Term 4 week 8

Guiding Question : How did my jazz ensemble assessment go ?

Music Theory Class :

In my opinion, my group and I did well in our jazz ensemble assessment this week. We were able to play the song fluently without making any major mistakes. We were also able to make the improvisation part of the song which I think was kind of good even though a little bit too simple. I feel happy because we got 9 for our group score and I got 10 for the individual score. However, I also think that the volume of the piano should have been reduced because it was kind of too loud and the sound of the guitar was not loud enough.

Music Instrument Class :

This week is our last week of music class and we had our last assessment on Wednesday. To prepare ourselves for this assessment, my group practiced together on Monday. We focused on making the intro and also the improvisation part of the song. I think, we can now play better compared to the first time we practiced and that we are not that bad even if compared to the other groups in my class. 

Practice video #14

This is our second practice together without the guitarist. I think, we still did the same as the previous practice and the problem was still the same, that the sound of the piano was kind of too loud and not balanced with the sound of the violins. I also think that this is still far from totally prepared because we still need to add the intro, improvisation and also the ending for our assessment. Therefore, we will focus on those things after this and also keep on practicing this song again. 

Practice video #13

In this video. I was practicing my assessment song, which is "Smile" together with my group mates. But, our group was not complete, the guitarist was absent in this practice. I think we did good in this practice and I also feel happy because we were able to play the song fluently without making any major mistakes. However, I found that the sound of the piano and the violins was not balanced. I think, the sound of the piano is too loud and that it should be reduced by a little. After this, I will keep on practicing together with my group to prepare us for the next assessment. 

Term 4 week 7

Guiding Question : What do I think about my jingle music ?

Music Theory Class ;

This week, we had to submit our jingle music and also the video. But, not all of us had submitted out works. My partner and I were able to submit our work, and I feel happy about it. I also think that our jingle music is good, but different from the others because our song is more like a fun song which can attract children. I think that this is good because if the children are attracted, they will then persuade their parents to bring them to this country. I also think that our video is quite good because we put some necessary texts to describe the pictures in the video.

Music Instrument Class ;

This week, we focused on our jazz ensemble group again. I think, my group has done well this week because we were able t play the whole song fluently and we also made some divisions of the parts for each of us. Even if there are two violinists in our group, we played different melody which made the song sounded better. We also played some background sounds or notes when the guitar was supposed to be the melody of the song. But then, there are still things that my group will need to work on. We still need to make the intro and also the improvisation part to complete our song. We will also need to do a lot more practices in order to be able to play it well and to get high score on the assessment later on.

Practice video #12

This is my second time to play "Smile" outside school. I think, I did better this time compared to my previous practice. This time, most of the notes that I played were on the right pitch and I made fewer mistakes compared to before. I was also able to remember almost all of the notes that I was supposed to play. Despite all of the good things, I also think that there are some things that I still need to work on. I still forgot some of the notes that I was supposed to play and there were still some notes which were slightly off pitch. Due to this, I will try to do a lot more practices again and I will also do practices together with my group mates to prepare us for the upcoming practical assessment.

Practice video #11

This week, I gathered with my jazz ensemble group mates and we decided to play "Smile" for our assessment later on. Because of this, I have to learn how to play this song and start to do practices on it. This is my first outside school practice on this song and I think I did bad this time because I hadn't memorized the melody of the song and I also made a lot of mistakes here. I think, I will need to do a lot more practices again for me to be able to play it fluently. I also need to pay attention on the pitch of the notes. 

Term 4 week 6

Guiding Question : How is my progress in the jazz ensemble ?

Music Theory Class :

This week, we were divided in to 3 different jazz ensemble group and each group got to decide the song that they wanted to play. My group chose to play "Smile" because we think that it is not a very hard song to play, but it's a really nice song. Soon after that, we started practicing per group and I think I did quite well in the practices this week and I also have memorized the song. On Monday, I was not able to play it fluently because it was my first time to play it. But on Wednesday, I was able to play it fluently and I even increased the tempo on my second practice. 

