Date for Entry: (Tuesday 4th September 2018)
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Wednesday
9th March 2022)
[Entry as Report]
Dear
Diary,
This was my first day of steelpan arranging one. The assigned class was studio four. I had a thorough review of the Fundamentals of Steelpan Arranging (FOPA) textbook from the certificate program It helped me a lot because I was able to answer and discuss a lot of things in some of the questions Dr. Remy was asking us.
It did not seem like she had a textbook for the course and by the looks of things, I had a feeling that she would be using that same book. I'm glad I had it in my bag for the class that day.
When she went through the course outline with us, it made me feel so depressed because it said that we were only supposed to use Sibelius. When I asked to miss myself I we could still use Musescore, she apologised to us and said that it was the only way we had to do the course assignments. It meant at the time that I would have to spend a lot of time in the computer lab that moved into Studio two. But why not other software for?
We were allowed to complete assignments and move on to others of our own choice. To me, it felt like it was another experience doing several projects like in the 'Music Literature of the Steelpan' course. All of these assignments had to be submitted to Dr. Remy on a Dropbox file she had shared with everyone in the class. I am appreciative that Dr. Remy thought us how to
Link(s):
Assignment #1 - "Minuet in G" by Telemann.
* Thursday 20th September 2018 *
I was fortunate to find a thirty-day trial of Sibelius. I had it done within ten to twenty minutes and it was not difficult at all. It was something I was accustomed to doing for a long time and it made me remember when I used to rewrite music in manuscripts for fun. It did feel strange how we were asked to do the assignment for a Double Tenor and not a Tenor pan.
Dr. Remy did say that she wanted to see how we would manage to transform the score we gave us to the assignment given and how we would use creativity. In the class replays, she said showed the class my assignment when it was my turn and said, "talk about creativity" when the cover page turned up. It had a large image of the painting that I had done for it.
Before she could even play the assignment, she and the class began to ask me who the people were. I told them that the lady in purple was Dr. Remy and the boy in red was me. I also told them that the venue was made to look like some sort of steelpan court. I was very happy to see that I got a Grade A (to the left-hand side) when the first page was pulled up for playing.
Link(s):
- Telemann's "Minuet in G" - Score Printout.
- Telemann's "Minuet in G" - Assignment.
- Telemann's "Minuet in G" - Recording.
Assignment #2: "Nocturne Op. 9, No.2" by Chopin.
**
I recall from Mrs. Ramlal's history course that a lot of thinking would be required because a piece like this should not be underestimated or just 'wiped up' quick like the first assignment. There is a certain type of beautifying to the piece that has to be given to selling the assignment. I never remember to ask Mr. Sharma for his advice on the piece though but it still worked out during those few days in the computer lab.
Dr. Remy played all of the submissions from her laptop in class again on the day of the deadline. I was very happy to see that I had gotten a Grade A again. There was some minor scared in it because of difficulty locating acciaccatura in the Sibelius six but I was glad to find it in the little exploration I took.
Unfortunately, the Sibelius six that the school had did not allow me to do the ending portions of the assignment properly. I do not know if the crack copy of Sibelius 7 that all the other students were using on their laptops had the ability to do it. A separate part o it was related to the comment that Dr. Remy left for me on the first page.
There was a girl in class that had the entire piece done properly and I wonder how she did it or if someone had done the work for her. Sometimes people cheat and I know they could alter the work of another. On a positive note, I am very grateful that Dr. Remy had taught us during one of the classes before the deadline how to copyright notation in the footer of the score.
Link(s):
- Chopin's "Nocturne Op.9 No.2" - Score Printout.
- Chopin's "Nocturne Op.9 No.2" - Assignment.
- Chopin's "Nocturne Op.9 No.2" - Recording.
Assignment 3: "Sonata IV from 6 Sonata (Opus 2)" by Johann Christian Bach
* Monday 1st October 2018 *
The printed score for this assignment was a clarinet trio by Mike Magatagan. I wasn't sure who the person is but the name is quite familiar, especially for Musescore notation where he might post some of his work. Since this was Musescore as I recognized, I got a copy from the webpage and worked from that. I do not recall having many amendments being required.
