Music Video Uploads Term 4

This is a video of me practicing the most basic scale, which is C Major Scale. I chose to use this scale because it is simple and can also be considered a warm up before doing anything else in the violin. I played it very good but my violin wasn't tuned, so some notes might sound wrong.

This is me doing the G Major scale practice, another basic scale. This time I did 2 octaves because it could help more to do it with longer notes and of course from G to G and backwards. Doing it backwards helps the finger transition when moving from one string to the other. I think this is the most important part of violin, to put finger position correctly.

This was the practice for our jazz ensemble group performance. I played the intro here and since I have already done it in class as well, I think it sounds pretty good. By doing this, I hope my group assessment can be done well as I have managed to do my part correctly and properly, with not bad tempo.

This is the improvised version of the first intro. I thought improvisation would be good because it is the roots of jazz, however is very hard to do, therefore I just used basic notes and little note changes to make it sound better. There is not much of a difference, however I added repetition of the notes to make it sound catchy.

This is the solo part where only I play. It was hard for me at first to get the tempo right because I didn't listen properly but soon after I understood. I liked the catchy rhythm of this part and I think it is well played. It is also quite short, therefore it shouldn't be so difficult compared to the other parts of the song.

This is me playing the Girl From Ipanema parts, however in one octave higher. Originally, we planned to use it however the sound coming from it wasn't so good , so instead of starting in the E string like in the video, we chose to start in the D string. It was also harder to play this part because it involved using the 4th finger for the solo section.

Week 7 Reflection

May 22-23

Theory Class (What do you think of your music jingle?):
I think that the jingle assignment given to us was actually fun and interesting to do. We were also supposed to include a video containing pictures from different parts of Indonesia to show the theme given, which is "Beautiful Indonesia." My jingle was made by me and Dio as a group, I think the jingle sounded really catchy and up beat. It is also different from the other jingles because it contained a more modern pop sound when compared to the other jingles the other groups made. I am quite satisfied too because we managed to use drums in the song, which no other group used.

Instrument Class:
During instrument class, I continued practicing for the jazz ensemble song "Girl from Ipanema". I have a solo part now, which is kind of short, but I still have some trouble timing the beat and sound. I need to follow the rhythm of the piano, which is played by Nico and Sarah. The notes are pretty easy except for the 2nd position finger in D string which I have difficulty in.

Week 6 Reflection

May 15-16

Theory Class (How is my jazz ensemble group progress?):
My jazz ensemble have already picked our song, which is the girl from Ipanema. We have also managed to play the first bar of the song. We decided that the guitar and piano will have an intro melody, before violin and flute having a few solo parts. My groupmates consist of Sarah and Nico on piano, Cindy and Dio on guitar, Samuel Kevin and Richard on woodwind and me on violin. I still need to practice for the part of my solo, because it will only be me playing. So far, we already played good as a group and we are planning to have a practice this Friday to hear how the song sounds like as a group.

Instrument Class:
In instrument class, we used the time to practice for our Jazz ensemble. I also asked for help on transposing the key on the Ipanema song so that it will be nice to hear and fit with the melody of the violin.

Week 5 Reflection

May 8-9

Theory Class (How did my singing assessment go?):
For this week in music class, we had time to practice for our assessment of singing a Jazz song. The song that was provided for us to sing is titled "Close to You" by The Carpenters. My teammates for this song was Callista, Dio and Sarah. We each had to choose which voices we wanted to do, the main voice (voice 1), the voice 2 or voice 3. The last voice could do any voice they want. During the assessment itself, I think I did pretty good because I managed to do the voice 3 perfectly. During the second part, we all sang together to create a better melody in order for our classmates to be able to enjoy it. I think I sang loud enough to be heard, therefore I think I can get a good score.

Instrument Class:
None due to the assessment singing this week.

Youtube Video Practice

Practice Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6PMs7VRP0

http://youtu.be/oI4gIpKf_qg

http://youtu.be/3E_71hg7XQw


http://youtu.be/NCt2bdxbHcw

http://youtu.be/c-seB4g34Pk

http://youtu.be/L99nDBbn6UA

http://youtu.be/3zR4kFnJaCI

Week 4 Reflection

May 1-2

Theory Class (How does business and industry affect music-makers and users ?):
With the current developments in the music industry, making music and spreading it worldwide has been much more easier when compared to the previous generation. Websites such as Last.fm also make finding new music and sharing it to the world easier for many listeners. Doing this has also allowed for artists to gain more money and profit from spreading their music to more people.


Instrument Class:
For instrument class, I managed to rehearse the whole Autumn Leaves song. I think I have gotten quite well in doing it and can already perform. Probably with more practice I can gain a better understanding of the whole song and make less or no mistakes at all.

Week 3 Reflection

Apr 24-25


Theory Class (How have developments in technology change the way we engage with music?):
Music these days are very popular among the teenagers. This is because music has been a very central point in the culture, which is the internet. Websites like 4shared allows for music to  be shared all around the world, in a very easy and simple way. Electronic devices like the ipod also make listening to music and accessing it easier compared to the radio. Technology has allowed for music to be heard by everyone. Today, we had the roles of music in society presentation, my grooup went first, which was Sarah, Jesslyn, Cindy, Anti and me.

Instrument Class:
Today, we only had around 10 minutes time left due to the Roles of Music in society presentation. I only managed to practice the first bar of the song I want to play, which is Autumn Leaves. I played it numerous times and can already memorize the melody. Maybe a little thing I could fix is the positioning of the fourth finger.

Week 2 Reflection

April 17-18


Theory Class (What are the functions of music in society?):
Music can be used as a media of self-expression and to show our deep emotions that is hard to reveal using words. Music can also be used as a form of entertainment, such as in concerts and shows in clubs and cafes. By listening to music, we can also help relax and empty our minds. Other uses can also include teaching kids and helping them by using songs to memorize. Today we had a small group brainstorm session to decide the topics we are going to do.

Instrument Class:
Today I tried playing the song Autumn Leaves, which I decide will be used for my final performance. Mr Sadrakh said that this song should be easy and is nice to listen to using the violin as the instrument, because it is not that long and the notes can flow perfectly using the bow.

Week 1 Reflection

April 10-11 

Theory Class (What is the role of music in our life?): 
Music is a very important part of my life because it can be used to express some feelings that are otherwise unstated. By listening to it, we can relate deeply to the meaning of the song. We can be inspired and relate ourselves emotionally to the song, such as happiness, sadness and excitement. For the normal activity, today we made the group for the presentation on roles of music in society, also reviewing Major and Minor 7.

Instrument Class:
Today, I picked some songs that I can use for the song assessment of playing a Jazz song. Mr Sadrakh told us that the song Autumn Leaves is easier to play on the violin and it is quite short in length compared to the other songs available. I will probably use that song as my assessment performance. I will also practice at home to test out the difficulty of the song.

Music Reflection 20-21 March

20 Mar 2012
Today we continued practicing for our 12 bars blues assessment. We were also reminded of our current reflection scores and what we can do to improve them. I still need to work on my tempo and fingering of some notes. I hope that by doing this, tommorow I can do my performance well and good so I will get a good score.

21 Mar 2012
Today I did my 12 Bar Blues. It was hard for me to play because I couldn't keep up with the tempo. I still need to fix the tempo and how it works against the song. I did the assessment with my violin teammates. I think I need to improve a lot if I want a better score next time.

The Scientist Pop Violin Chorus

This is my last music practice video. It is the chorus of the coldplay song the scientist played on the violin. It is nice to play because it is more upbeat, however it is harder to play because it is faster. I made several mistakes and by practicing more, I hope I can fix it.

The Scientist Pop Violin

This is a Coldplay song titled The Scientist played on the violin. I played the first few bars because they essentially consist of the same notes. Despite that, the music still sounds good and nice to hear because it is very relaxing and soothing. I hope by playing this, I am able to play more pop violin songs.

The Man Who Can't Be Moved Chorus

This is the chorus part of the pop song. It is upbeat and nice to listen. I think I didn't play this part good because I did not do it properly and needed to improve my skills in playing faster and upbeat melody. I hope it will allow me to play upbeat songs on the violin.

The Man Who Can't Be Moved Pop Violin

This is a pop cover of some parts of a song I like, The song is very popular and titled the man who can't be moved. I tried to play it on the violin without the sheet music and improvisation. I did pretty well but made some mistakes because there were no sheet music. I really enjoyed this because it allows me not only to use violin to play classical but pop music.

Perpetual Motion Variation

This is me playing the perpetual motion variation. The variation is harder because you need to keep the rhythm while continously playing the close melody. At first I was confused and made a lot of mistakes. In the video, there are still mistakes because I am not used to doing it so I think I need to practice harder.

Perpetual Motion

This is me playing the song Perpetual Motion. The song itself is very basic and is a very good song of teaching the technique on violin playing. It involves using the different strings of A and E. i made quite a few mistakes but still can make it better by having no mistakes at all.

