The literature of this "portfolio" is a combination of music journal entries and DAPHA Projects journals done by Daryl Ali.
It is a digital account of his life experiences, works of many and accomplishments.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 24th June, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today was the closing day for Term One in Form 2. When it
was the Steel Ensemble’s turn to play, I decided not to go up to play because I
didn’t know the song. There were only two Tenors and the rest of the other
members.
One of the friends asked me if I got the Sheetmusic if I could play. I
said yes but me thinking back at the score at the moment for “We three King” I would it would have been in a crazy six-eight meter.
I just sat down and
took the song in as it was done specially for me. They really needed to get some
book stands if they expected me to play that fast thing. I'm sure the there members would have appreciated it too for functions like these and even in Tuesday and Thursday band practice.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 12th June, 2021)
Dear
Diary,
Today I have judged for Graded Examinations in Solo Steelpan
Performances by Dr. Jeannine Remy again. Last night in church, Zara and I
practised a "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" for the examination today. This was the only piece where accompaniment was compulsory.
The person that had to
accompany me was unable to come because of childbirth and Zara was the only person to help me at
the last minute. The songs that I played was:
A.Jesu
Joy of Man’s Desiring
B.In a Playful Mood
C.Trini’s Waltz
D.C Major and G Major
Calypscales
I had asked her to sign my blue Pan sticks. At the end of
the Exam, I left the Campus and enjoyed coming back to it since Pan Minors. I
went back home Curepe. I was depressed that the results had come back as a Merit again.
(Update)
Looking back at the examination, I had a strong feeling that Dr. Remy was quizzing me on other additional things than the requirements for the exam. I had just tried my best to answer the questions. For me now it seems as if she was also testing pitch recognition separately during the exam. Seems like a test for perfect pitch, maybe? I'm not really sure.
Dr. Remy ended up playing a second scale for me to name after getting the first one right. It was A harmonic minor she played but for me the G and A so close together, I mix them up a lot. The same happens in present times. She was showing a lady how to conduct the examination at the same time.
This examination was conducted in the staff eating area. I was very curious as to why there was a piano in there. In a room like that, it is VERY difficult to do a difference between loud and soft. The room has an echo for the easiest yawn. At the time I ended picking "Trini Waltz" but I did not even know how to read cut time back then and it was not noticed by the teacher to be corrected during lessons.
On this day too, it was wonderful to have Dr. Remy sign my pan sticks. I did not know when next I might ever get to meet her again. Her name has become well-known to me because of the score that I keep with steelpan music notation. It was a wonderful pleasure getting to see what she looked like in real and have the chance to match a name with the real person.
Link(s):
Preliminary & Grade 1 (Tenor Pan) – Examination Booklet. (Permission not granted by school for sharing.)
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 12th June, 2021)
Dear
Diary,
Today I went through the Newsday papers, searching for
things that happened in the Olympics like their letters and pictures. I saw a
picture of one of my friends from the Pan Minors Course. He was in a talent
competition. I hope he wins. Unfortunately, I lost the piece of paper for the
journal but I still wish you all the best.
**** Newspaper clipping for this journal entry was misplaced.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 5th July, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today Mom and I went with a nice Lady I knew named Aunty
Jereline, in her brother’s white truck to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital:
Maternity Department to perform. I had to play the National Anthem and as usual, mom had to perform her monologue with a little twist each year to suit the theme.
We passed through the hills of Laventille to get there. I
remember that the hill was so high like Mount Saint Benedict, that my ears got
clogged going up. We couldn’t have stayed long at Port-of-Spain because we had to get back to Mount Hope quickly. Aunty Jereline had to go to the Car Company with
all the other kinds of brands to see about her car. Finally, we left there and
I was glad to get back to Mt. Hope with my pan.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 12th June, 2021)
Dear
Diary,
Today one of my mommy’s friends Aunty Nathalie from Mount Hope drove me all
the way down to Queen’s Hall. It was super early and I got there long before the other graduates. Hardly anyone was there so I sat in the Lobby area waiting.
I recall that "two of the Steel Ensemble members" if they still were, had chosen to give dictation about what we should wear for the ceremony. I personally didn't give them any thought because there were specific instructions on this. They truly wanted to be highlighted by being the only ones wearing blue in the audience. The rest of us ensemble members were in our white long sleeve shirts, grey pants and maroon tie as if it was a special function we were attending at Hillview.
As soon as other persons involved and other graduates arrived, they had us gather by the group to run through the music on stage again twice. Some other things were fixed at the same time. Once the little practice was over, Miss Brown helped arrange us in the correct sitting order. I could remember the other Ali girl who didn't like the boy next to her so she begged me to switch seats. The ceremony began shortly after and then the audience including other parents came walking into ill the rest of the seats.
