Aramalaya Christmas Concert Service (2017)

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 10th December 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 19th January 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This morning I woke up at half five to get ready for Church. I was supposed to be part-taking in the Concert today. Mr. Sharma and I would be doing a duet for the “Oh Holy Night” as the last part to conclude the play. I also had to dress up in a costume. It looked like a long grown in a light pink and it had a headpiece for it as well.

    I did not want to dress in any church clothes to go this morning. Instead of wearing a white shirt and long sleeve, I organized with dad and Nadara to bring my white shirt from Curepe as if I was dressing to go to school because to do all of this on a day before a hard exam and having that bad feeling of not wanting to study was a bad vibe. Together I was surprised that I was not nervous at all.

    It felt good and amazing to be dressed like that. It made me feel complete as I was dressed like a nun. I would have liked to say monk but the headpiece changed the entire look and having my cross chain around my neck made it look exactly so.

    Along with the performance I had work to do for the History Exam as well. I took my copybook to church with me yesterday during the practice and that was not helpful because it was just feeling like too much to do. I went home and researched Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and did a lot of writing. I also researched the composers for Byrd and Tallis Saturday night.

    When I got home from Church and from Curepe at one in the afternoon, I sat down in front of the television and had my tablet. I felt like my mind and brain had refused to take anymore studying. I just gave up and did not bother to go through anything else because it’s been a long semester and I just needed it to be over with.

Link(s):

1. "O Holy Night" Medley.
2. Church Programme.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Music Degree - FINAL Exams (Yr1, Sem1)

Date for Entry: (Monday 4th December 2017)

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

WRITING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES (MUSC 1103).

* Monday 4th December 2017 *

Today was my final day for my English Tutorial. I did not want to go and I did not bother to go because I was up all night, in the morning this morning, working on my charts for Music Theory. I cannot believe how tiring it is to do one sheet of Bristol board in one night which is back and front. Even to draw the line by inches and then half inches and have to put in a marker line was plenty but I did it still.

    Today was also the funeral service of Mrs. Neaves mother. Yesterday after my Intermediate class when Mrs. Ramlal was ready to leave she and I spoke for a while and then I asked her if she could save an extra program for me. She gave it to me in a nice brown envelope when I got into class and was in a hurry because today we had our final hearing exam for our Western History Exam. I was looking forward to it there were only two questions out of the six that gave me some difficulty because the music had me second-guessing myself.

    Today was my first exam for the final exam period of the Semester. I was just hoping to do my best in this exam today and move on. I tried my best to study the vocabulary for some of the different methods that I had planned to do in the extended definition that Miss King I said I should have used.

    Later that day after a rest at house number two in Curepe, I got down to the St. Augustin Physical Education Centre (SPEC) which was a huge stadium-like building. I remembered coming here in Form three for the Career day field trip I went on with Hillview. As I got into the yard, I saw the others from my class but as usual, they don’t really talk to me and then I might not have enough courage to talk so I stood at one side of the building like everyone else waiting to go in. I had a good number of pencils and pens. I also made sure to carry my sic inch ruler because I never know if it will come to good use and it did when I had to draw up my Sentence outline.

    I got passes the Identification card scanner and took a seat in the second column in the room on the right side which was the last one of the first half for that column. As I sat down, I pulled the table up to my chest and began to fill out the Candidate’s Receipt for doing the examination, and soon the papers were distributed after the announcements of the rules and a recording of the safety emergency rule in case of a hurricane. I always enjoy listening to these rules at the examination before it began. It made it feel like a more formal and official mood in the atmosphere.

    When the woman at the front with the microphone said, “Candidates you may begin we stop at 6:01 exactly” I turned around the paper and began looking for the question with the extended definition. There were only two things I read alone which were the two questions for extended definition and choosing one while paying close attention to the word limit that they had suggested at the top of the paper’s instructions. I knew I was not going to want to do the “Caribbean identity” one because I did not even know how to do it so I was forced to do the Caribbean Culture.

    As I sat there and saw all the people writing and my hand not moving I was not panicking but I was busy thinking of my three points to talk about. This was not easy at all. I spent at least the first twenty minutes trying really hard to get ideas and start to write. I did not like the feeling of that at all. It made me feel as if I could not think and get the work done.

    Soon the exam was over, I gave my papers to the collector who came to me and handed me the Receipt which I filled out earlier, I took my writing instruments and exit the building hoping that the exam had enough things to get me to pass. As I was collecting my bags from the racks at the back, I saw my Andrew friend from Hillview. Dad was waiting for me and then I went home to Tunapuna.

Link(s): 

1. Methods Vocabulary.
2. Writing for Academic Purposes - Candidate's Receipt & Question Paper.
3. Funeral Programme & Obituary for Urmilta Cox.

MUSIC THEORY 1 (MUSC 1103).

* Thursday 4th September 2017 *

Today was my Music Theory Exam and I was preparing my best for it. I also went through most of the charts that I did for the semester’s work covered. It was tough trying to study around after half two in the evening because the man who came to cut the grass was making too much noise and I couldn’t study properly so I had to forget it and just do the exam.

The exam was to be done in the JFK Auditorium and one the way near the engineering section there was a long line of traffic. As we made the bend heading up to the drive-in I decided to come out of the car walk to hand in my bags and head into the exam room before it gets even later.

Moving through the exam there were two questions and it took me a lot to go through. The first question had a bass line and then we had to realize it and include a secondary dominant, a suspension or retardation, a primary triad in the second inversion (passing 6/4), a deceptive cadence, and there was another one that I forgot what it was. It was tough to also determine the key which was five flats and I knew it was not the Major key but the minor and I did not know that relative key.

I really forgot what the second question was asking for but this time the soprano line was given and then we had to provide the rest of the three voices. The key in this one was also very difficult to determine but I made my guess and it worked with what was given. I just hope it was correct. I took the whole entire two hours to complete the examination and I also saw Mrs. Ramlal sitting up in the right-hand corner of the Auditorium. It was nice to see here there it gave me some confidence but that clock was running a quick relay between the two hours and when the man with the microphone said, “Candidates stop all writing now” I was glad I was taking my fifth checking for parallel intervals and errors. I rest the paper down and smiled on completing the work Taking the Receipt and exiting the room I felt a really good feeling about what I did and I took the paper to my blue folder.   

Now that my exam is over, I feel happy to father my exercise homework worksheets I did for the Semester and put them into the journal. I hope that their history and knowledge stay with me and that I pass this exam to move on to the next term.

Link(s): 

1. Music Theory 1 (Final Exam) - Candidate's Receipt.

HISTORY OF WESTERN MUSIC 1 (MUSC 1211).

* Monday 14th November 2017 *

Today was the final exam for Western Music History. It was really better than I thought because I was expecting a whole bunch of hard things. In total, I wrote twelve sheets of paper in the Answer booklet and then three other pages in the question paper. Another thing that made me feel special was that I got to ask for a supplementary paper to write.

There was an essay question to the back that made me write a lot and when they always say write a short essay, that is never short what they really ask for. To do that one, I had to pretend as if the word short wasn’t there. I was also happy that I had my sister poo to help me out during the exam too but she came in too late before it was time to stop. At least she helped me remember two things for the questions that I was supposed to write.

I still missed school. Coming into the yard today felt so nice and good but slightly strange because they had us down in that strict and scary UWI. I missed my class only until I was done I was hurt by another one of my friends. It was disturbing the news I heard but only time will tell what more will happen to that situation.

Link(s): 

1. Western Music History 1 - Candidate's Receipt.
2. Western Music History 1 - Plainchant Notation Document.

INDIVIDUAL STEELPAN JURY.

* Friday 15th November 2017 *

Today was my exam for my individual steelpan class and in it, I made two mistakes. I was still able to manage and I continued to play when it happened. The same process was as usual where I had to look at the video camera to say my name, my Identification number, and the name of the two pieces I was going to play.

    Another thing to note about today, one of my friends from class had posted a recording of the song she was going to play and I got a copy of the music from her when she was done using it for her assessment. It looks like fun but with that metronome marking, it looks like both fun and trouble in one.

Link(s): 

1. "Presto" Score.

AURAL TRAINING 1.

* Monday 18th December 2017 *

This morning I woke up in the freezing cold atmosphere in Curepe at half-past six the morning to get ready for my Aural Training Examination. To wake up was a problem as usual but I got up and did everything quickly as I usually would and headed on down to my wonderful school. As I walked down the corridor, I saw Mrs. Neaves there coming out of Studio 4 and we spoke for a little while. She also helped me get my bags in the Percussion Room for safekeeping.

    The exam went quite well and there were only two questions I could not do properly and I know I will be losing marks for them. It was a good finish with placing in ties. At the end of the exam, I went to continue my writing of the play for the novel. I got to show Justin it and then some of the others in the class who remained at the time. I see they were planning a trip to go to the beach but I would have all this work planned for the vacation I might not have time for it.

Link(s): 

1. Aural Training 1 (Final Exam) - Candidate Receipt.

Daryl Zion M. Ali