Practice video #6

In this video, I was practicing the same song again. But, I feel quite happy with my practice this time. In my opinion, most of the notes that I played were on the right pitch and only few of them were off pitch. I have also reduced making the mistakes that I made before. When I played the song, my bow still touched the other string sometimes, but not as often as before. Overall, I think that I have improved a little bit compared to my previous practices and I feel happy about it. But, I will still need to do a lot more practices so that I will be able to play the song better next time.

Practice video #5

This is my fifth practice in term 4. In this video, I was playiing "Autumn Leaves" in quite fast tempo. Just like in the previous practice, I also made some improvisation on the tempo this time. I think, I did not do very well in this practice because there were some notes which were too high and I also haven't improved much from the last practice that I did. I still made the same mistake as before, that my bow touched the other string when I was playing the song. Due to this reason, I think I will just keep on practicing the same thing again for my next practices until I can play the song flawlessly.

Term 4 week 3

Guiding Question : How have developments in technology changed the ways in which we engage with music ?

Music Theory Class :

Developments in technology have influenced the ways in which we engage with music. Before, people had to go to the opera house or some similar places to listen to music because that was the only way for them to be able to listen to music. But then, later on, they started to listen to music through phonograph record, cassette, then radio, and now through CD, iPod, mp3 player, and even online. These inventions / developments help us to be able to listen to music easily and now we can listen to music wherever we are and whatever we are doing. I also found out that there is a kind of mp3 player which can be played in water which can accompany us while doing water sports.

Music Instrument Class :

This week, I only had the instrument class once because the other session was used for the group slide presentation. In that one session, me and my classmates practiced to play "Autumn Leaves" with some improvisation on the rhythm. It was kind of hard at first, but after being taught by our teacher and practicing for quite many times, I don't think it's that hard. I think that I just need to do more practices to be able to play better.

Practice video #4

Just like in the previous videos, in this video, I was also practicing "Autumn Leaves". But, this time, I tried to play it in faster tempo. This is because my teacher asked me and my classmates to practice it that way. I think, I did quite well in this practice and I think most of the notes were played on the right pitch. However, there were still some notes which were played off pitch and when playing, sometimes I still touched the other string that I shouldn't have touched. This then made some unnecessary sounds. Due to this, I think I will have to do a lot more practices and also try to practice playing it in even faster tempo again.

Term 4 week 2

Guiding Question : What are the functions of music in society ?

Music Theory Class :
After doing some research and also group discussion on the functions of music in the society, I found out that music is a really essential thing in life. It is used by individuals to express their feelings, manipulate their moods, help them in studying, for relaxation, therapy, etc. It it also mentioned in a research that music can help a person to improve his / her academic performance. Music is also used by businesses in their advertisement through jingles for their products.

Music Instrument Class ;
Just like last week, this week I also practiced to play "Autumn Leaves" again. But, my teacher asked me and my classmates to play the song in faster tempo. At first, it was kind of hard to play it in faster tempo, but after some time, I was able to play it quite fluently. After this, I will just keep on practicing the song in fast tempo so that I will be able to play it flawlessly.

Practice video #3

In this video, I was trying to make some simple improvisation on the rhythm of the song. I don't think it's good enough though. I think, I will need a lot more practices before I can make some improvisation on the song. I also think that I will just focus on the melody of the song first instead of  making some improvisation because there were still some notes which were off pitch. After this, I will just continue practicing this song again.

Practice video #2

This is my second practice video for this term. In this video, I was playing "Autumn Leaves". I think, I have improved a little bit compared to my last practice. I was able to play the song more fluently. However, I am not yet able to play the song flawlessly, and I think I still need to do a lot more practices before I can play it perfectly. I will also try to play the song in my own rhythm, which is like an improvisation because my teacher told me to. After this, I will keep on practicing the same song again until I can do better. 

Practice video #1

This is my first practice in term 4. In this video, I was practicing to play "Autumn Leaves", one of the jazz songs that I can choose to play for my assessment later on. Since this is my first practice, I haven't played it flawlessly. I still made some mistakes which I will need to work on. There are also some notes which are off pitch. But, I also feel quite happy because I could at least play the whole song and I could memorize the song. I chose to play this song because it's a really popular song and I really like the song. After this, I will try to do more practices on the song in order to be able to play it more fluently. 

Term 4 week 1

Guiding Question : What is the role of music in your life ?

Music Theory Class :
For me, music is a really important thing. Without music, my life feels boring and not fun. I listen to music everyday when I am doing my works and also when I don't have anything else to do. I listen to music while I am doing my homework because I feel more relaxed if I listen to music. I also use music to help me expressing my feelings. I listen to music and I sing to them to express my emotions. Overall, music is a form of entertainment for me and I think my life will be empty without music.

Music Instrument Class :
In my music instrument class this week,  i learned to play "Autumn Leaves", one of the songs that I can play for the group ensemble performance later on. First, I read the notes and then I started to practice playing it in slow tempo. I think, I haven't done well in this week's classes, and I will needto do a lot more practices at home so that I can play better next time.