Link(s):
- "Sonata IV from 6 Sonatas" - Score Printout.
- "Sonata IV from 6 Sonatas" - Assignment.*
- "Sonata IV from 6 Sonatas" - Recording.*
Assignment 4: "Fugue in G minor" BWV 578 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
* Tuesday 16th October 2018 *
The date below the assignment title I believe is the deadline and submission date. I remember I was the first to meet Dr. Remy for assistance with the transpositions. This was in the Percussion Room. I got my score printed to go rush up and get going on the computers upstairs before Roger had to kick me out for a class to start in there.
When it was time for the submission, we all had a good laugh in class when my first submission was messed up a lot. I eventually gave up on it and had to settle for a type of Grade B. It was an interesting experience even though the piece was not done well to my standard.
Link(s):
- Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fugue in G minor" - Printout.
- Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fugue in G minor" - Assignment.
- Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fugue in G minor" - Recording.**
Assignment 5: "Valse No. 2" from Jazz Suite No.2, by D. Shostakovich.
* Thursday 1st November 2018 *
The score printout for this assignment was larger by the system. A lot of work to determine and thinking was required to see which steelpan instruments take too what, and also to look out for duplication in the score given. The duplication was a lot for this one and it did take me some time to complete the assignment. Dr. Remy gave us a
********** add more/study assignment
Link(s):
- Shostakovich's "Valse No. 2" - Printout.
- Shostakovich's "Valse No. 2" - Listening Map.**
- Shostakovich's "Valse No. 2" - Assignment.
Mid-Term Assessment.
* 13th November 2018 *
This assessment was four pages long and took the entire class time to complete. We had a heavy deal of transpositions to work out and some steelpan arranging to write out by hand. We also had a comprehension section on pages three to four. As fun as it was to see a question like that it was not easy at all.
When the scripts were returned we were all shocked to see the ed marker writings on them and also to find out that everyone failed. It was a sad thing for me.
Link(s):
Assignment 6 (CANCELLED): "Karelia Overture" by Jean Sibelius.
* Tuesday 20th November 2018 *
This given assignment was canceled during the time leading up to the deadline. I had personally wished there was a whole week before the deadline. If it was so, I would have been able to complete the entire assignment and had it over to Dr. Remy. In class near the deadline, she was forced to cancel this assignment six and have us recycle assignment five. No one was able to submit on the set date.
Instead, we were asked to add in the percussion in assignment five. I am unable to recall what other requests and requirements were asked of us to do. I decided to call this new assignment as Assignment Seven.
One thing I am very disappointed in, or what I had felt cheated on really bad had occurred. I heard Natasha and Quiana speaking really loud over a semester and some weeks about them and some others doing separate sections of that thirty-three-page score that Dr. Remy had given us to do as the assignment.
As usual, I was not considered in any of that and while I had no Sibelius at all at home, I was doing all the work myself in that cold Computer Lab. I had to wrestle with Roger sometimes to get to do the work and face the visual arts students that had to do class. I feel like one day I will get the printout and do a proper Musescore version.
Link(s):
- "Karelia Overture" Printout.
- "Karelia Overture" Attempt.**
In the final class, we were given a PowerPoint lecture by Dr. Remy. I took a handwritten note of some of the things that were important to me. Towards the end of the class, there was a document that Dr. Remy spoke shortly about. She only had one copy and she said that if someone wants it to come for it at the end of class. There were three of us at the end of class and she said that she should maybe throw it up in the air and see who got the pages.
Surprisingly, she did that I and two other students were fighting for the pages. The other person gave up and three what she had back on the floor and left. Brandon helped me take up the sheets and he gave them to me. I knew that I was now able to scan the pages and send them to everyone. Moreover, I was now able to take the scan and add it to Dr. Remy's steelpan arranging book that I was able to redo.
Link(s):
- Final Handwritten Class notes.**
- Instrument Ranges, Transpositions, and Foreign Names.**
Daryl Zion M. Ali
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