Christmas Service (2017)

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 25th December 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This is an entry of another performance for the Sunday School Steelband on Christmas Day. The Reverend doing the service today Mrs. Anabelle Lalla-Ramkelawan. We had to play at some point later in the service apart from where it was indicated in the program. I cannot recall the piece that we played for this particular service.

 

Link(s):

1. Christmas Service 2017 – Aramalaya Program. **

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Practical Ear Training (Final Exam)

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 15th December, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    This is the subject that should have been called General Musicianship III but it was fine. Everything in the course was related to the other two General Musicianship classes I had from the previous two semesters. 

    Funny thing first, three big questions almost made me ball out in "French words" in that exam. I mean, why would you give us three huge questions about things we did not do in class? Why? It's like I’m going to have to sing the pennywise advertisement song singing, “Why, Why to tell me why!” Lolz!

    In the end, I took my bag and then I went out by the car to meet dad. This would be the last time I stepped foot in the schoolyard until the next academic year for my final Certificate Course. It feels scary a bit to see the horizon line in front of me but let’s hope it bring good things. It was also the last time I see my friend Adam since he’s leaving us to go to Berkley College of Music.

 

Link(s):

1. Practical Ear Training (Final Exam) - Receipt. 

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

General Musicianship 3 (Final Exam)

 Date for Entry: (Monday 12th December 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary

    Today I had my examination for General Musicianship III. I really did not find the name suitable because it was not doing the usual stuff. I found that the subject name deceived me in particular looking at the courses previously completed. The exam went well. I went to school at twelve and then waited a while for the examiner to call us into Studio four. It took me the full two hours to complete the paper. In the end, I felt a big relief that it was all done and over but hoped to get a really good grade even though I did not study a bit for it.

    One other part about the day to smile on and remember was that when one of the invigilators was passing around to see if we had everything on our exam receipts, she looked at mine and said, “Wow, that’s quite a nice signature" and then she moves on to the others. I smiled and laughed out with Kayla who was sitting on my right. 

[UPDATE] 

    There was another class where a few more quotes of wisdom were shared but kept with me for this journal from Mrs. Neaves. They will remain with me as I wish a limited copy of a score she was handing out was not in my possession.

• “Sometimes people say things just to hurt you. It isn’t meant to wish you well."

• “You could dream big but the extent you can reach as in the requiem performance, it is all about becoming who you are.”

• “Never talk about the sexuality of another or yourself in public. Even in the place of immensity be it age, race, religion, etc. It is something that you shouldn’t talk about.”

• Once you're a musician, you are a teacher all the time. Even if you are a soloist. If your guidance is not working, find a new method. For example, teaching a fish to climb a tree.”

Link(s):

1. General Musicianship 3 (Final Exam) - Receipt.
2. Harmony Decorations Handout.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Do You Hear what I Hear?

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[December 2016]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary, 

    Today I got to Church at nine in the morning after church for pan class. During Practice, Mr. Sharma gave me a copy of the “Do you Hear What I Hear” score he gave me to work on. 

    Last Wednesday he took my attempt at the steelpan arrangement to make some corrections and also to see what he came within my score so he said that it would be like an arrangement that we both worked on. 

    To get the score in my hands, it looked nice. The band tried it out for the first few measures and then I took it home the full score to show Mama and them when I got back to Curepe.

 

Link(s):

1. "Do You Hear What I Hear" (Lead Score) - Internet Download.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Dream Teacher Profession in Life

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 9th November, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    This afternoon was the last class for my “Introduction to Music Education” and today I had to dress up as a teacher and got to class in preparation to teach my whole class as part of the coursework. This will be the final assessment for the whole course (100% exam) since there is no written end of the examination. Mrs. Joseph teamed us up in groups of two and three. I was teamed up with Samantha and our assigned topic to teach that day was Key Signatures.

    I made some notes on a flashcard to remember what I had to do but in terms of fright and forgetting, I just went with the flow and see what needed to be said as we were taking turns and also, I just decided at the time during teaching to speak my mind in a friendlier way. It was like a conversation between teacher and student and I try to make things fun.

