Aural Training 1 - (MUSC 1102)

Date for Entry: (Monday 4th September 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 24th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This entry is an account of the "Aural Training 1" course. The course was split into two classes that were both an hour and a half in duration (Monday & Wednesday).

SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES ASSIGNMENT.

** Wednesday 6th September 2017 **

After my Intermediate class, I was glad it was over because there was only one more class for the day and then all that pan playing was enough. It was soon time for Mrs. Neaves’ class. During the class, she did some speaking in general about other things and then gave us instructions on a coursework assignment we had to do for marks. It threw back to the time in the certificate also where we had to choose a panorama arrangement and do a full analysis on it. I knew was going to be really fun.

    Our deadline is Wednesday the 13th coming right before class began. The homework was simply to “Give a comparative analysis of two Panorama arrangements: “Curry Tabanka” of Neal and Massy’s All-Stars 1987 Vs. 2015.” This will be ten percent of our marks for the course. The requirements were that Miss wanted 5 Similarities and 5 Differences, a document of it written by hand, and to submit it by Wednesday. She played two of them in class for us and then we were done for that day. I still have some of the quotes I saved from what she used in class:

CLASS 1

• “This course will be like a reflection of life in a flight where the plane slowly turns a corner and then suddenly takes off in full speed up into the air.”
• “Once you’re a musician, you are a teacher.”
• “Not because you know a group of people you begin to teach. You need to know the level at which each and every student are at and then you suit to that.” This was from the diagnostic test explanation.

CLASS 2

• “Ah take yuh blood” – It just means ‘I like you, yuh okay’ and this is just only on the just meeting with someone.
• “Understanding where you want to go is only one-third of the plan. The other two is luck.”

     I went home right after class and turned on the computer because this was going to fly swiftly like breeze. I was right but it took me a full three hours in total to complete the assignment. This was because the “Curry Tabanka” recording of 1987 was ten minutes long and the one for 2015 was eight minutes so I had to listen to these a dozen times well to get the similarities and differences. Getting differences was the easy part except for the similarities. After getting my five similarities and differences, I challenged myself to see how much more I could have gotten and I got in total nine similarities and eight differences.  

Link(s):

• Diagnostic Test Exercise - (Aural Training 1).
• Compare & Contrast Assignment. 

• Curry Tabanka (1987) Recording.

• Curry Tabanka (2015) Recording.

WEEK 2.

** Monday 11th September 2017 **

    Soon that was over and then Mrs. Neaves' class would start in a while. I went for another stroll in the new building to look for Mr. Sharma. I, unfortunately, did not find him except for while I was up there, I saw Mr. Murry and one of the staff ladies coming up the staircase and there was a serious matter where two students went up to the top floor which was outside on the roof of the new building while the door was open. That was scary and so I went back to class. I made sure to set my timer on my phone while trying to find the office so that I would not get late for class.

    I got my Aural Training Textbook after paying fifty dollars to the girl who was collecting money and then Miss was handing out the book on the other side of the class. I took the book and then went out of the class. I went home and started to practice a piece of the music from an old Grade 6 Examination booklet that I already bought from Blue Edition. I divided the first page into thirds and decided to learn part by part a night. 

HAND & FLOWER.

** Monday 2nd October 2017 **

    There were sessions when a specific experiment and meditation were done. Through one of these, I was able to see an image in my mind with a dark background and a shining flower. I cannot recall exactly the date that I saw this image in my mind at one of the sessions. 

    The pencil sketch was done earlier on a Friday afternoon before Music Theory. I got to share it with the UWI Andrew when he was around as it was being done on the corridor floor. The class was small in number that day. Over the weekend the sketch was completed and then handed over as a gift. 

Link(s):

1. Original Painting & Black and White Version (Pictures).

ASSESSMENT #1.

** Monday 16th October 2017 **

Tonight, in class I received my exam script from Mrs. Neaves that was done on Wednesday 11th October 2017. This was the first credit assignment and I was happy when I saw the paper said nineteen and a half out of twenty. 