All of the classes from both DCFA and Trinity East had to perform. For some of the pieces, I liked the Level Two pieces more. Mom and papa were there. I saw them walking into the auditorium as the rest of the other graduates were already seated. Mr. Martin drove them down to the
Hall and to us back home back. Before we left, I took out a picture with my friends from school
and then we went off to Valpark to eat lunch.
(Update)
We had a short photograph time with the other members of our Hillview
ensemble. Unfortunately, as time went by those photographs were lost. There
were only two in my saving. I could not find some with all of us behind the
banner. There is the one above that Joshua gave to me on a birthday. Sunlight faded it over the years.
I will appreciate this program because it was able to show me three
parts in music theory Grade one that I did not know. It has also strengthened me
in rhythmic reading slightly to certain rhythms provided during the theory
classes. Thank you, Pan Minors.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 11th June, 2021)
Dear
Diary,
Today I went with dad to Blue Edition to purchase my very
first pair of Double Seconds pan sticks. It was longer than the tenor pan sticks for sure. Even holding it in my hand was different.
I also took to Curepe with me my Laptop from Form 1
and the Pan Minors Booklet they gave me and I scored out the “Sugar Bum” song
my Class was doing into a full score. I was glad that the Finale Software didn’t need the Internet to
work or I probably wouldn’t be able to score out the song.
(Update)
During the process of the computer notation, I had to use all the parts provided in the booklet to put it together. At the time I was already accustomed to scoring music on notation and only rewriting printed music to a program that I might have had. This process of putting the full score together from parts was a new one but I still knew exactly what to do.
Coming to the end of scoring the piece with all six steelpan parts together, the entire playback was not 'logical' and did not sound exactly as it was in class. I realised that there was a particular element in the notation that was grouping empty measures together.
To date, I understand what it means and how to read it on the score just by this same experience. However, the name of this particular music notation element has never been given to me. The musical element or symbol looks like a capital 'I' but written horizontally and above the staff, a number would indicate the number of empty bars/measures (for silence).
This observation was made a little while after checking in with Miss Mosley to tell her that the notation was not lining up. She was a bit confused and I did not know how to explain it. So, when she told me that "it must line up" I went over the notation that same weekend and by assumption at the time, I assumed that the meaning of the horizontal I's had meant empty measure.
It had to be the meaning. It must! Because, when I lined up the parts I had from observation and listening in class, it sounded the way it was supposed to. I'm glad that it worked out. Unfortunately, the Finale notation software trial ended some time afterwards and saving a copy of the score was not possible.
Only until the last teaching day of the Pan Minors program, I was able to hear the music for group one students. I was sent to group two. They had gathered for a final group rehearsal and announcements for the graduation. At that time, I was given a copy of the "Arabesque" piece on request to Miss Mosley, which was going to be performed by group one students.
It still is a wonderful piece to playback. Just looking and examining the full score that she so kindly provided to me it was amazing to see, at the time, how simple the notation for the parts was for a piece as "Arabesque". The same day that this score was given to me I also had presents for the teachers that assisted my short journey through the program. I hope that they enjoyed it.
Actual
Date of Online Entry:
(Monday 28 July 2025)
Dear Diary,
The
following relates to the works associated with achieving accomplishment on
works to the works of Vessigny Secondary School. Compilation of information for
this journal entry began in 2025, and many dates from 2011 to the present may
not have been recorded/recalled. Not all work (either used or outdated
versions) may have been saved or video recorded for the presentation.
MUSIC REQUEST.
**July 2012 **
This
afternoon, there was a special visit from my Uncle Ram and Aunty Annmarie. At
this point in my life, I was in Form Two at Hillview College. There was a
request from Uncle Ram. He has asked to “do the music for this song”. I was
given a sheet of lyrics and a disc. I learned from him that this was his
school’s song.
The challenge was accepted in my mind. I hoped at the time that I would
be able to fulfil the task. Just before leaving, he managed to sing me a few
parts of the song he could recall. The rest of the song would come by exploring
the disc’s recording provided to me. The project became a ‘Universal
Challenge’. This term did not exist at the time (probably until 2018 or
earlier).
SONG’S TRANSCRIPTION.
** Unknown/Forgotten **
The
recording provided to me by Uncle Ram was a vocal piece with piano
accompaniment. The voice was sung by a female. I admired the depth that she
went to in the chorus. Since my main task was to play the song on the Tenor
pan, I worked on transcribing the melody alone. I made sure to insert the
lyrics. I used the same recording to practice the music and follow the score I
created. It was ready, but I was not sure when the time was to play it.
LINK(S):
Recording from Disc. [Disc Lost]
PERFORMANCE.
** Sunday 20 October 2013 **
This
afternoon, Aunty and Uncle came up from Princess Town in the cooler part of the
evening. It was nice to see Joshua also. Daddy had to rush me home to meet
them. I was helping mommy and her coworkers set up the polling station for the
Local Government elections that will be conducted tomorrow. They were situated
in the Curepe Community Centre.
I got to share with Uncle the music that I did. Mommy suggested that I go
through the song first. He was only interested in getting the steelpan music.
Luckily, I had the idea to use headphones to hear the recording and play the
pan.
The first two attempts to record the pan playing were still quiet. On the
third attempt, Uncle sat beside the pan and held his phone just below its
belly. This time, the recording was clear enough. We learned that this
recording would be used for a teacher’s retirement event. He also mentioned
that the teacher was very fond of steelpan music.
PIANO SCORE.
** Unknown/Forgotten **
From
2013 to 2018, there were about five attempts to transcribe the piano part of
the school song. It was my wish to have a complete score of the work for
archival purposes and for the school to keep. The final attempt was the best
that I possibly could, but sadly, it remained a nightmare. I’m not sure when
the next attempt will be made.
STEELBAND ARRANGEMENT.
** May 2017 **
During the summer of 2017, I completed my Certificate in music. The
final semester ended with a course in the Fundamentals of Steelpan Arranging. I
decided to take the knowledge gained from the course and begin a trial of
transforming my previous work into a steelpan arrangement.
Just like the attempts of the piano score, the same occurrences occurred.
I would not have known how many trials there would have been needed to get to
where it is today. In total, there were eight attempts made, and they were
finally accomplished.
The final attempt that brought the completion was done after my degree in
music at the University of the West Indies (UWI-DCFA). There were two more
steelpan arranging courses in that programme, which had me return to the song
for another review.
STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V1).
Towards
the early beginning of the Summer Vacation, after the completion of my
Certificate program at UWI, I decided to visit the piano and voice score that I
made and attempted to do a steelband version. I thought that if the school
had a Steelband, maybe they might have wanted that too. The idea came after I
had finally been able to get Hillview College's anthem written out for Steelpan
in 2015.
In the
case of Hillview, even though I knew the steelpan tutor said "nobody wants
to have that," I saw the necessity to have it. I also received
appreciation from the boys in the band when I made copies for them.
STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V2).
I think
that at the end of my Steelpan Arranging 1 course (in the degree programme), I
decided to revise and fix the entire score I did in version one. The second
version brought a huge improvement. The song still remained incomplete in my
view. I found it not pleasing enough to be shared.
I was
still satisfied to some small percentage, knowing that the song was one step
closer to completion. I was not going to give up that easily. I knew that
someday it would be reviewed again.
STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V4).
** Monday 11th October 2021. **
At this period in my life, I completed with Degree program at UWI.
It was on Thursday 3rd of June 2021 that a plan was made to review the Vessigny
Song again for the fourth time. My mind was not so focused on the project,
and the ideas for tackling this fourth review were unfortunately not so
numerous as I had hoped, resulting in a longer completion date.
One morning, I sat down from 12:00 AM until 5:00 AM and got the entire
fourth version completed. I must admit Sections C and E were super challenging.
I was now proud of myself for being able to accomplish them, along with
the entire arrangement.
There were still a few insecurities (about less than five), which may
have left me feeling as the first version. However, it was good to share with
aunty Anmarie and Uncle Ram.
On the Wednesday of that same week, I was able to send an email to Uncle
copies of the separate parts. Getting pitch names levelled was a challenge. It
was my first time using the inspector feature in Musescore to do this. Thanks
to the kind people in the Musescore Facebook group for their assistance.
In case the school chooses to use this arrangement, I hope that it brings
them enjoyment and the proud, amazing feeling that I would have gotten
when singing Hillview's anthem at the school. Version four was the same as
version three. Minor changes were made to the ending.
STEELPAN ARANGEMENT (V5).
** Thursday 8th December 2022 **
A
matter with the school’s logo was difficult. We did not have an electronic logo
to work with. I was only able to find one on their school’s website and use it.
This created the steelband arrangement and all of its accompanying parts to
become version five.
I saw
that the shape of the ‘shield’ was not shown properly, but was darkened out to
the lower portion. It was inserted and sent over by email. For some reason, I
still found myself not feeling satisfied with the work.
STEELPAN ARANGEMENT (V6).
** Monday 19th December 2022 **
I saw
another version of the same Vessigny logo given to me by Aunty. It was
pixelated lightly, but I believed it was workable. However, the image was
stained with a grey colour. The shape of the symbol in the lower portion had to
be edited.
It took
about two and a half hours in total to clean the image and fix the shape of the
‘shield’. My biggest insecurity was spoiling the image in the process of trying
to fix it. Because of this new change to the score, all separate parts had to
be regenerated and relabelled.
SONG BOOKLETS.
** Thursday 16 December 2021 **
At that
time, the COVID-19 pandemic was causing terror around the world. It may have
been nearing its end around the date mentioned. On that day, I was visited
again by Aunty Annmarie and Uncle Ram during the Christmas holiday from their
trip up north. I had already prepared copies of the song booklets to bring to
the school.
There
were twelve copies in total: one for myself and another for my aunty and uncle.
The remaining booklets were copies that would be shared around the school’s
compound. It was sad that I could not go with them to meet the Principal, and
also to play the music myself at the school. I hope that in time these gifts
from me will become useful to the students.
Just as
my working on anthems for other schools, the song needed a title. This was the
only time that a person who was credited for creating a song was still alive. I
was able to ask Miss County-Henry, through Uncle, to provide a name for the
song. Within a few days, she named it “Our Very Own”. I was pleased that I
did not have to decide on naming the song myself, as with all the other songs I
previously worked on.
YOUTUBE VIDEO.
** Monday 28 July 2025 **
A few
years of waiting had passed after the completion of the steelpan arrangement. I
was requested by Miss County-Henry to wait until certain arrangements could be
achieved before the video could be uploaded to YouTube.
After waiting three years, I decided to move ahead with the YouTube
video, which would then complete the work and finally bring an end to this
project. The only difficulty at first was sourcing a workable logo and editing.
Usually, at the end of the video, I liked inserting a picture of the
school and its name printed clearly, but it was not provided. Instead of that
image, the logo with a white background was used. I pray that after all these
years of work, the video will be a beneficial teaching resource to the school
and its students.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 11th June, 2021)
Dear
Diary,
Today I was excited because I was going back to the
University of the West Indies to the Department of Festival and Creative Arts (DCFA) again. The better
part of this was that I always see this place going from Curepe to Tunapuna and
back, and always wanted to go there because of the Music. Miss Saunders had
given every member of the Steel Ensemble in Hillview Application Forms to
attend this workshop.
I do hope that I learn a lot from these classes because it was Grade 1 and the same ABRSM Grade 1 I knew so well. It was also the opportunity for me to actually sit with a steelpan instructor and observe what it was like to POSSIBLY be taught steelpan for the first time. It was easy. I enjoyed getting everything correct in both theory classes for the first class today.
The teacher taught us to clap rhythms while keeping the
beat on our feet. In the rhythms, we were asked to say the syllables of the
claps (Do, Do-Dey, Do-ta-dey-ta, Do-ta-dey, Do-ou etc.)
At the end of class, we
were sent out of Studio 4 to Pan studio. The teacher did exercises of rhythms. She had
everyone do the same rhythm but had the pans use the notes of the C Major tonic triad. The teacher placed me to play the Double Seconds so I had to play E. The moment I looked down into that pan, uh... Headache! More rhythmic exercises were done and that was it for the second hour of the day.
Aunty Zida came for me at the end of class. I went up the
hill with my Grade 1 ABRSM Workbook they gave us and my pencil and work out
every single question in the book. I know sure I would have probably gotten in trouble but I seriously couldn't help see the book with empty questions and not do them. It was a fun five hours spent with the book until the last page of it was done.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 7th September, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today was my first assessment examination for the Pan
Minors course, in Studio 4 at the University of the West Indies, DCFA. For the first hour, my class group's turn was for the Pan Theatre. Ms. Mostley conducted the practical aspect of the exam. I did my sight-reading and rhythmic exercises on the Double Seconds. Fuss I did not like the instrument at all but it is what they had put me to do.
Once eleven came we were sent over to Studio 4, where we'd do the written theory exam. Ms. Brown had played a few pieces with
melody and rhythmic patterns on the piano and we had to answer questions on the
paper-based on what she played. Those were the first six questions. The rest of the paper was left for us to finish in the remaining minutes of the class. I wasn’t nervous at all but excited.
(Update)
In the second week of the programme, Ms. Brown returned the exam papers to us. I was surprised at the mistakes I made but that’s alright. I was really hoping to get all right and that might have been me alone in the class group to do so. She told us that only one student in the other group got total.
I can recall a big challenge remembering which lines that semibreve and minim rests were supposed to be written on. This was the only hard part of the written paper.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 7th September, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today I went up to the Staffroom from inside the Hall, to
visit Ms. Saunders about a Past Paper Question I didn’t understand. I
saw Johan from Youth Group coming up the stairs too. Ms.
Saunders and I were about to finish the conversation when he came to talk.
Meanwhile, the three of us sat down on the kinda
comfortable Maroon chair on the inner side of the staffroom. She wanted us to
help her answer some questions she had for a survey. But the time
was limited and the bell was sounded for us to return to our classes. So,
then I gave her my email to send me the questions.
That night I sent her
the questions all documented in the one she sent to me. All of my answers were in colour. So, it was a nice day doing something music-related with another
person who likes music too. But I’m not too sure if Johan did the same set of
questions for her. Before sending the document I made sure to fix it up neatly and add the font shown in the document.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 7th September, 2021)
Dear Diary,
This Music theory past final examination paper was for the
third term of Form Two. It was much shorter than that of Form one. I was not
very prepared for this exam at all. I knew that some of the questions were not
going to be strictly on music theory as the previous year. More classes had
dealt with presentations of persons involved in music for the carnival season.
This time around the exam paper was better in my view
because it was created by the teacher in a way that the content was originally
made and not taken from other sources.
Recalling the day of the examination, I remember that the
first half of the class roll was sent over to the Form one classes. Mr. Pierre
was supervising at the time for this exam and the members in our class had completed
the exam before the first fifteen minutes of the exam could pass by.
They ended up taking
our papers and allowing us to leave the classroom early. Mr. Pierre and I had a
good laugh when he took my paper when he said, “Yuh wish every exam could be quick like this, eh?”
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 11th June, 2021)
Dear
Diary,
Today Mr. Lewis took me to his school, Trinity East and
Bishop’s Anstey, which held the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music
(A.B.R.S.M.) Examinations for Theory. I was writing Grade 2. I was a bit
worried because I’ve never been to that school before, afraid of losing my way
and scared. After all, this was the first time I was going to do this kind of Exam and
didn’t want to do badly in it.
Before I went into the exam room, Mr. Lewis put me into a
room and then he had to take me out. The exam room was someplace else. I waited a long while with him outside
because he was trying to get me a sticker that had to be attached to the exam
paper. Finally, a nice lady took me to the correct classroom. I saw one of my
friends next to me who played with Starlift. She was writing Grade 3. It looked
a little difficult from where I was. Soon after, the exam had begun and it was
all downhill from there.
This was my chance to get a distinction in a subject that I
liked. I made sure to look over the paper very well. It was easy because the
answers were to be inserted alone. It was something like gapped passages, only
in a musical form with a bunch of instructions in paragraphs.
I went into the pan room where Mr. Lewis was and met my
friend Jerimiah who played for Panorama with me in Starlift. She had asked me
if there were any problems and there was only one word I couldn’t remember
“Andantino” that she had problems with too. I went down the stairs and dad was
waiting outside. We went home Curepe and then something went wrong.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 14th July, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today was Presbyterian Sports Day. I went to march with the Youth Group. Susan was the Coordinator at the time. All of the other bands looked like they were prepared and then hearing the results we failed it as usual with zero being our score. How unbelievable?! The experience was fun in another way.
I did not stay the whole day as the last time, thank God. I took a trip up to Tunapuna by the Court House with Aunty Pat and Uncle Timmy
near the Library. Daddy was waiting there for me already. I didn’t know that their son
was my cousin. It was only that day I realised that we were related. It was nice to know I had another cousin.
I had to go and
perform a Function. Mr. Mchoney’s wife Aunty Evette, was graduating in a
Drapery & Linen Class from the University of the West Indies. I will always remember that good tasty pork we go on the way home. Time was running out too quick also. I had to shower and get dressed faster. Mommy was down Couva at the time.
Mr. Mchoney loaded my pan into his 'car' and we all went to
El Dorado West. I wasn't sure what type of vehicle it was. I played the National Anthem to start the function and later
into the ceremony, they request a song so I played “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias.
They wanted to dedicate this to their teacher.
At the end of
the function, Aunty Evette’s friend gave me fifty dollars and thanked me very
much for the music and said, “Here’s a little something for you.” On walking
out, the teacher thanked me for the nice music I played. I shook her hand and walked off with the pan in the case and daddy walked out with the pan stand pieces to the car.
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