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