UWI's Festival Library

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[2017]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today I got more sheet music to my collection at UWI’s Festival Library. I had to go there because I wanted to get more music for the first Assignment I had to do for Dr. Remy’s Steelpan Literature course. I got the music copied for about twenty dollars and then I sat there and filled out the forms for the booklet I was making to submit as the assignment.

I made sure to get these scores photocopied because you don’t find music so easy to get and then they are musical compositions done by Dr. Jit Samaroo too. It will be nice to finally have some of his work cherished in my collection and then one of the songs “Pan Patterns” is one of them I learned last Semester in the Intermediate ensemble for marks.

 

(**score photos**)

Daryl Zion M. Ali

FOPA (Assignment #1)

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 15th February, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today during my Fundamentals of Pan Arranging (FOPA) class, I was so happy I got my assignment done since Monday and placed it into my folder for safekeeping. It was also a good idea I had to re-use my Accountability statement sheet that I used for my academic course in the first term last year to submit my paragraph. Mr. De Las wanted to know what it was for and Samantha used it too. I had a feeling she would use the sheet but I had this feeling it was right to put one in the assignment too in case the assignment was rejected.

    We had to do a short eight-bar steelpan arrangement from a melody that sir provided us along with the chords he wanted us to use. I made sure to write down the things that he wanted in this assignment so that he would have fewer problems with mine and he didn’t. He only showed some little mistakes that I made but told me that I was on the right track. Thank God. I was glad to have an instruction sheet I made from the email he gave us to do the work. 

    Later that evening, I had a short coursework assessment for Miss Joseph class in “General Music Methods” which she made easy by letting us pick two pieces of paper. One with a letter and one with a number. The number was our turn and the letter would be the task assigned to us. She wrote on the whiteboard what assignment the letter would have been. My Letter was C which was to Teach a melody using a sustained pitch and my number was six. 

    I was a bit worried that I forgot the words to the short melody from the Practical Ear Training textbook used last semester. This exercise had to be done by memory. When it was my turn I simply went up in front of all my friends, applied the same friendly conversation mention I told myself to do for the last presentation in my “Introduction to Music Learning” course last semester and did it. When I left the front at the end of the song, I took my seat, I sat down and miss said “Thank you, Daryl.” I wondered if I did badly because I felt as if I wasn’t up there as long as I should be. Other students took really long.

    When class was done, miss Joseph gave out the results in whispers to us so none of the other students would hear other people’s marks. When I went for mine I had to step away from the Piano and go up hoping I did well. To my surprised ears, she smiled and told me [I got] thirteen [out of fifteen]. I was so glad. I left class to go home for the weekend.

 

Link(s):

1. FOPA Submission - Assignment 1. 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Panorama Medium Semi-Finals (T&T 2017)

Date for Entry: (Sunday 12th February, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today was the National Panorama Semi-finals in the Queen’s Park Savannah in town and it was a really hard and long day carrying a burning back pain from practice as well as bending down so low to reach the pan in that low rack stand. I met two of Aunty Roshida’s sons there while I was practising. I only knew Pots but the other guy I didn’t know. We couldn’t talk long because the girl drilling us was going through it over and over.

    In the evening time at around three o'clock came, I went with Cael and Toyanna and two other girls to find a changing room because all of us didn’t come in the T-shirt they gave us. By the time, we got to one of the toilet tents, one of the girls said, “Buh you’s ah boy, I thought you woulda pull out yuh shirt and change dah like nothin’.” Somehow, I was expecting someone to say that at some time now but then I kindly responded, “Yeah girl, ah know I’s ah boy but not like those others.”

    I only made two slips on stage and that was all but it was fun. I had a good time whining and ducking and all the other stuff in the back. It was good to cross the Grand Stand once more as I thought that I would never cross it for my third time but it was possible today. I went home with Mr. Gill and his wife in their van afterwards. 

    They gave me two sandwiches and it was good. Actually, it was the only meal I had for the day and I was waking since half seven out of bed and sleepy still. There was only one recording of the performance. It did not really provide a good quality sound. No visual was given, unfortunately. I did not even have photographs from this particular stage crossing moment.

Link(s):

Daryl Zion M. Ali

UWI Students Music Concert

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 7th February, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

[Written as Update Report]

Dear Diary,

    On the 7th of February, the students of my Certificate class was working towards a concert for the ending of our programme. Anton had the idea and mentioned that there was no time where the entire class did a performance as a whole. Plans for the concert went on and he was the one that worked on the music and arrangements for the different groups such a steelpan, voice, brass etc. 

    I can recall that some things gave me scare in the music for the tenor pan parts during my assignments one and two in West Indiana collections when we had Dr. Remy's steelpan literature course. On this day I was given the "I Wish" arrangement. Up to now, I did not listen to what the original composition was from YouTube.

    On 3rd of February, 2017, some days before an email came with music for "Defying Gravity". Some other day I was emailed a final Programme or maybe a list of the intended order. It could have changed during the penultimate week of the semester when I had decided not to take part in the event. To this day I still feel guilty and mean for not going and joining the others. The same feeling occurred when Milano was asking me a particular question and I did not feel nice about the response I was given. I "lost" a lot at one point.

Link(s):

1. I Wish (Tenor Score).
2. Defying Gravity (Tenor Score).
3. Final Concert Programme.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Ode to Joy Arrangement

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 7th November, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    At the end of class today with Mr. Sharma, he took out the “Ode To Joy” steelpan arrangement score I emailed him and went through it with me for the second time on the piano. There were several corrections needed from the first version. This time around I was glad that only one note was needed to be changed to make the song work. 

    I hope that it would be something the Sunday School band would be able to work out easily. I was glad to manage to have the internet printout of the string full score sir gave me to use for the arrangement and also the folder page with a strumming pattern suggestion for the guitar and cello pans.

Link(s):

1. Ode to Joy (Steelband - 1st & 2nd Attempts).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali