14/01/11, FridayToday in our theory class we learned the history of Jazz Music because we are going to learn it this term. We were asked questions and i could do some of it. We were also told to do some 200 words essay about it and were given some worksheets as a HW. I need to do 25 multiple choice questions for next Tuesday. I think jazz genre will be really hard to play and understand, the tempo is different and a really different sensation. We were also told more types of chords which is really new for me like c13, and things like that. I need to be able to memorize and understand these chords. For me to be more familiar to it.
In instrument class, we were told to play the new jazz chords that i already took down on my music book. My hands were too small so i played some of the chords with 2 hands instead of one hand. It were kinda easy but it is new so i should practice it more often
19/01/11, WednesdayToday in theory class we reviewed our HW last time because we were told that we are going to have some quizes about it. I did the quiz quite well but there were 2 wrongs because the answer was different from what ive learnt and read. I need to continue and persue my knowledge on jazz music. After that we learned about jazz modules which was new for me. It showed us different stages with different names which were created years ago. I need to memorize these modules later on.
In practical class i played all the jazz modes up and down. I played it quite slowly and it was still not smooth yet. I need to continue my practice at home adding jazz modules so that i could play it smoothly in class for Friday.
21/01/11, Friday
Today we were given sheets about jazz history and its background. I need to share my sheet with Tiffany in pairs because it was not enough. We highlighted the important parts and were finished reading on time. After that each partner were asked about what they read and answer some questions then we discussed it together. I and my partner managed to answer the questions but i still need to read more of the history and really understand jazz's genre. So i will need to read more of the sheets and really put it in mind.
During practical class, i played all the jazz modules again from up to down like last Tuesday and i had improved, i played it quite smoothly and it was not too slow. However Mr Herry tiold us to play with the right and left hands on the chords and the modes. So we changed hands to play these, it was quite hard with the changes but i managed somehow. I need to continue my practice using the changes so that i could play the modules with different hands smoothly.
26/01/11, WednesdayToday Mr Herry told us about our assignments and the first assessment is to make an essay. We were divided into groups of 3-5 and were each given an essay topic to dicuss about, we got "why is jazz considered America's music? In what ways does jazz represent America?" then we discuss our topic throuhgly and made 5-7 points from our opinions and from the sheets that we got. After that we presentate our discussions quite well and were told that we need to make an essay of 400-600 words about it. Then some of us performed the jazz modes infront of the class, we were also tested about the jazz modes name to test our memory. I did well when i was asked i could answer it. I will need to do my essay as a HW.
In practical class we copied simple chord progression, six of them on the white board, and were checked. After that Mr Herry showed us how to play it and explain to us what it is about, we need to play it for our video this week. I also played the jazz modes left and right, it was kind of hard but i managed it somehow. I need to do my video, practice more and figure out how the chord progression goes.
29/01/11, FridayWe didnt had any class today because there were some exhibition going on for grade 10s of our personal project. So i will need to practice at home.
2/02/11, Wednesday
Today in theory class Mr Hery asked us to submit our essay. I was told to write the day submition on the back. Then we watch a video about Jazz (Owen) and a jazz school for us to appreciate music. After that he distirbute 'I Got Rhytm' song as our assessment song on Friday next week. We practice it and then perform the song by group, our piano group perform it quite well but it was quite too high for us so the teacher lowered the key. We also learned and were showed about the 12 bars blues for us to make later on, it seemed kind of hard to understand and make but i think i will manage it somehow. I will need to memorize the lyrics for my singing assessment later on, which will be complicated.
In practical class, i played the chord progression it was hard and because there were no more time i didnt finished all the chord progression. When i played there were some wrongs and i was confused on the notes, i played not smoothly. I will need to continue my practice on it so that i can master the progressions needed to play jazz. Jazz is a hard music genre but is fun in a way.
4/02/11, Friday
Today at school we had parent teacher conference. So there werent any class going on. I didnt had any time to practice and check my chord progression play. Therefore i will need to practice and master it at home.
9/02/11, WednesdayToday i was sick and hospitalized so i couldnt attend any lessons at school. I ask my friends what they did in music class and they told me they already did the 'I Got Rhythm' singing assessment that day. So i will need to practice and memorize the song for my next assessment when it is my turn to do it.
11/02/11, FridayToday i hand in my music essay quite late because i was absent last wednesday. I also had some practice time to rehearse I Got Rhythm song for my assessment that day which was late, i was the first one so i had some time practicing. I did the assessment quite well and was able to memorise the lyrics. I almost forgot the lyrics when i was singing but i managed it somehow. Mr Herry also gave me 2 reflection sheets because i need to sing 2 times for my singing assessment. I did the first reflection sheet queitly and managed to fill all of it well. I need to have more confidence next time on my singing assessment and i need to memorize the lyrics more so that i would not be in danger of losing marks. After that the others rehearse their own songs which they will sing on their next assessment. I will also need to choose a new song to practice and memorize for my next singing assesement. I will also need to do the 12 bar blues which had been explained by mr Herry the pattern, to be checked on Wednesday next week.
There was no practical class, so all i did was the theory class and i listen well. I will need to continue my practice on the chord progression later on.
16 Feb'11, WednesdayToday we had our 2nd singing assessment and we sat in alphabets. We were told to give comments about our friends performance and i did it carefully without judging them. It was kind of fun because it made me to really concentrate on their singing and i did it great.
Adrian: Adrian sang well memorizing the song. However he could have controlled his pitch more when singing.
Anissa: Anissa sang the song really well, she also tried to catch the song's atmosphere which is captured well.
Arditho: Ardhito didnt memorize the song. Next time he could try to control his pitch more.
Antony: Antony sang well with a good pitch, he could try to memorize the song next time.