Minuet 2 Song Practice

Minuet 2 is one of my favorite songs when I heard it. I liked the first part when the notes are fast yet very nice to listen to. I haven't played this song in a while because I haven't played the old songs recently. After playing it, it gave me a very good view of the song and how it is played, and the melody itself is nice to hear and enjoyable.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Basic

This is me playing the first song I learned on my violin, twinkle twinkle little star. I thought I needed to go back to the basic skills because it will help me remember the original techniques and how to use them properly. It also requires some form of finger positioning so it helps with the positioning as well, which is important on the violin.

Own Melody Variation

This is my own melody variation I made by tips from mr Sadrakh. He said that this training will help me play better because it interchanges between two strings and makes you play both strings in exchanging times. It was sort of easy but I could do better.

G Major Scale Practice

This is the G Major scale practice, one of my most familiar one. I think I did perfect but I was a bit distracted because I had many assessments. This practice is meant to increase the strength of my scale playing and make sure that I understand the basics because it is an important part of music.

D Major Scale Practice

This is the D major practice. I was a bit unfamiliar with the D major scale because I had only practiced it only once or twice. I thought that maybe I still need to perfect my skills of the scale so I looked for scales online and decided to practice it. I thought I did quite well even thou I hadn't played the scale in a while.

C Major Scale Practice

This is the C Major Scale practice. I thought that I would practice around 3 scales, which will help me play violin better. This scale was not that hard and I was comfortable with playing it. I think I am familiar with most of the scale but need to refresh my memory by doing it again.

Violin Practice Scale 8

This will be the last video of my fingering variation practice. It will be the last because I think I already have a good understanding of positioning. Next, I will continue with the Major scales that can be played on the violin.

Violin Practice Scale 7

This is me doing the variation practice one again, this time with the G major. I thought that I should do the G major because it was the one I was most familiar with. i hope by doing this, I will be even more familiar and will help my skills in correctly putting the fingers in position.

Violin Practice Scale 6

This is me doing another variation. I decided that I need to do a lot of variation because it will help me better my skill in finger positioning. The key to playing variation is to correctly and precisely position the finger so that it will be in tune with the speed and note. I need to also improve my speed so I can do the finger in songs.

Violin Practice Scale 5

This is the more difficult variation because it involves playing the same note several times. I managed to do it however I had some finger positioning mistakes. I realize that I still need to work on my finger positioning in order to increase better my skills in violin.

Violin Practice Scale 4

This is a video of me doing a little scale practice. I also added some variations in order to make sure that my performance will be good and will help develop my violin playing skills.

Violin Practice Scale 3

This is a video of me doing a scale from the G string to E string. It was sort of difficult because I didn't practice in a while but I managed to do it in the end. I can still improve it if I give a little bit more effort.

Violin Practice Scale 2

This is a scale variation I did to increase my skill in finger positioning. My positioning is a bit off because it was conffusing to know where to put your finger ina song. I hope by doing this practice I can correct my position of fingers and the stance.

Violin Practice Scale 1

This was my first practice video. It was still a bit of rusty and not good because I hadn't played the violin in a long time. I hope that by practicing more and fullfilling the video of practice I can manage to increase my skills and scores.

Music Reflection Posts

17 Jan 2012
Today, we started studying Jazz, which was our main topic for the term. I found the Jazz topic very interesting and nice to enjoy, because the music itself is very relaxing to hear. I also saw some of the teachers from each instrument do an improvisation of a jazz song. One very great influence of jazz music is improvisation because it requires skill and is present in almost all of the Jazz works.

18 Jan 2012
Today, I saw some of the teachers teach us about Jazz. We were also taught the beginnning of jazz and its roots. The first week was basically getting familiar and know about a little bit of jazz music. It teaches us the basics of jazz and how it can easily be made using many techniques, such as improvisation. We also tried to play some jazz songs using only the chords in instrument class, but it was still difficult for me to do.

24 Jan 2012
Today, I was taught of some other forms of Jazz history. This included the different variations that Jazz music had and how each sub genre had a very close relation to each other. This was due to how these genre gradually evolved between each other, because they used similar instruments. The music itself is different in some ways, an example of this is between blues and bebop, in which blues is slow jazz and bebop is faster tempo jazz.

25 Jan 2012
Today, I learned about the roots and beginning of Jazz. We learned that Jazz was created by African Americans to express their sadness and feelings, due to the slavery going on at the time. They used music to channel all of their ideas and begin with very simple tools instead of instruments. They used these tools in the field during working and used instruments like saxophone later on.

1 Feb 2012
Today, we furthered our study on jazz beginnings. We also had to do a reflection on how we made our essay on the roots of Jazz. For my jazz essay, I compared the differences and similarities of Jazz genres in the past and the present. This included the different artists that they have in future and the past, such as Michael Buble and Louis Armstrong. These 2 artists have very different music but Jazz is one of their main genres. Their songs have different tunes and melody that make them unique and popular in Jazz music.

