Indian Music (Classical) - (MUSC 2202)

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 24th January 2019)

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

Dear Diary,

    Mr. Maharaj was the lecturer for this course. I am grateful for making the decision to join the Indian Classical Ensemble. It made a lot of the materials encountered throughout the course a lot easier. Below is an account of the course and some of the things that occurred.

Link(s):

• Course Outline.

MID-TERM EXAMINATION.

* Thursday 18 April 2019 *

On this day, the Thursday evening class received our exam papers from the previous week. It was a twenty percent written theory exam on what we had been exposed to so far. Everyone in the class remained silent as Mr. Maharaj called each student to collect their graded paper from the desk. You could see that they were all worried about failing and even I too was panicked. I knew I had studied so hard for it and even while using the toilet, I would pick myself up on a short revision of vocabulary, theory, or the ten scales that we were given.

    I saw Samantha, Natasha and Andrew went up and they gave off laughter when they looked at their grade. I didn’t ask anyone what their mark was and all through the entire class, I did not know what my score was. When Mr. Maharaj called me up to collect my exam paper, I folded it in half and stuck it into my notebook. When sir had finished he looked at his mark sheet and said, “No one got total. There was only one person who got nineteen and that person did really well.” Those were his exact words and then we were sent to recess after some commenting on the paper.

    Only when Renelle at the end of class came and asked me what I got. I still did not know until I thought I should have looked. When I opened the paper, I got the biggest shock. It was me who got the nineteen out of twenty. Up to now, I remember sitting outside in the corridor hoping that I did not fail the test. At that point in the corridor, I was hearing Natasha shouting to the others in the grass and asking who got what in the test.

Link(s):

• Mid-Term Examination (Graded Script).

DIASPORA "SCORE CHARTS".

* Thursday 4th April 2019 *

At some point in the semester, I was angered at several things that were troubling me. Three of them were part of the course itself. I had allowed it to eat me up on the inside to move to the end 'smoothly'. 

    There was a very late class of the semester that a promise was made but not fulfilled for the provision of music notation. I was concerned immediately because I did not believe in the promise. I was right with my feeling because the said date above for the "Music of the Diaspora" (exam) came and on the rehearsal before the show all the way back from the promise, it was not fulfilled. 

    On the weekend of the promise, I went home and made 'score guides' for the two pieces for the class performance. I was hoping that maybe the person would have had a good method of going about the music done by the 'upper hierarchy' and then passed it down for the rest of us to learn. Maybe they might have taught me a different method of notation. Even looking at the work written on the class whiteboard, I knew staff notation would not be useful.

    The edited video recording was created Friday 5th August 2022 and became a DAPHA Project. 

Link(s):

• Indian Music (Classical) - Score Guides.
• Music of the Diaspora ‘Concert’ (2019) - Programme.
• Musics of the Diaspora 'Concert' - Journal Entry.
• Concert Photographs. [Details below in the Facebook post.]
• Class Performance - Recording.

END OF COURSE & SEMESTER.

* Wednesday 15th May 2019 *

Days after the "Music of the Diaspora" (exam) concert, the class participants got individual emails from Mr. Maharaj with the results of our coursework. It was tallied out of fifty points. I was amazed and thankful for the amazing forty-nine. At that point, it was only one point needed exactly to pass the course. I look forward to the final exam but harder work was required since I preferred to review the work from scratch.

COURSE TEXTBOOK.

* X *

This course like many others did not have a textbook. I decided to put everything I had from the course and other personal research into this document. I was happy to include portions of the Indian Classical Handbook I made into it. It will be a DAPHA Project I will cherish for a long time since it assists me in my personal Indian Classical compositions.

Link(s):

• 'Scratch Created' Textbook - [DAPHA Projects].**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Steelpan History & Development - (MUSC 2008)

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 23rd January 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 14th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    I was one hour and a half late for my ‘Steelpan History’ class (Steelpan History and Development) with Dr. Remy. I had chosen to take the first plenary of Science, Medicine, and Technology in Society. I was right about not doing this course for the semester because I did not like reaching out to class in the middle of it. It gave me time for the assignments in Steelpan Arranging 2.

    This steelpan course was lighter than I had expected. However, the Dropbox that Dr. Remy had for this class was a bit too much, and a lot of things I knew I could not read within a semester. It was only late into the semester that I got Dr. Remy to download the contents of the Dropbox file onto my flash drive.

    This course came with a final project and a final written examination. Both of these assignments came with a total of fifty points. There was a guest lecture with Mr. Ray Funk.

Link(s):

1. Course Outline.

 

GUEST VISIT FROM MR. LOQUAN.

* Unknown/Forgotten *

    This Wednesday, we had a guest visit from Mr. Mark Loquan. This was the first time I got to see who the person was in real. There was a wonderful series of performances he did from some of his personal music compositions. 

    While he played his guitar and sang the compositions, I immediately recognized some of the unique chords I heard in them. The Soca song "Vibes" sung by Destra Garcia had a very distinct connection and it was during the rest of the conversation that he confirmed it. A group picture was taken towards the end of the class. I was glad to have the copy for the journal.

‘GUESS WHO' CLASS EXERCISE.

* Wednesday 9th April 2019 *

    Dr. Remy showed me during a visit to her office for Steelpan Arranging 2 sometime during the semester that she had printed names of steelpan persons on strips. She said she would roll them up into small pieces and have the students pull one out and do a presentation on them. Since I was there, she allowed me to do that for her and when it was class that evening, I gave them to her. We place them into a small trick-or-treat pumpkin basket and I went around the class letting everyone take a small piece of paper. The steelpan person I got was Mr. Ray Holman.

    Dr. Remy was absent from class for two or three weeks. We had two classes where Mrs. Ramlal came to help conduct the Guess Who game with us. She had it recorded for Dr. Remy. My turn was the next class when Miss came back. I was glad it took a while for the class to guess who the person I got from the pumpkin was.

Link(s):

1. Guess Who Research.** [DOCUMENT MISPLACED.]

PLENTY GIFTS.

* Wednesday 16th April 2019 *

    This was the final class session for the course. I remembered well that Dr. Remy walked into class pulling in a trolley bookbag behind her. A lot of us thought that she was leaving the country right after class. She said that her son left for university away and she had brought some things for us. 

    There was a question and answer section as a review for the finals. She chose which student was to answer and if the student answered correctly, they would have been given one of Shay's stationary books. Everyone around was answering questions and Dr. Remy at the later part watched me and said, "Daryl! Why aren't you answering any questions?"

    I was able to get two things from her: a graph book and an opened pack of folder pages. It came to the ending of everything in her trolley bag and there was one very small and tiny book. I saw right away it was published steelpan book. She said she would let Natasha ask a real hard one for that book. 

    It took a very long time for everyone to get the answer. I got it right and the answer was "Bertran 'Bertie' Marshall". Once Natasha shouted YES, Dr. Remy took up the book and came and gave it to me. I remembered the UWI Andrew (#5) was mocking me about not getting any of the stationary books since they all knew I liked to write. But, when I got the "Stories in Steel 2" book, it was the true golden treasure of them all. I wished I had remembered to ask Dr. Remy to write on the cover for me.

 

FINAL INTERVIEW PROJECT.

* Tuesday 23rd April 2019 *

    The class was asked to select a person within the steelpan field and do an interview and research on them. It had to be confirmed by email and I was given approval by Dr. Remy to interview Mr. Saunders. 

    This project was done at the last minute towards the end of the semester. It was one that I did not want to do because the zeal was not there. I had to fight that feeling to try and get started when everyone else had been working on their projects since the second week of the semester. Several others voiced their complaints about having to transcribe the entire interview but I'm glad it only took me four hours straight to sit down and get it done. 

    The essay was done last before the submission. It was done the night before. I had the interview recordings burned and I was ready to submit everything. The class was asked not to bind it. The library would take all the projects and have them bound into one document. The due date was on Tuesday 14th May 2019 before our Indian Classical Music final examination.

Link(s):

1. Research & Interview - Mr. Nervin Saunders.
2. Photographs of Submitted Assignment.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Indian Classical Ensemble (Yr2; Sem2)

Date for Entry: (Monday 4th February 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 14th March 2022)

RAAG BHIMPALASI.

** Monday 4th February 2019 **

    This was the first class of being experienced in the piece called Raag Bhimplasi. The chorus and the verse were given and it seemed to be quite catchy and attractive. We were given all of the music to learn because I had all of the music written out by the second version. The piece was used at the Music of the Diaspora concert.

Link(s):

1. Handwritten Notes. ** [For Request by Email.]
2. Version 1-3. ** [For Request by Email.]
3. Version 4 - Final.

Daryl Zion M. Ali 

Steelpan Arranging 2 - (MUSC 2004)

 Date for Entry: (Monday 21st January 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 14th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This course began on the first Monday of the new semester. I was truly excited to do this course because it was something that I was into and because it had music writing involved. I was able to save some of the handwritten notes from classes. I apologize if they are not legible.

    I have heard a lot of troubling conversations from persons in school about the final examination and how impossible it is. I did not bother to let it worry me. I decided to take it and face it when that time came. Hopefully, I will be able to figure it out and work it through.

    I look forward to another semester of music notation with Dr. Remy. The sad part was that I was forced to use Sibelius again as in Steelpan Arranging 1. Not many people choose to do this course because it is not compulsory and there are not always that many students who want to arrange for steelpan. This course gave us homework to do along with assignments. All of them would add scores that went to our final grade. All homework and coursework assignments were to be submitted on the same Dropbox file that Dr. Remy had shared with us by email.

Link(s):

Steelpan Arranging 2 – Course Outline.**

Steelpan Arranging 2 - Class Notes.

 

Homework.

    The beginning started with a lot of revision work in chords. There were some worksheets that Dr. Remy had created for us to do and submit in the Dropbox file.

    In worksheet 1, we were given a chord and asked to circle the notes involved and amend them with the correct accidentals if needed. Worksheet 2 asked us to add in the accidentals necessary to make the cord. Worksheet 4 was a combination of worksheets 1 and 2. Worksheet 3 asked us to write out the chord tones. All four were given in the first class as homework.

    In the second class, we were given two more worksheets as homework. The first was a Melody in F and we were asked to write out the chord on a treble staff. The last one was to reharmonize the song happy birthday. We were given the freedom to use whichever chords we wanted.

Link(s):

1. Homework Worksheets.

Bomb Tune (Assignment): "Shape of You".

* Monday 25th March 2019 *

    This piece was my Bomb Tune selection as an assignment for marks. I decided to look on YouTube for hit songs. I was hearing this song in my mind but did not know the name of it. When I heard the boy singing the tune, I knew immediately it was the piece I wanted to present to the class.

Link(s):

1. “Shape of You” Assignment.**
2. “Shape of You” Assignment's Recording.**

 

WESTERN MUSIC BOMB TUNES (ASSIGNMENT #): FUR ELISE.

* Friday 5th April 2019 *

    We were given another Bomb Tune piece to do but using a Western-style piece this time. I did not have a single piece in mind to do so I went to Dr. Remy during office hours and asked her to pick a piece or me to do. She wanted me to pick one at first but then she ended up finding one for me. It was “Fur Elise” and by the time I saw the three-eight, I saw the challenge and wondered how I was going to find an introduction.

    I took the rest of the week coming up with the music. I was able to work out the whole piece on Musescore for the first attempt and then have it converted to a Sibelius. The class’ reaction was screams of amazement and joy. The only problematic thing was the introduction and that Dr. Remy had wanted me to have the music in cut-time, which I also did not like.

    By the next week for office hours, I had done over the entire piece from three-four to three-two and Dr. Remy helped me work out the introduction. She said that the arrangement of the chords “is not giving that type of particular progression that we want to hear.” Personally, I did not know what progression that was. It did sound better by the time we were forced to finish early. She had another class and could not get to see the jam that I was supposed to attempt.

    The next class came and Dr. Remy played by assignment again like all the others. I was very proud of the piece. The class seemed to like it and she did say, “I liked how you got the piece to sound in three when written as two. That was genius.” It did really sound like three but written it two-two. No other errors or comments occurred so I submitted the piece to the Dropbox file for marking.

    I think that one of the fun things in this assignment and the first was being introduced to the word calypsitisation and knowing how to do it.

Link(s):

1. “Fur Elise” Printout.
2. “Fur Elise” Assignment.**
3. “Fur Elise” Assignment (Recording).**

SONG AUDITIONS.

**

There was a weekend during this semester I decided to run an 'audition' to select two Soca songs from 2019. As every year, there would be several songs to choose from. My main goal was to make sure that the pieces came from the Caribbean people living in the Caribbean only.

    The procedure was like a panorama judging experience. There was a preliminary round (more than 130 songs), Semifinals (124 songs), Finals (45 songs), Grand Finals (16 songs), and the Overall Results were my top 10 selections to choose from. 

    The preliminary, semifinal and final rounds were each conducted on individual Saturdays one after the next for proper repeated listening sessions. Based on the top ten, I had a top-four comprising of (1) "Right for Somebody", (2) "Alive and Well", (3) "Warm-up", and (4) "Trouble in the Morning". 

    I found that the "Trouble in the Morning" would have been a good piece to do for fun in my private time and not for a DCFA coursework submission. The first three, all had the same chord progression which I knew would have made the job easier to complete. The "Alive and Well" by 'Voice' was eliminated by comparing the other two.

    Understanding how sometimes the experience of UWI operated, I left the "Warm-Up" for the final panorama assignment because I found it to be easier to handle at the end of the semester. I knew I would have ad more time to work with the "Right for Somebody". Journal entries on working with these two pieces are provided below.

Link(s):

1. Song Audition (2019) - Preliminaries.
2. Song Audition (2019) - Semifinals.
3. Song Audition (2019) - Finals.
4. Song Audition (2019) - Grand Final.
5. Song Audition (2019) - Overall Selections.

PANORAMA TUNE (ASSIGNMENT #): “RIGHT FOR SOMEBODY”.

* Monday 6th May 2021 *

    This was super fun and really easy piece of music to transcribe for the verse and chorus. It came up to twenty-one pages in length and it was one of the top three that made the final top ten of my adjudication for selections. A top three was selected and I chose to go with “Right for Somebody” being the first of the three.

    The introduction came in directly from the YouTube recording. I was wondering how one finds a signature sound so I could put it in the piece. Section D carried the melody in the background. I did not know how to treat a situation like that. The question from me was, if the melody is in the back, then what happens to the tenors, double tenors, and double seconds? I decided to have them o the strumming instead.

    Usually, like an intermediate where I have heard this happen, the tenors would be given a counter melody and it can sometimes clash or other members aren’t aware of what’s happening in other sections. Everything becomes clustered too much and this is why I did not like that.

    Section F was a bit too much on the duplications but coming up to the end of the second repeat that lead into the modulation, I found that the tension created was excelled. The new key helped ease it afterward. I’m not sure if there are musicians who would have preferred me to do something else with that tension before doing the key change. Anyone?

    In terms of the modulation, it meant that I would have had to use another key for the piece. My next question and thinking would focus on which key would be best to use. I thought that since the minor key in the “Fur Elise” moving downward to D minor was a good gamble, then moving upward would be best since this “Right for Somebody” is major in tonality. Hence, I moved from D major to E major (from two to three sharps).

    From the thereafter to the end of section J, it was a repeat of the verse and chorus in the new key. Section J was the ending and it felt too abrupt to me. I did not even know how to end the piece. I thought that a rhythm played by the whole band would have been better.

Link(s):

1. “Right for Somebody” – Assignment (Sibelius).**
2. “Right for Somebody” – Assignment (Musescore).**
3. “Right for Somebody” – Assignment (Recording).**

 

PANORAMA TUNE (ASSIGNMENT #): “WARM UP”.

* Saturday 11th May 2021 *

    This was the last of the steelpan arranging 2 assignments. It was another panorama-styled assignment that we were asked to do. The second tune of choice was done by Mr. Akeem “Preddy” Chance. I went exactly by the YouTube recording. The nice thing about this piece and the “Right for Somebody” previous assignment was that while they both maintained all of the criteria, I looked for they had the same chord progression. So, copy and pasting was an easy helper in the making of this creation. I was also able to finish easier to seek assistance from Dr. Remy.

    I measure ninety-seven to the empty measure, I found a great need for that melodic or arpeggiated piece that was used from the “Right for Somebody” piece. Section G followed the same upward whole tone step for the modulation and it worked again.

    In my office hour meeting with Dr. Remy, she deleted the tenor line in Section G and she filled in the empty measure to what is written in the score. She tried to show me how easy it was to create that counter-melody for the tenor pan when the song’s melody was sent to the background pans. She said, “It’s all about taking bits and pieces of the music and coming up with something simple or as complex as you want.” When we got to measures 114-115, she said also told me that it is always nice to have a bit of chromatics here and there. I appreciated that extra very much.

    I found a lot of need for that repeat of the ‘verse variation’ that I had. Still not sure if it is safe to call it a verse variation. Whatever it was in that tenor and double tenor or the variation was amazing to me, Lolz. This ending that I did was more rhythmic than the “Right for Somebody” assignment. The Musescore version has been updated and changed over the years after completing the course.

Link(s):

1. “Warm Up” – Assignment (Sibelius).**
2. “Warm Up” – Assignment (Musescore).**
3. “Warm Up” – Assignment (Recording).**

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Music Degree (Yr2; Sem2)

 Date for Entry: (Monday 21st January 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 14th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This is the first day of semester 2 for my second year in the degree program. The class I was taking this semester were (1) Steelpan Arranging 2, (2) Performance Music 4, (3) Indian Classical Music, and (2) Steelpan History and Development.

    In the Performance Music, it was divided into Indian Classical Ensemble, Individual pan with Mr. Sharma, and Individual Piano with Mr. Sharma by my selections.

    I was very concerned and worried about what would happen to my courses for the semester. Doing degree, I am required to do five classes for the semester but I decided to take four. The fifth was supposed to be Science, Medicine, and Technology in Society.

    I did not really want to take that course at all and it was a ‘foundation’ course too. I did attend the first class but unfortunately, the class was filled. The lecturer said that they were permitted to take up to eight hundred students that semester but by the end of the course all the spaces were taken and I could not get to do it. I got all the way down into UWI then to be turned down when they told me at the sciences office that the course was filled. I walked all the way down to the geography place to sit and take in some air before calling daddy to let him know what had happened.

    As I sat down in the lightly warm sunlight, I found that it was best for me to not do the course this semester. Apart from not wanting to do it, I knew I was going to be doing a history class this term and I knew that needed the time. In addition to the steelpan arranging class, that would be a lot of time trying to fight to get the work done in the computer lab again; to get the Sibelius assignments for Dr. Remy converted from Musescore to Sibelius ad meeting her deadlines. 

    I told daddy it would be better and then I went to the Administration to submit my papers for clearance. I was glad I had the papers to submit and get that out of the way too. A lot of people were there. I ended up finishing the waiting after two and had to rush to school for my first class with Dr. Remy. Did not have lunch yet. I would have to wait until nine in the night to get food.

    Even if I did get through to it, I would have another problem because the plenary on Monday clashed with Dr. Remy’s Steelpan Arranging 2, and the first Wednesday class, it would have gotten me one hour and a half late into Dr. Remy’s Steelpan History and development course in the evening. I did not want to have to leave one class to go to another teacher’s class. I wanted to go to one and give my undivided attention there.

    I had no idea what the Indian Classical Music one was going to be like but it would be nice to be in one of Mr. Maharaj’s classes. Overall, I was glad I had made the decision to continue with four courses for the semester. The time away from the fifth gave me the time to take care of all the homework and coursework assignments.

    I did have a wish to do the Music Therapy course but the teacher had given me some problems in the past and I chose to go to Mr. Maharaj’s Monday night class instead. Looking into the window to studio four, I was glad I did not go to her class. Even hearing of all the hard work that the student had to do, I knew I made the right decision.

 

Link(s):

1. Fee Sheet (Degree Yr2 Sem2).**
2. DCFA Timetable (Degree Yr2 Sem2).** [Permission was not granted.]

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

"Broken for Me"

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 13th January 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 12th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    I was given a copy of a communion hymn called “Broken for Me” by Mr. Sharma from the Book of Praise. It felt like it was my news assignment that he was giving me to do for the Sunday School steelband. The first new one for the new year.

    I was expected to try it out because it was a hymn that came from the book of praise and I was not sure what songs from there were like. I was also excepted because the score came with chord symbols which aren’t given in the other hymnary that we use in church.

    The working time or this piece of music did not take that much time. Only two Saturdays were used. I could remember sitting at home in Tunapuna in the gallery and working it out on these two occasions while the sun was setting. I enjoyed working this out. It was good. The neighbor Darius’ wake was taking place during this time as well.

Link(s):

1. Hymn Score from the Book of Praise.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Service of Grateful Praise and Thanksgiving

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 6th January 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 14th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    The Sunday school was asked to play for the service this evening. The band had practice in the morning for it that morning. There was a nice Indian Presbyterian bhajan that the church sang. It was not one I had heard before, called “Yesu Ni Kaha”. The first one I heard was “Yesu Masi” when I had played for David Sookha’s funeral service.

    I was thankful that I had carried my cell phone with me to record the bhajan again and then attempt it for steelpan. When I heard the second playing, where they had the church sing it again, I was able to mentally find a simple strumming pattern for it.

    It was an easy exercise. It felt like I was doing the same transcription work for the Indian Classical Ensemble from UWI to write out the melody from the recording and then transform it into an arrangement for a steelband. This was then taken to teach the Sunday school sometime afterward.

    In this service too, I got to experience Agape Feast in church for the first time. I can recall going to the Presbyterian Youth Rally in Hillview where they did that. Everyone would share a pinch of their bun with another. We were also given a small box of juice and people would cross their arms together and sip from their box of juice. I think because it was something we did not do in church that the people were very weirded out by the experience of it.

Link(s):

1. Service of Grateful Praise and Thanksgiving Program.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali