OH NO, EXAMS ARE CLOSE

Today, I practiced for fifteen minutes. The first ten minutes were spent on the concert D major thing for the exam. There were no real problems with this, I just have to keep an eye on articulation to make sure that I am not slurring where I am supposed to be playing a staccato note. The last five minutes wre used to work on the chamber stuff. I had no problems with this, but it is hard to tell without the rest of the group.

Band Write-up

1. What has been your biggest improvement this year as a player?
My biggest improvement this year has been the fact that I am actually counting the beats when I am not playing so I don't wait until the song is over because I don't know when to play.
2. What is the area you most struggle with?
The area that I most struggle with is playing at a good that can be heard properly.
3. What was your greatest musical highlight this year and why?
My greatest musical highlight this year has been the trip to Toronto for musicfest nationals because it was something that I hadn't done before and because we got to compete at a national level.
4. What areas do you feel the band excels at and what area do we struggle? Give specific examples.
I feel that the band excels at pieces where there is alot of energy. An example of this is "Rumble on the High Plains"
The band kinda struggles with staying focussed during practice, for instance, usually when you said what song was to be played, about half of the band would just start playing it by themselves.

Chamber Post 4

Rehearsal didn't go that bad, no huge disruptions and we are working together quite nicely. all that is needed to is keep track of which tempo that we are using. But the thing with Alanna is quite concerning.

HOLY MOLY, Exams are coming up

Worked for 15 minutes today. warmed up on the chromatic scales (which went excellently, if I may say so). Then I spent the next ten minutes on the concert D major stuff. Lines 3 and 4 didn't go that bad, just a slip here or there. The scales skills stuff was kinda wierd, my biggest concern is dynamics (why did they have too write what to do with words instead of using the symbol.) But I am getting way better at it, I think I may pass this thing.

Chamber Post 3

Today, we worked on all of our pieces. That was pretty much it, there is still some moving on to different pieces without anyone telling me that we are moving on or to what peice untill the fifth bar. The same person also continually asks for individual practicing during class time.

i am also concered about what will happen whenn Allanna comes back because we don't even know which intrument she will be able to play.

Pre-Exam post (1 week before)

Today, I practiced for twenty minutes. I started off with the chromatic scales portion of the exam (didn't go that bad). This was for five minutes. Then, I spent five minutes on the concert D major part of the exam. the only real problem was the scales skills exercise, which was a little awkward, but the rest wasn't that bad (and I only need to practice the scales skills thing to get ready for the exam. The five minutes after that were spent on exercise 8 in the red book. This actually went really good so I don't think that I will have any real problems playing it for the exam. The last five minutes were spent on a cool-down with songs from the blue book.

Chamber Post 2

Today's practice went really good. we are completely sure about what songs we are going to play, we picked out a name (we are thinking about the 'Fortes"). And we practiced all of the songs that we are going to play. Also, there were no problems wit the group members just randomly playing by themselves or randomly flipping through the songs. (We also got some practice by ourselves).

Chamber Post 1

Our Chamber group worked in class today. We rehearsed "Angels we have heard on high", "Death of Ase" and another piece that I can't remember the name of. We chosen which pieces that we are doing and who will be doing the write up (I'm doing the death of Ase). There weren't any real problems except for a little confusion because 1 group member doesn't know what instrument she'll be playing.

1 WEEK LEFT

Today, I practiced for twenty -five minutes [which I spent on exam stuff]. I started off with the chromatic scales, it didn't really go that bad, I just need to work on playing the whole thing without pausing too much (this took five minutes). After that I spent five minutes on exercise 8, which went along a little better than I first expected, but I need to keep an eye on the 8th notes and to hold them only for a little longer. The last ten minutes were spent on the concert D major scale. The scales was a little awkward, but the scale in thirds, but the scales skills was appalling, I really need to work on it ALOT before the playing exam. I didn't even try the minor scales because the prospect of the scales in thirds without the %#$%& music for it seems impossible (I don't even know where the accidentals go).

Postity post post.

Today, I practiced for 20 minutes. I stated of with a five minute warm-up that consisted chromatic scales and the scale of D major concert. Then I worked on "Billers and Trillers" for five minutes. Measure 143 finallly is not that bad and the other parts are really good now. After that, I worked on parts 4.2, 4.3 & 4.4 of that orange book for five minutes (it is really easy). And finally, to finish things off, I played songs from the blue book to work as a cool-down.

B~L~O~G~ ~P~O~S~T

Toady, I practiced for twenty minutes. I started off with a five minute warm-up which consisted of the scale of Db major and some Chromatic scales. After that I spent 10 min. on "Millers and Fillers", which went very well. Five minutes of that time was spent on measure 143 (which isn't going that bad right now. I also worked on the other sections of this piece during that time. (I should remember to work on this tomorrow because the concert on Wednesday. The last of my time was spent on songs from the blue book for no apparent reason.

Post from today

Today's practice took 20 minutes. I started off with a 5 minute warm-up with the scale of Ab concert major and f concert minor. Then I worked on "Spillers and Drillers" for ten minutes. I spent a good amount of time measure 143, which isn' t really going that bad. I also worked on the Dracula theme, "Imperial March" and "Jaws", which are all going great. At the End I spent some time woking on songs from the blue book.

Blog post

Today, I practiced for twenty minutes, first I warmed up in the scale of C concert major for five minutes. This was followed by working on "Millers and Billers" for 10 minutes. I spent most of this time working measure 143 (which went reasonably well,[just a few mistakes]) but I also worked on the "Imperial March","jaws" and the "Dracula" theme, which are al doing very well. The last five minutes were spent on Random songs from the blue book

(!@#$%^&*)

Today, I practiced for 20 minutes (again). I started it off by warming up with "Rhosymedre", there wasn't any change to my playing of this song, however, (this took five minutes). Then I practiced "Trillers and grillers" for five minutes. there were no great changes in what I did before and what I did now. Then, I worked on "Light Eternal" for Five minutes where I basically played anything I thought needed a little bit of work on. Then I finshed off with sonngs from the blue book.

Post from yesterday

Yesterday (I was only able to blog today because the modem was out and I just got it back up) I practiced for twenty minutes. This practiced started off with a warm-up with the scale of F concert Major [this portion lasted for five minutes]. After that, I worked with "The Light Eternal" for five minutes [I actually spent the whole time on measure 156 because I am not that good with that bit, bu it is getting better]. Then I spent 5 minutes on "Drillers and Fillers" (try and tell me that that title doesn't sound like a song about dentists), altogether not that bad especially on jaws and Dracula, [but I am improving on all of the other sections but fleeing the city is still annoying0. And finally, I spent the remaining time on a cool-down (I just played 'when johnny comes marching home repeatedly).

Today, I practiced for twenty minutes. I started with a war-up (that is the best place to have a warm-up) which was of the scale of C concert Major. Then I spent ten minutes on "Killers and Spillers". There were some parts where I need to work on (measure 143 for example), but the "Imperial March" isn't as awkward as it used to be and "Jaws" is not really that bad any more (same situation with the Dracula theme). And, finally at the end, I spent five minutes on "Carmina Burana" to cool-down (it' s not that hard, I can even play a part or two with my eyes closed.

How Should I know??!?

Just like last Saturday, today's practice consisted of twenty minutes. The first five minutes were a warm-up that I decided to do in the scale of C concert Major. The ten minutes after that were spent on "Chillers and Killers" were I didn't exactly fail miserably, but it wasn't that good either. I think that I got the imperial march down, and jaws was pretty good, but the rest was fairly awkward. I guess, I will have to work on that some more (but I think that i will do better at it after I hear it in band tommorrow. The last five minutes werre spent on a blue book cool-down.

20 minute post

Oddly enough, today, I only practiced for twenty minutes instead of the usual thirty minutes. The first five minutes were spent on a warm-up that consisted of playing the scale of Db concert major. the next, five minutes were spent on playing Carmina Burana (again, for no apparent reason because of the fact that the whole thing is repetition). The five minutes after that were spent on "Bohemian Rhapsody", where I had the same problems as I did yesterday. And finally, the last five minutes were spent on a cool-down with songs from the blue-book.

Blogging Assignment Post

For my blogging assignment, I listened to Johnny Griffin, an American Bop and hard Bop tenor saxophonist. Johnny Griffin was born in Chicago Illinois, on April 24, 1928. He started his life playing music with the piano, then he played Hawaiian guitar, clarinet and oboe before he started he started to play the saxophone. It wasn't until the age of twelve when he started to play the Saxophone (however, he started on the alto and not the tenor). He even played in a band with some of his school friends called "The baby band". He finally switched to tenor at the age of 18, when he left Chicago to play in Lionel Hampton's big band (he actually left about 3 days after his graduation from DuSable High School). In 1951 he joined the army where he played in the army band.
He moved to France in 1963, where he mostly played for European labels, but he did go back to the U.S.
On July 25, 2008, he died in Availles- Limouzine France.

Now that we now about him let' s talk about his music: The song That I listened to was obviously a jazz song. It kind of sounded like he was doing scales over and over again for a bit. The music that he played seems very repetitive to me, however, His music did seem to sound very difficult (I don't think that I would ever be able to play something like that in my life). I thought that it was amazing how he was able to play so quickly while he was able to play the notes without any mix-ups of any kind. I also found it interesting that even with his speed, he wasn't stuck play one long slur.

To listen to it yourself, just click on this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUYUcLRud50

Mayday post

Today I practice for a half hour, which consisted of ten minutes at the ends (five minutes warm-up with the scale we just had to do a test on, an a five minute cool-down with random songs from the blue book. I also spent five minutes on "Carmina Burana", but I don't really know why because I am really good at it and the song is mostly repetition. after that , I spent ten minutes on "Bohemian Rhapsody" for no apparent reason, but I must say that it needs a fair bit of work (I keep having to slow down when I play the little guitar part, but I fix that, eventually) and the last thing that I have to talk about is the five unaccounted minutes were spent on chromatic scales. That's it!