Jacintha: Jacintha memorized her song really well infront and had a good voice control. She could try to sing a little louder on other occasions.
Frederick: Frederick has a good pitch but he mumbles at some part that he could improve. He should be more confident next time.
Gregorious: Gregorius has a great jazzy voice and a good pitch control. Unfortunately he kind of forgot some parts of the lyrics infront.
Imez: Imez mastered the song but too bad she didnt memorize it.
Martinus: Martinus sang well but he could try to sing it a little louder with more confidence.
Michelle: Michelle sang really well and have a really great voice. However i think she didnt chose the correct song for her because there are some parts which she cant reach the notes.
18/02/10, FridayToday we continued the singing assessment and did some comment to our friends again. It was fun but too bad Mr Herry was absent that day because of some competition. After that we were told to collect the 12 blues bar but none of us finished it because we didn't understand how to make one and Mr Herry's explanation was quite unclear for us and he only explained it for 10 minutes because there were no time. So we just sang some more song. I and Jacintha sang moon river again in front of the class quite well and it was fun.
Pandu: He sang well, he was confidence and had a good pitch.
Reynaldi: Reynaldi was quite confident and had a good pitch.
Rifky: Rifky was really confident and has a good control and grasp of the song.
Tae Hoon: Tae Hoon sang clearly and loud which is good to hear.
Tiffany: Tiffany played the piano with the other music teachers on the back. She sang twice and she had a good control of her pitch and it was really nice.
23/02/11, WednesdayToday we discuss about the 12 blues bar and how to make it. Mr Herry gave us the scales and the notes to make the 12 bars. Then we were told to make it on our music book, i didnt have any time to play the notes so i could just choose some of the notes and place it on the right bar which i know itll turn out to sound bad but i could fix it later on. After that i rewrote the composition on a piece of paper for us to hand it in.
In practical class, i played the composition with my right hand only to hear how it turned out. It turned to sound weird and so Mr Herry helped me to fix the notes and helped me to practice the blues bar. However there isnt any time to fix all of it so next time i should fix the whole composition and play it.
25/02/11, FridayToday Mr Herry played us our composition one by one. After he played my composition he told me to fix it in the instrument class for wednesday. He also told us to put it on the finale for wednesday and that we're going to have a rehearsal. So i need to practice a lot and fix it. After that he explain us on the bord how to write the notes in correct tempo.
In the practical class my 12 blues bars were checked and i play it again. I play the left hand with the chord which sounds better. I managed to fix all of the composition with Mr Herry's helped on the bars which sounded weird. Next time i need to practice more for the rehearsal.
2/03/11, Wednesday
Today we were told to submit the 12 blues bar submission. I submitted mine but there were some wrongs in the composition so I would want to fix it and then i should hand it in tommorow morning before 7 40 so that i wouldnt get any deductions. After that we had our jazz rehearsal in partners for 1 piano and in a group. It was a lot of fun and it was not really nervous because we played together! I had some difficulties because the playing was really unique and quite confusing with other people playing different nots. However because Mr Herry helped us and instruct of i were able to pull it off.
In practical class replay our song and practiced by partners. Thankfully i did not do too much mistakes on it and were able to understand the steps and played the chords and melody quite smoothly. However there were still some wrongs that i should improve next time.
4/03/11, FridayToday we had our practical assessments in groups. During the practical assessment i was quite nervous but it was okay. I did some mistakes on the tempo on some parts of the melody but i did well in maintaining the nots correctly. Next time i will need to practice and be more ready for assessments like this. We had some trouble for the piano group so we repeated it for 2 times. We were also told to comment on our friends playing:
Guitar Group- Ardhito: He played his melody well during the assessment. Too bad he cant play the chords with the rest of the group members.
-Pandu: I can see that he played well on his melody and has a big confidence. However i can't really hear his melody because it was slow and soft.
-Rifky: His melody are really nice and he played it well.
-Greg: He played really well and his melody is also really cheerful. He could make it more interesting by playing it a bit harder because i couldn't really hear it.
Violin Group- Anthony: He played quite poorly and his melody are quite nice but it could be improved more.
- Martinus: He handled the violin really well and played his melody clearly.
- Reynaldi: He has improved a lot and did a great job this time.
Saxophone Group-Daniel: His melody is really hard to play and shows his efforts in practicing it.
- Frederick: His melody is really good to listen and is catchy. He also played well that made me attracted to his playing.
- Michellel: Michelle played her melody really well but she could improve her melody to be more creative. However for a beginner it is great
9/03/11, Wednesday Today we watched Jazz videos, I listen to it slowly and it sounded good. It was announced that we haven't finish our reflection for the last assessment, so we did our reflection. I managed to fully wrote all of the things needed and made it full. Mr Herry then told us about our next assessment right away which is Jazz group performance and we were divided into groups. My group are Daniel, Anthony, Tiffany and Greg. We got Summer Time as our Jazz song, i don't really like it cause it sounded too boring but it also has a nice texture to it which completes it which was quite okay for me. After taht Mr Herry teaches us more about chords to add for our next assessment to be in use.
We didn't have any time any practical class so i need to practice the chords at home.
11/03/11, Friday Today we make our reflection on finale composition which we haven't made. I managed to fully fill all of the lines and the things i needed to write. After that we discusses about chords again because our assessment is going to come out soon. Mr Herry ask us one by one to make sure we fully understands what he is discussing, thankfully i was able to do it. Then we were given some exercise regarding the chords and was given sometime to do it. I understand the chords and the formula to it so i was able to do it. We changed papers to checked and i carefully checked my friends paper, Martinus's so that i could make some corrections for his mistakes. Then returned it back.
We only had some few minutes for the practical class, so i was not able to play the chords again. Therefore i need to practice the chords at home to make sure i am ready for the group assessment.