    During one part of my several turns, I spoke about the use of key signature as punctuation like driving a car on the road, where one car driver decides to go driving on the right-hand side. My friend Adam in the back said “Boom” while the others in the class had finished their laughter from that. I took that as a smile in my mind and said loudly, “Yes! Boom!” The whole class laughed out again. When they finished I said, “And you can also have Bam too!” Miss Joseph laughed out and said “Oh My God!”

    Another point where I made the class laugh out again was when There was this extremely long chat that I did with Samatha’s assistance on Monday at two in the evening, we met at school to decide on what charts we had to do since it all had to show that we were poor and had to do everything ourselves. So, when we had to put up this long chart, Natasha came and helped us put on Masking tape we borrowed from Kayla on the back and then it was an old kind so we used our one instead. As they put it put on the wall, I took the marked part of my hands and hit the whiteboard side to make it stick properly. The class laughed out so loudly again and I hit another chart to go on the wall.  

    In closing, we had to give them a definition that Samantha held up and I read aloud for the class. I helped her carry our posters back to our seats so the next group could go on. It was way past seven o'clock when the entire class had finished. I then took a quick run to the toilet and on my way and I saw Mr. Murry and Mr. Sharma talking by the door talking. Mr. Murray looked at me with a big smile watching my clothes. He told me he liked the tie.

    Before class finished, I managed to save some of the handouts and evaluation sheets that they had created as part of their presentation as well. The other groups are mentioned on the following sheets along with the name of the topic they were given to teach.  

 

Link(s):

1. Lesson Plan.
2. Handouts from other Groups.
3. Picture of Posters made for the Presentation. [NOT SAVED]

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Criterion makes a Picky Mess.

Date for Entry: (Thursday 3rd November, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today after my “Introduction to Music Education” class I got back my homework. It was not something I was proud of when I got back the results of the marks I got. I made sure to let Aunty Annmarie look it over when I emailed her the night before it was due. She said she didn’t know much about the music aspect but it was still worth a try and there was an appreciated note she showed me in return.  

 

Link(s):

1. Rubric Assignment.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Music Certificate (Year 1; Semester 2): Exam Results

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[2016]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 15th September, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    On this day I received my grades and felt so glad to see that the courses were passed. I was grateful. Musicology and Introduction to World music was a really tough experience to go through. Even not knowing how to arrange a piece of music and attempting to do it, I was still glad that it was workable and 'acceptable' to some unknown level. 

    For the Musicology class, I was not able to source a photograph of the large scroll I made (6 rows by 2 columns). This course was awarded an 'ultimate project' as I call it. The project is awarded to the most difficult course of the semester and all of the content is simplified to the best that I can in preparation for final exams and study throughout the semester. 

    The 'ultimate project' can be created in various forms such as a 'UWI' textbook that was recreated (their compilation books), a textbook created from scratch as the Introduction to World music textbook, or some form of chart marking. I don't think my classmates for Musicology were appreciative of it but I was glad to take the chance of making something that had aided me in my studies. I also Thank Mrs Nicholas for allowing me the opportunity to share it on that final day of the class.

 

Link(s):

1. Grade Details (Music Certificate - Year 1; Semester 2).

Daryl Zion M. Ali

"Jesus Loves the Little Children"

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[2016; Sunday]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 24th November, 2021)

Dear Diary, 

Today after service Mr. Sharma came with a new piece of music to teach the Sunday School children on the pan. He gave me a copy of the full score and then I took it home. I really wanted to write the date on it but I had to forget it since I didn’t want it to get messed up.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Friendship and Fun VS. Work and Experience

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 5th June, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 22nd September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    Today the Youth group had planned to do a nice field trip down to the southern parts of Trinidad and then travel to other places. It was something I wanted to go with them since we haven’t had a meeting for three months straight. The occasion was also like a decision pending for Hillview Gradation that I chose to miss out and go to my UWI classes. Unfortunately, I had to say no and not go because they were going right after church.

    I told them no because I had Sunday school pan to teach with Mr. Sharma and I was a bit glad I didn’t go anyways. The water was gone and I was still feeling sick from yesterday with the weak feeling. I was happy to play the double seconds and double tenor today as well. It was nice but I liked the double tenor more.