Music Instrument Class :

This week, me and my group practiced our song for the group jazz ensemble assessment later on, which is "Smile". On Monday, my group practiced together and we didn't do very well because we were all still learning how to play it. But then, on the second meeting, we did better. I was able to play well when accompanied by my instrument teacher and I feel happy about it. But, I haven't played together with my group because my group mate who plays the piano was still learning the chords and my other two group mates were absent. In other words, we did our practices separately. 

Practice video #10

This is my tenth practice on "Autumn Leaves". In the previous practice, I said that I wanted to work on my mistake which I had been making ever since the first practice, and I feel quite happy that I could actually reduce making that mistake. This time, my bow still touched the other string, but not as often as before, which means that I have improved my skill even if only by a bit. After this, I will just keep on practicing it over and over again.

Practice video #9

This is my ninth outside school practice for this term. Honesty, I feel happy but kinda disappointed with my practice this time. I feel happy because I think, almost all or all of the notes that I played were on the right pith. But, I also feel disappointed because I haven't improved on the other mistake that I've been making ever since the first practice, that my bow often touches the other string(s) that it is not supposed to touch. This is a quite big problem for me because it produces annoying sound the the song. Due to this, I will try to work on this mistake in my next practices.

Term 4 week 5

Guiding Question : How well did my singing assessment go ?

Music Theory Class :

On Monday, my class had our group singing assessment on a jazz song titled "Close to You". This song was originally sung by carpenters. We had one week to prepare ourselves for this assessment and each group consisted of 3 people, 2 girls and 1 boy. My group mates were olivia and also derrick. As soon as we knew our groups, we started to practice with our groups and my group had much help from our music instrument, Mr. Sadrakh. He helped us in making the harmonization to the song and he also accompanied us in our practices. After having quite enough practices, I think my group did really good in the assessment. We were all able to memorize the song and sang it well. I also feel happy that my group actually got the highest score in our class. I think, we could have done better if we had done more practices together.

Music Instrument Class :

This week, we only had one music instrument session because the music instrument class on monday was used for our group singing assessment. On Wednesday, me and also my other class mates used the short time that we had for the class to practice playing "Autumn Leaves". We chose to practice that because we want to prepare ourselves for our last practical assessment later on, which is the group jazz ensemble. It had been a while since we last practiced to play this song in the music instrument class, and I think we did quite good. We just need to do more practices on our own in order to be able to play it more fluently.

Practice video #8

This is my eight practice video for this term. Just like in the previous practices, I am still practicing "Autumn Leaves" in this video. As I said before, I want to focus on the pitch of the notes and I think I did quite good this time because there were only few notes which were too high and are not on the right pitch. After this, I will do a lot more practices and I still want to focus on the pitch and I will also try to make less mistakes compared to this time. 

Practice video #7

Since I didn't have any practices at school this week, I decided to have more practices at home. In this video, I was practicine "Autumn Leaves". This time I wanted to focus on the pitch of the melody and also try not to touch other strings that my bow shouldn't touch. I think, I did okay in this practice because most of the notes are on the right pitch and I was able to make less mistakes compared to before. After this, I will try to do more practices and try to focus on the same thing as this time. 

Term 4 week 4

Guiding Question : How does business and industry affect music-makers and users ?

Music Theory Class :
Nowadays, businesses sometimes use music in advertising their products. Music is used to catch people's attention through jingles which can promote them. Examples of businesses which have their own jingles are indofood, betadine, etc. This development also brings benefits to the music-makers as they have a new field for their jobs. They can get paid for making jingles for certain products. It also encourages the music the music-makers to be more creative in making or composing songs. Music can make the audiences be interested in the products that are being advertised.

Music Instrument Class :
This week, me and my group used the instrument class time to prepare us for the upcoming group singing assessment. We practiced to sing it for many times with our instrument teacher accompanying.  At first, we didn't sound so good. But, after doing practices for many times, we finally did well. After the class ended, we also kept on practicing because we want to do well in the assessment.