Date for Entry: (Unknown/ Forgotten)
[2015: Form 5 West; Friday]
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 23rd June, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today during my last two periods of school in Spanish class
with Mrs. Naidoo-Paul, a student came by to send a message. He said that Ms. Saunders wanted to see me and Ifeaye in the school’s office. But when Mrs. Paul was giving me permission to
go, she called me to her desk and said that she didn’t see Ms. Saunders all day
so she let me go down to the office.
While leaving class, I met up with Ifeaye in the corridors and we both walked down together. We both didn’t know what was happening but it must have been something t do with music. And that being about music, I felt happy. I thought may there was some type of challenge or special assignment we might get to work on? I really wished it was that way, lolz.
At last, we arrived up in the
office. This lady was standing up by the doorway talking to Ms. Saunders
and then Miss called us over. She took us and the lady into the conference room. It was more
of a small dining room looking are with various trophies in a wide glass cabinet above on the
walls. It looked like millions of them in there.
While the conversation was going on, Miss Saunders looked like if she could have caught an instant heart attack. As for me, I had sharp chest pain and headache from the lady. She said that I look like the one getting the heart attack this evening.
Firstly, Ms. Graham (the lady) gave us a copy of the Music Syllabus to look through and she went through the objectives of the School-Based Assessment (SBA) – Paper 3, as well as the Paper 2 – Composition and Arrangement. I had a big fear about the performance art in Paper 2 because she said that we would have to do a group performance and arrange it ourselves. I didn’t even know how to arrange it as yet.
Ms. Graham was completely shocked when she found out that there was no work done for the past two years to get the CXC Course. This was by music classes and included no work done at all towards our SBAs and other individual projects that were expected to be submitted.
Miss Saunders, Ifeaye and I knew that we had no Music Room in the school and the timetable the school design would never permit it. Even if we did try to make it work, a certain teacher would give us trouble and say that we're not allowed to have a free period.
Ms. Graham gave both Ifeaye and me a short but quiet message as well to Ms Saunders that Ms Saunders should have been checking our SBA work along the time, while we were not doing so. More trouble came with this.
As all that was over, she gave Ms. Saunders the Syllabus to keep, some forms (mark sheets, the Music Declaration forms and some others for the SBA). She then showed us some other things about music compositions about finding out motifs, and tips on how Beethoven did with his fifth Symphony.
My issue was the length and how we should begin to start arranging and composing. With that question asked, she did a short activity with us in front of Ms. Saunders and Ms. Ramnarine who was my Principles of Accounts teacher. She was cutting tickets for the School’s Annual Walk-a-thon on the side of the same table we were at. I was glad to drop her class eventually after some time. I don't know if she really did hate me.
Experiencing this activity doing improvisation and singing, I knew that I would have to learn arranging skills from Ifeaye and he might get an idea of composition for me. Because he always said that I was a good composer and I know that he is a good arranger.
Ms Graham told one of us to start a beat. Any kind of our liking and then the other should come in with a piece of melody to suit the background beat. While the two of us were trying to find a beat, she wanted us to start immediately when she said, “Anytime today would be fine” so I began to sing a bass piece in the same rhythm of “Sugar Bum” that I did for Pan Minors. After repeating two times, I started to solo but Ms. Graham wanted me to continue the same thing while she put Ifeaye to do the Improvisation. Ms. Saunders told me to start again and Ms. Graham told Ifeaye to join in. Then she cut Ifeaye out and then I finished it with the same thing twice.
That activity was fun and then she told us it was about more than fifteen bars made in singing already. Ms. Graham said that the piece we were to compose should match our current grade in performance. She said that the composition should be about sixty bars and above because anything less might have been too short.
At the end of this conversation, it gave me and Ifeaye worries about dropping the subject. This was our little conversation during the last few minutes of the eighth period in the corridors by the Form four-block. There was just so many things to do and will not be that easy to do in such a short space of time before the CXC Examinations begin. Even if I can do music as normal, it felt impossible to do all the coursework for the two-year program in three weeks.
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