King David Music Camp (2022) - David's Scribes Group

 Date for Entry: (Saturday 2nd July 2022)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 2nd July 2022)

Dear Diary,

    I was invited by Mr. Sharma to go and assist in teaching music in a summer camp to be held at the Tacarigua Presbyterian church.

FIRST STAFF MEETING.

** Saturday 2nd July 2022 **

    There was a short staff meeting for an hour starting from 7PM. I Saw Mr. Sharma and Aria in the Zoom meeting. I had a nice surprise when I saw Kelise and Sparkle from the Music Degree at DCFA. A lot of conversation and pointers were dealt in for the Youth Group and Sunday School classes. I did not know what the Music notation class was expected to do but I suppose it wouldn't be so difficult. 

Link(s):

1. Proposal.** [Permission was not granted.]
2. Meeting PowerPoint.** [Permission was not granted.]

 

CLASS #1.

** Monday 18th July 2022 **

    On Monday I had a preparation meeting with Mr. Sharma at eleven before the first class. The first class was about sixteen students. We had use of breakout rooms on the Zoom platform. This was my first time experiencing that. The children were working on their Musescore notations while following Mr. Sharma. When there was a problem he would send me to a breakout room with the student to resolve the issue.

    The first song we started with the children was "Are You Sleeping" for the piano. We all listened to a video where we were taught the melody by singing each pitch with 'bum' as the syllable. The second part of the video focuses on the accompaniment by tonic and dominant (for D Major). The bass would have been two protects and a minim within a four-four measure.

    We used the piano keyboard from Musescore to write in the pitches and the names of the note symbols were done using American terms (quarter note, etc). Mr. Sharma and I also had to teach the children how to select a measure and copy and paste them. We also showed them shortcuts and prescribed other methods to write out the score.

    In the meeting after the first class, I learned that the children were all new to music and music theory. I was very surprised but glad that they were making good progress for beginners. The students were given the first four measures we did in the hour class to transcribe as homework.

CLASS #2.

** Tuesday 19th July 2022 **

     The second class came and some of the students were able to get to where we left off. Some others were able to complete the full eight-bar melody. The entire melody was done over. We did not have much need for breakout rooms that day. The quaver (or eighth-note symbol) was introduced in the second portion. 

    The time went by quickly. And the lesson was over. There were still some students to complete the melody. The homework was to figure out the accompaniment for the bass staff.

CLASS #3.

** Thursday 21st July 2022 **

     The class was cancelled yesterday. There was no electricity by sir. I had a lot of work done with aunty Mala in the kitchen that day. 

    For this class, we did a review of everything with the students. Some questions were asked about the bass accompaniment before scoring it out. They were taught to use the letter 'r' for repeating.

CLASS #4.

** Friday 22nd July 2022 **

     We completed the "Are You Sleeping" transcription for piano. The class was shown a new song called "Father, I Adore You". It was taken from the Book of Praise (#292, page 375). This melody was only six measures in length using four-four as the meter. 

    I heard that some of the children learned the melody in the previous class during the morning. The class was spent writing out the six measures and they left for the children to do the same for homework.

CLASS #5.

** Saturday 23rd July 2022 **

     This class was a makeup and review class. Only two students attended the session. It was held at the same time. In the second half of the class, Mr. Sharma went through the work to be done for Monday's class with the two boys who couldn't make it. 

    They had to take the piano score of "Father, I Adore You" and add voices for Soprano, Alto, and Tenor. I saw that the project was going to be round. It sounded interesting in the playback at the end of the class session but seemed very complex. 

    This exercise would have been homework to submit for Tuesday 26th July after the last class. In the evening, I took out my Book of Praise and found the hymn. I was surprised that the six measures were all there was to the song. It took me about forty-five minutes for the most to complete the three-paged steelpan arrangement. I sent this over to Mr. Sharma as my 'homework' for the class by email.

CHURCH PRESENTATION.

** Sunday 31st July 2022 **

     I was invited by Mr. Sharma to Tacarigua Presbyterian Church for the church presentations and performances by all the children in the classes. That morning I got ready within less than half an hour and got up the road. Daddy drove me in the car to get here. It was also my first time attending a service at the same church. 

After giving my name to the attendance book, I entered the church. Everyone was already seated and music was playing from the speakers before the service. They had a three-column seating arrangement in the sanctuary so there was not an exact middle aisle to walk down as in Aramalaya. 

    As I walked down the aisle and admired the inside of the church, the song they had playing was so amazing. It felt as if it had spoken exactly to me in each sentence the guy in the YouTube video sung. It was only towards the end of the service I was able to figure out the name ("God Only Knows") of it. This would be a good song for us to do in church someday.

    The service sermon was done by Reverand Anthony Rampersad and he spoke on the ten commandments. This was the best explanation I had heard on it. The performance was done by both Sunday School children and the Youth Group. They sang "When the Spirit of the Lord," and there was a dance they did with the Armor of God. 

    I realized that today was Youth Sunday and if I had been to my church, I would see Joshua and them doing the service there. I was given a lovely bookmark with the ten commandments on it while waiting inside the church for the rain. Apparently, the rain came in after the painful experience I had during the service.

Link(s):

1. "God Only Knows" - Recording.

Daryl Zion M. Ali