    At first, I was happy but anxious and worried to see my sight-singing ark because I know that one is always hard to do. Overall, it was nice to see a lot of the things were correct and I was glad to have passed.

Link(s): 

1. Aural Training 1 - Assessment #1 Exam Script.

ASSESSMENT #2.

** Monday 6th November 2017 **

This is a short account of the second assessment on Monday 6th November 2017. It comprised of a melodic sight-reading/singing exercise and a rhythmic sight-reading exercise. Written listening comprehension was done after. 

    The graded examination script and aural exam results were returned on Monday 13th November 2017. I was very pleased with the results and happy that the rhythmic writing was correct. Still see that I need more work on the chord identification. 

Link(s): 

1. Aural Training 1 - Assessment #2 (Exam Script).

HARMONIZATION HOMEWORK (*OPTIONAL*).

** Tuesday 7th November 2017 **

This is homework was given to us in the previous class. The melody came from a melodic dictation exercise from the first half of our course manual. 

    I cannot recall what conversation had arisen at the end of this particular system in the exercises. However, it ends with Mrs. Neaves giving us the same system as a piece of homework to do for the said date above. It was an optional assignment and I wanted to do it just to see what else there might be to learn. 

    In the presentation, I went first to explain what I did. One question I was faced with was answering "where did I get my inspiration for the piece." I really did not have an answer for it. I had taken the same approach as if it was one of Mrs. Ramlal's Music Theory homework assignments. 

    The printout of the assignment (as in the link provided below) was set up on the projector for the class to see the score and I  had an MP3 recording saved on my phone that I played on the speakers. I was only allowed to play the piece once because there was a conversation that began about what I had done. 

    By the time I was asked to play it a second time, the cellphone battery died. It had ended my presentation, unfortunately. I went back to my seat at the front of the class. I was not alone. Anton did the homework too. I enjoyed his presentation.

Link(s):

1. Optional Harmonization Homework.
2. Optional Harmonization Homework - Recording.**

FINAL RHYTHM & SOLFEG SINGING.

** Wednesday 8th November 2017 **

This morning Mr. Sharma and I went through some of the Pan Proficiency exercises and then the pieces in preparation for the Assessment next week. He also took me through the same hard and challenging parts that we went through over the past few weeks. It went alright except for the big long measure with a long run in “Waltz for Pan and Piano.”

    After Intermediate Ensemble, I went over to Studio four. As soon as Mrs. Neaves came into the classroom, I took my book bag and walked outside to one of the nearby poles, and took a seat on the hard-concrete floor near the entrance. My number was number eight because today we had the Aural singing part of the examination that we did on Monday. I had an easy rhythm to do but it was in cut time and had a time signature of three over two.

    I did not look at it as hard so I just took my time and did it well. For the sight-singing which I did first, I knew I messed up one pitch and the wrong mistake I did was singing it in the wrong tonal center but in my mind, I made sure to sing the pitch and contour in the manner which the music was printed on the sheet of paper. I took my bags and went far away from my class friends and continued to feel lonely as I usually do. Especially when that ‘someone’ else is there and it shows big when they speak.

OPTIONAL CLASS MEETING.

** Thursday 30 November 2017 **

    Yesterday was our class performance of Mozart’s “Lacrimosa” for Mrs. Neaves on her mom’s passing. We were not going to have any more classes for the semester so they decided that yesterday would have been the perfect time for the group performance after the final sight-singing and rhythmic reading exam.

    Today, we had an optional meeting in class to do some extra practice. We did both rhythm and melodic dictation. Some of the class members took turns playing the melody for us to write out and we wrote on the whiteboard too. It was a lot of fun that day.

    We were able to take out a group picture again and we had one recording of the question we worked out. Half of the class clapped one rhythmic line and the second half and another line to clap.

Link(s):

• Funeral Program & Obituary for Urmilta Cox.
• "Lacrimosa" Score - (Tenor) from Performance.
• Two "Lacrimosa" Group Performance Photographs.
• Group Performance of "Lacrimosa" - Recording.

• Class Practice Question – Recording.

Daryl Zion M. Ali