    In the ending, I got back the corrections for the arrangement "Jesus Loves Me" that Mr. Sharma wanted me to do as the next piece for the ensemble to start learning. It needed some simple set of corrections for it to stand out well on its own. Even though it was simple, there was soooooooo much stuff to correct that I did not feel confident in myself. I just told myself, "Ignore all ah dem thing, Nah boy. Dai is jess how it is now. Yuh guh grow and learn from it somehow."

 

Link(s):

1. "Jesus Love Me" (Steelpan) corrections - First Attempt.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

World Music (Final) Exam

Date for Entry: (Friday 6th May, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    Today was my Introduction to World Music final exam. It was only this past week that I put together the scratch created textbook before. It was done on legal-size sheets of paper and I only sold three copies. I knew it would have been a very good idea because with all of those numbers of e-mails that Mrs. Neaves sent to us in class and then the problems that could happen such as a student could be missing one, or the file can’t open, it can’t be seen in their inbox or they misplaced their printed handouts from the lectures.

    Upon reaching school, I walked into the yard and then Justin called me out. He was sitting in with Kern in Kern's red car going over some notes. While they talked to me and went through some of the questions I showed them the book and they laughed out with big smiles. Then I went over to show my other friend Brian. It was now getting closer to exam time and I still felt as if I did not study enough.

    In the exam, I took my time and wrote out the answers that came to mind. I was glad that I did the research for the book because a good section in the essay part I did with Brazil’s music history would have used the majority of that personal research.

    At the end of the examination, most of the students were at the end of the corridor outside of Mr. Murry’s office. They were talking about the exam and then most of them were surprised when I told them that I wrote on eight pages of the Answer booklet when most of them used five and four. I was glad to get back the question paper for the entry of this journal entry.

(UPDATE) 

    Music theory continued as the expected procedure. The rhythm clapping and Solfege singing was done on the last day of class. Only the written listening and written theory were done during the scheduled date for this exam. 

 

Link(s):

1. World Music Final Exam - Question Paper & Candidate's Receipt.
2. Certificate Exam Timetable - Yr1 Sem2.
3. General Musicianship 2 - Final Assessment Objectives.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Musicology (Final) Exam

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 27th April, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th September, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today was quick, nervous filled and surprising. Today I went down to UWI Open Campus with dad and he walked me down from the Administration Building to the part where he normally picks me up from the Library. I met up with Natasha and some others from my class and they were all with their textbooks out and asking questions. We were all worried and not expecting what was going to come. Most of us also did not know what to study for, plus we had a whole big list of terms to learn by heart.

    We all went to a place (Undercroft) where they usually take bags for us while we do the examinations and then give us a number written on a card to keep. I took all the writing materials needed including my small glass ruler. As I was about to enter the JFK Auditorium, we had to place our Student’s Identification Card on a scanner. There was a loud sound that went off and then the lady at the door said that I was not financially cleared so she gave me a form to fill out and give the examiner to sign before leaving.

    From the questions given, it was slightly basic and I could not believe that it was going to be like this. I was really glad that Miss set us a good exam to do but in the definitions, part for the terms and meaning gave me a lot of trouble. Dad came to pick me up and then we gave Natasha a lift out the road. We both were talking about the exam and about what happened.

 

Link(s):

1. Musicology Final Exam - Candidate's Receipt.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Musicology (Assessment #3)

 Date for Entry: (Forgotten/Unknown)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 20th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    Today I got back my Mid-Term Paper for Musicology 1. The Musical period we had to study for this exam was the Twentieth Century. This exam was one of the most challenging of all in these courses because there was a lot to differentiate and also to know the differences of six different groups of music from the excerpt recordings we had to listen to and study in preparation for this exam. When I saw the mark thirty-one out of fifty, I was a bit disappointed and felt like I failed but looking on the positive side, it was acceptable by me.

 

Link(s):

1. Musicology Quiz 3 (Twentieth Century).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Grade 1 Practice

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[APRIL 2016]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 20th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    Today at Mr. Lewis’s classes he finally gave me a grade one past paper. Since I was doing theory past papers for the Royal Theory (ABRSM) exams, he started me on a Grade 2. All this time I wanted to do the Grade 1 exam and since I finished my Grade 5 which is the one he stops at, he decided to let me do the Grade 1.

    As I sat down with some other students doing Graded past papers higher than me. When I was finished I went in search of Mr. Lewis to correct the papers and then he was talking to someone on the phone in one of the other rooms. When he saw me by the door, he watched me hard like if there was a question to ask me. 