2 Feb 2012
Today, me and my friends from the instrument class learnt about playing Jazz on the violin. At first, Mr Herry gave us some songs in the theory class with only the chords so we can do an improvisation in the violin class. Because we are still new to jazz, it was very difficult to do. We decided to ask Mr Sadrakh to play the song so we can see him play and follow his technique. After watching Mr Sadrakh perform, I tried playing the song, however it was still hard to do because it needed skills and talent to do improvisation.

7 Feb 2012
Today, I rehearsed the song we had to sing for the assessment. Mr Herry told us that we can do it in partner and I chose Nico to be my partner. We were also given 2 songs to choose from, which is All of Me and What a Wonderful World. I decided to choose What a Wonderful World because it was nicer and my voice was better suited with it. We also saw some of my friends who rehearsed the songs. Most of the picked All of Me because it was shorter but some also chose What A Wonderful World. After rehearsing, Mr Herry suited us with the key and tone that would suit me and my partner best.

8 Feb 2012
Today was my assessment. At first, I was kind of nervous because I had a sore throat but in the end I managed to sing the song. The song was originally sung by Louis Armstrong because his voice perfectly matches the song. From this assessment, I learned that Jazz is a very unique and different genre from the others because you need to have a perfect pitch control if you want the song you sing to have a perfect and enjoyable sound.

14 Feb 2012
Today, Mr Herry taught us about making the 12 Bar Blues Improvisation for our assessment. He told us that in the song, we needed to make it upbeat or different from the chord beat that will go along with it. This is one of the most important factors of Jazz because it differentiates the music with the melody. Each bar also had to follow the same notes in the chord given as the melody to be played.

15 Feb 2012
Today, Mr Herry sent us the template of the 12 Bar Blues in the finale program. We needed to make our 12 bar blues composition in the Finale because it already had the chords and melody inside of it. Mr Herry made the template and told us to input our melody. My understanding of Jazz and Blues became better because I know so many more things, such as the upbeat tempo used to create a different rhythm from the chords that is played along the song.

28 Feb 2012
Today, our reflection booklet got reviewed by Mr Herry. He checked it and gave us feedback on the reflection points that we could improve, such as adding more detail and answering the reflection question. I got a B+ mark, meaning my reflection was already good but needed to be longer. I also had to get signature from Mr Herry in theory class and Mr Sadrakh in instrument class if I wanted it to be better. I will also continue practicing my 12 Bar blues and ask feedback from Mr Sadrakh to make it better, so I can improve my performance.

29 Feb 2012
Today, I continued rehearsing my 12 Bar Blues. My composition has been doing well but I needed to correct the tempo of my performance. Sometimes, the beat given in the background is too fast for my song, so I need to play better and make a good timing when playing the notes. Another improvement I can make is the positioning of my finger because I have trouble changing fingers from string A to string E. Other than that, my performance is already good.

6 March 2012
Today I saw some of my friends performing and rehearsing their 12 bar blues in front of the whole class. They made a variation of piano, violin and guitar, with each student playing different bars and sections of the song. In the end, they all played their song together and it sounded good. With the combination of melody, the song sounds better because it mixes a lot of notes together to create a better sound. I also continued practicing at home so I can improve my finger positioning and keeping up with the tempo.

7 March 2012
Today I continue watching some of my friends perform their songs. This time, it wasn't between instruments but only each instrument section playing their melodies together. I think the best one was piano because they didn't have many mistakes and most of them look prepared. Additionally, the guitar also had a melody that sounded very nice to hear. We also discussed the role of blues in Jazz in the reflection. According to me blues is very vital because it is part of the many developments that occur in Jazz. Blues music is a slower and sadder melody compared to jazz, with rhythmic tunes.

13 March 2012
Today I rehearsed my 12 bar blues again. This time I improved in the positioning of the fingers. I also learn about the improvisation sounds and how they were made. From what I see, they consist of 4 or 5 people playing different sections of the song, like the first, second and third bar. In the end, they played their songs section together to create a finishing melody. I need to rehearse at home today because tommorrow I will be performing my composition.

14 March 2012
Today, I performed my 12 Bar Blues composition. I did this with some people from guitar and also from violin. My song is very simple but creates a good melody fusion of Jazz and blues. During my performance itself, I could not do very well because I was confused with the tempo. I ended up only playing around half of my bar because the sound of the tempo was still confusing. I need to get used to the tempo in order to make my music sound better and more accurate.