Date for Entry: (Monday 9th March, 2015)
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 23rd June, 2021)
Dear Diary,
Today Miss Graham came back to Hillview College to examine me
for the SBA (Paper 3) for the analysis of the eight commercials [Part 1] and
the two types of performances which would include a solo [Part 2 (A; i-ii)] and an Ensemble piece [Part 2 B].
The worry I had was to be in part of the Ensemble piece. It was only Monday
we had started and that was that so I didn’t know what type of miracle had to
happen.
At the end of playing my solo performance, Ms. Graham gave
me permission to leave the stage and to go and find my friend for the Ensemble
performance. At the front, we were all in a short problem because they didn’t
know the song I gave them and then Ifeaye and my other old friend Christian
helped me to play in the Ensemble.
Ms. Graham told
me and my friends that I could not play the piece of music I planned to do
because it was not fully my official work. So, she allowed my friends and me to
play one we did from the Steel Ensemble. This was where we choose “Hero”. There were some sudden crescendos and abrupt parts I had to
playmaking me feel worried. However, it was mistakes made I was able to
cover it up.
Then I had to do
over a second solo piece because that first one was not my work also. I decided to
play “Besame Mucho” because it was a little sophisticated song, carrying so
many rhythms and the use of triplets might have been the only complex piece we did in the ensemble.
I felt that it could also earn me some high marks. I was then asked to play the scale and arpeggio used for the piece.
After doing the scale
and arpeggio, Ms. Graham told me that she was so "touched by what you played" and
she made sure to mention how well the arpeggios were done. I was like, “Yes! Thank you, Jesus!” It seemed as if she was trying to find a way to describe the way the arpeggios were played to Miss Saunders but did find the word.
After I took a
chair from up on the stage and sat by the table with Ms. Graham, Ms.
Saunders and I asked her for tips about my Set Works in Paper 1. Unfortunately,
she didn’t know about that either. So, I didn’t know how I was going to get the
information to study for the part of the examination. Mr. Lewis was also not
going to help me which I had a strong feeling about from the very beginning and
there wasn’t anyone else to ask for help. I mostly had to use the CXC music syllabus as I was doing all this time.
Ms. Graham gave
me a form to fill out concerning the paper 1 examination. It was to do with how
many songs I had in my "folder" and also how much I had to play. They didn’t tell
me what was my student’s number or what the number of the registration was but
I knew my school centre number was 160023. Ms. Graham signed it and then gave
the form back to me to sign. Both she and Ms. Saunders look at the paper when I
was about to sign. I looked at them and laughed out when I saw their curious faces to see how I would have signed. After Ms. Saunders signed the form Ms. Graham took
the paper and then said, “Oh Shery-Ann, you could do much better than this.” It
was about my signature and I still loved it, lolz.
As she was
leaving, I gave Ms. Graham the SBA with the CD inside and the Performance
booklet I had made and had bound to give her. She didn’t know that it was a
present. I decided to give her it as a personal gift because at first, I thought that it was something to submit with the examiner. Then I gave Ms. Saunders a copy also. I had my copies of
the SBA, Performance booklet and the CXC Music syllabus.
Ms. Saunders was
asking how much the cost for all the copies was because she so appreciated how
I had gone and bonded her CXC syllabus for her. As for me, I didn’t like having
a book to be so unprotected. I have this very big obsession for books and I
certainly could not have given her back syllabus copy in a way that it could have been damaged easily.
On walking to
the Auditorium with my heavy bags and my book stand in my green cloth bag, I
held out a bag with two small boxes of cheesecake and two forks. She told me
that she had to go and pick up her niece and then I told her I had planned to sit
down and eat a cheesecake with her after the exam. I let her go and I took home
the cheesecake and stored it in the fridge for the next day.
Another
day was over and finished successfully. I still cannot imagine the morning I had
today to get copies of the work I had made of today’s examination as presents
for some of my teacher’s. I had to miss the whole morning sessions of classes
to get the SBA printed and put together the CD for it and then run to the
stationary store with it to get them spiral bound. All in the end it was worth
it and I am grateful for the happy ending.
Daryl Zion M. Ali