    He told the person on the phone about me wanting to do the Grade 1 and ask them, “If you had from Grade 2 up to Grade 5, would you even want to go and do the Grade 1 exam?” I could hear the person from the phone saying "no" from far away but that was the both of them and not me. There was always a spot for that Grade 1 certificate in my certificate folder. He told me to go and cheek over the paper. After correcting it he gave me another one to do and I did it. 

    I knew that he was waiting for any opportunity to take off marks from the paper so that I wouldn’t get a hundred points. This was like his way of discouraging me but the exam will come and we will just see what my best for that exam will be. Not sure if it was a way of trying to pull something negative with me or if it was just a joke. 

 

Link(s):

1. Grade 1 Papers (2009 C & S).
2. DCFA Steelpan Exam Book - Grade 3 Tenor (2012-2014). [Permission for Sharing not granted.]

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Church Visit Performance

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[Sunday April 2016]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    A few days ago, Mr. Lewis gave me a call and asked me if I was interested in performing for a concert that would be today after my church service and the Sunday School pan. The two pieces I had planned and scored out on my Musecore program to perform were “Hide Me Now” and “Open the Eyes of My Heart”.

    I ended up reaching a bit late because there was Sister Act 2 on Television and I really love that show. I bet I could do a lot of lines by heart. At the event, it was at the Good Shepard Anglican Church. It was the last performance for the morning and I also saw my friend Elizabeth from Mr. Lewis’ classes. It was a nice surprise to see her and her mom there since they don't come by to class that much. 

    The performance went well or alright I suppose. To me it felt like some of the people didn’t really care what I was doing and ignored me but oh well. I just continued to play the two pieces as best as I could. It’s simply a time to play two songs on my Tenor pan and then exit. That's all.

    When my playing was over, someone else took the microphone and then they went to talk. I took the pan out of the hall and went in the road to hand it to daddy in part to put in the car. Then Mr. Goodridge called me out before leaving and gave us some food to carry and an envelope. I thanked them for the experience and the food. Daddy and I left shortly after. I got back to Curepe at House One.

 

Link(s):

1. Photograph of Envelope.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Last Class Before (Applied Music 2) Jury

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 14th April, 2015)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    Today was my last Applied Music Class for the Semester with Mr. Sharma. We did a run-through of the piece I was going to be doing and then we did it again in Studio 1. For a short remainder of the time, my friend Monique was here as she had Piano class with him right after and she find it was good. 

    When the class finished, I paid Mr. Sharma sixty dollars for my new Grade 5 Booklet for pan exams (2012-2014 edition) and then left school. I plan to go through some of the pieces during the summer for a good head start.

 

Link(s):

1. Grade 5 Steelpan Exam Booklet (Receipt).
2. DCFA Steelpan Exam Book - Grade 5 Tenor (2012-2014). (Permission for sharing not granted.)

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

General Musicianship 2 (Assessment #2)

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 12th April, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 20th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

          Today I got back an exam paper I did for Mrs. Neaves course. The mark was shocking but I knew it was a really tough exam to go through. I will accept this even though I said "I failed" to myself. 

    Question three made me worried but that was tough too since the piece started on an anacrusis. For question six in the theory section, that was a real challenge. I threw away the low point in question six with the cadences section. Not sure if I might ever get to understand those things. Nice to see SATB work in it too. 

 

Link(s):

1. General Musicianship 2 (Assessment #2) Script.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Musicology Assessment #2

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[Tuesday April 2016]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th September, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today I got back my Mid-Term Exam paper and the mark I got I fine was satisfactory. I’m so glad that I did some listening to the excerpts last minute before the examination at home. The type of last-minute studying really helped because if I did the studies in the week I knew I would have forgotten everything. 

    After Musicianship 2 class that day, I got daddy to take me back up to Tunapuna to listen to the music recordings and rea read the literature while I followed the sound. I find that this made better sense than in class. The paper was scratchy but that’s okay. 

 

Link(s):

1. Musicology Assessment #2. 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Sorry

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 6th April, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 15th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    My class for the Intermediate Steel Ensemble will be performing the song “Sorry” at the Music of the Diaspora 'concert' and I so do not like it. It was not about the hard rhythms but the cut-time involved. It just does not agree with me but I will get another opportunity in this piece to ACT. Hmmm. Another Diaspora 'season' is coming up and hope I can get through this one with ease.

 

Link(s):

1. "Sorry" (Tenor Score).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

World Music - Group Research (Presentation #2)

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 6th April, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 22nd September, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    On this day my group presentation for World Music was done. It did not take that long to do at all. The other two groups needed some time to finish theirs. This time around I may not have done much work for the work since I find that too much straining was done with the first “Sabilulangan” assignment. This time around as well the assignment felt lighter.

    Each member decided to do a short discussion on topics we agreed to work on in the PowerPoint and a plan was arranged to make a pineapple chow. It was an Indonesian dish. I did not remember to ask for an internet link or copy of the recipe for the purpose of this journal entry but the presentation document should have an image of what it looked like.

 

Link(s):

1. World Music - Group Research (Presentation #2).
2. Group Research Rubric & Feedback Forms.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

World Music Study ('Textbook Mission' & Accomplishment)

 Date for Entry: (Friday 1st April, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 15th September, 2021)

 Dear Diary,

    Today I completed another book. I decided to do a textbook for my Introduction to World Music course at UWI because I was more concerned that there was no textbook at all for this particular course except for doing my own research. 

    So, I decided to take some of the notes that Mrs. Neaves gave us and edit them and also add in some extra notes that I got from my personal research. It came out pretty well but the nice part was that it all came up to a total of 101 pages. I am supposed to add in some exercises I got from Natasha when I got her permission to use them. 

(UPDATE)

    The Friday before the event of the Music of the Diaspora concert held by DCFA, copies of this new textbook was made and bound. Five copies in all were made. I was offering copies to anyone that wanted all the notes for ninety dollars for the printings and binding. Only Natasha, Candise and Nella were the ones interested. They got their copies this Friday.

    My group for the class had practice again on the same Friday. More trouble in finding a place to practice was the issue. I was in a situation again. Nowhere in the school was available until I took the few members with me beneath the mango tree and we did practice out in the grass. Mr Murray apparently did not like us out there and said he would be ashamed of us out there if people saw us from the road. 

    He took us into the staff kitchen and we practised there as the other time. Ishan was not going to be there again. She had a group visit outside of the country and couldn't make the Diaspora concert. Literally, we were one person short again unlike the other two groups. As soon as I saw Mrs Neaves that evening, I took out the fifth copy and gave it to her as a gift. 

    One was left for me to use as the final exam was right around the corner. She took it and went through the book with another lady teacher in music I did not meet before. This textbook took me one week straight to create. Each day was a certain country. There were some days were two were tackled. I also got a section with music excerpts in the back but time for working on a disc was not possible. 

(UPDATE) 

Monday 4th April, 2016. 

    On this day the Introduction to World Music textbook was printed by Isa Technologies and spiral bounded by Vashti in the back of Massy's. This was my first copy being put together before offers were sent to the other class students. Looking back through the book made in my hand, I felt very proud as this was now being the first textbook I did in my stay at DCFA.

 

Link(s):

1. World Music Textbook - Scratch Created.
2. "Sabilulangan" Full Score (Final).

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Musicology Scores

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 31st March, 2016)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 15th September, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Pan lessons with Mr. Sharma went well. I had a short practice exam with him in preparation for next week. The actual exam was supposed to be today but we had missed out on a class last week, which I was glad for because I got to start working on a personal study project for my Musicology class. I first started off with 8 sheets of white Bristol boards and I got two markers to go along with that.

    I had a nice conversation with my Musicology lecturer Mrs. Nicholas about what I discovered a similar pattern they used in the Classical Period from the Medieval period. I also showed her the full score of the song “Now is the Month of Maying” by Thomas Morley I got from the Musescore site. I also got her permission to show her the Musicology Personal Projects I was making for the class. She said "sure" and that she was "glad to see that a student is trying to help out their classmates."

(UPDATE)

   I  promised miss to email her a copy of the music. That night I also sent her over ten other scores for pieces studied in class but were not in the course 'textbook'. The next week a copy was punched and sent into my 'textbook'. 

  

Link(s):

1. Copy of "Now is the Month of Maying".

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali