a mistake in this practice, when I was playing one of the notes, my bow also accidentally touched the other string and made some noises. After this, I will do more practice on this part and also try to practice the whole song.

Practice video #2

This video is a video of me practicing the second 4 bars of my composition. This time, I still practiced in slow tempo because i am not yet that fluent in playing it. However, this video doesnt show the 5th bar of my song because it was not recorded somehow, it's more on technical issues. I think I did not make any mistakes in this video, therefore I will continue practicing the third four bars of my song later on.

Practice video #1

In this video, I was practicing the first 4 bars of my own blues composition in slow tempo. Since I still practiced it in slow tempo, it was quite easy and I didn't actually make any mistakes. After this, I will try to practice the second 4 bars of my composition. 

Term 3 week 7

Music Theory :
This week, I had general rehearsal in front of the class twice. I played my own composition and I think I have improved on the second time I played. At first, I was totally nervous when playing the song and I also made some mistakes. On the second time, I still made few mistakes because it was the first time for me to play in ensemble with my class mates. I think I have become better and more fluent in playing my own composition. After this, I will try to practice more and more so that I can play better.

Music Instrument class :
In my instrument classes, I also practiced my own 12 bars blues composition and I also needed to show it to my instrument teacher. After I played it infront of my teacher, he told me that I had played it well and that I just need to do more practice. Luckily, he didn't say or tell me that I had made mistakes in playing it.

Term 3 week 6

Music Theory :
This week, I composed my song, which is the 12 bars blues. In composing the song, I had some challenges. First of all, I found it hard to start writing my composition because I had no idea on what to write. Then, it was also hard for me to write the other notes even after I had started my composition. I was worried that the notes which I used in my composition would not fit with the chords and if the song would sound nice. After I finished writing the song, I listened to it for many times until I felt that the song was okay and I also asked my teachers to check my composition and give comments about it.

Music Instrument class :
This week, I asked my teacher to check my composition and to give comments on it. After I fixed my composition because there were some mistakes, I started to look at the composition and tried to think of where the notes are located on violin. I didn't have time to practice in my instrument class this week, therefore I will try to practice my song at home and also in class next week.