The literature of this "portfolio" is a combination of music journal entries and DAPHA Projects journals done by Daryl Ali.
It is a digital account of his life experiences, works of many and accomplishments.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Sunday 9 October 2022)
x
Dear
Diary,
When
I got to school today, I signed the OJT log book and then headed down to the
Music Room. I did not want to take in any negative argument if someone would
have wanted to start one on me about my desk and chair in the staffroom. That
day I remained in the staffroom and had my head explode with all the noise each
day. Miss Roberts had a graduation ceremony to attend at her former school.
I
did not have 1L because of the religious education session.
However, I did take in Miss Roberts’ Form Two Mitchell and they were taught the
C Major and A minor lessons as the other two classes. I felt happy that “lesson
improvisation” was a success. The same homework was done.
Today
was also the last working day of the month. I had to get my OJT timesheet
signed and submitted. I had planned to leave at one in the evening after
getting permission from Miss Patel to do so. When I entered the office, I met
Dr Sookdeo and she took my timesheet form to sign.
When
she asked me about the information required, I told her where her name and
signature had to go. The form was stamped immediately but she kept the form to
photocopy. She said that she would wait for all of the others to submit their
form for her to sign and then return the copies to us. The question came of who
would be able to drive up to the Anva Plaza to submit the forms.
When
I got to the office for a second time, I found out that someone had already
gone out of school to submit the forms. I got a copy of the timesheet and sent
it to my folder when getting back to the Music Room. It was unattended when I
left to go to the office out at the front.
Unfortunately,
that evening I had Form One Farrell and I was not ready for them after all the
noise. I wanted to fall. I decided to review some of the previous work and
correct the homework. The entire class was making noise and the Form Six John
boy came out with a crazy and got the class to wilder by cussing when a Form
One student challenged him.
We
had three minutes before bell went for eight periods. At that point, I told
everyone to pack up their bags and go back to class. They remained serious and
quiet for once. I had them sent out of the room and returned to Miss Robert’s
chair and sat there for the entire remaining period sitting in the room alone.
I truly needed that time to recompose myself.
I
sat back down in the staffroom and rested my head on the table. It took me
another thirty minutes to finally rest to get up and walk out to the bus route.
Before I could make the bend to walk up to the bus route, I was called out by a
student across the street with their parent. This was the first time in the
position a teacher had a conversation with a parent.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Saturday 8 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
I
had to clean up the music room again today. The students left the room untidy
last evening. I had it straightened. My day in the music room began all early
time on the piano with the St. George’s College song. I heard a lovely song
they played on the PA system as the students gathered for their assembly. Could
not believe I had spent all that time on the piano playing and I did not even
know how to play that much.
After
assembly, I looked at Miss Roberts’ timetable and saw that she had Form Twos and
Form Threes both for double periods after my double with the Form Ones. I was
determined to take them and teach them if they came by the music room.
During
the assembly, I texted Miss Roberts and she called me instead. She said that
they all had homework to do and that she wanted me to review ledger lines with
the Form Twos and to start the C Major and A minor scales with the Form Threes.
I told her that I would do all the lessons for the day.
My
big mistake after sitting to enter what I had done in Miss Roberts’ teaching
log I saw that I had taught the Form Twos the Form Three lesson. I saw the
pencil marking in my small copybook and was shocked. I just took that as
experience for when the Form Threes came. Both classes had to sign the class
attendance form so that Miss Roberts could register when she comes. I got a big
headache looking into that folder with all the registration forms.
In
both of the classes, they were given a note and lesson on the music alphabet
and solfège. I then called out the letters of the alphabet for two octaves and then
recited them backwards to show the continuation of the letters. For the
solfege, I had them sing the major scale before giving the note on it and
asking what was the name. The same was done for the relative minor after what
was the 6th syllable in the pattern of solfege. They were given
homework to write out the major and relative minor scale ascending and
descending and insert the solfège below.
The
recess and lunchtimes were crazy as yesterday. Too much drumming, piano and
steelpan noise all over. The liming people never stop but I had to stay for the
room to be opened for the students coming to either practice or fool around. My
head could have felt to explode. I had lunch there while the students did
whatever.
Once
lunch was over and the final bell for students to line to go to class was
sounded, I took off all the air-conditioning units and lights to pack up and
run to the staffroom. I did not have a class that day. I had three double
periods for that day. I wanted to sit in the ‘quiet’ staffroom and recompose my
mind and energy to work on a lesson before I went home.
Unfortunately,
at some point of cooling off on my chair, a teacher called me and another quit
down to the end of the room and said, “Mr Ali! It have something I want tuh
show yuh. Now I might not be that big but watch this, eh.” She walked slowly
around my chair and back round to where she stood. Only five of us were in the
staffroom as school was going on.
When
the other teacher asked what was going on, Miss said that it had another person
making trouble with the desk and chair in the staffroom. She came down to the
other side of my desk and now two teachers were speaking loudly over me for a
second time. I didn’t say anything at that point. My head was already hurting
and I didn’t want any of that exhausting stuff. I’m not sure if the person
being referred to had secretly hated me or something like other teachers in my
past. It took me a while before getting up and walking up the road after that
extra bit in the staffroom.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Saturday 8 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
Today
was the first time putting the class attendance form into action. Sadly, Miss
Roberts could not make it to school today. It was sometime after nine in the
morning we spoke over WhatsApp texting that she told me she was not well.
Some
moments after the chat was over, I realised that I had sent away her Form Two
class for that time when she gave me the all-clear to go ahead and teach the
new topic. I felt bad about that. At first, I did not want to just run into her
class and do something and mess it up.
I
made sure that when Form 5 came I would be working with them. Miss Roberts told
me to have them practice in the pan room and have their music recorded up to
what they learned. I took the time to ‘spoon feed’ and rote teach two of the
tenor pan solos. It was “Air” from some of DCFA’s steelpan tenor pan
examination booklets. I did that piece and I also knew about the “Invention”
piece by Mr Sharma was chosen by another girl.
I
spent more time with the two students doing the “Air” because that was one of
my previous Performance Music pieces for the final jury. There was still a lot
of work to be done with them and I hope that in future I would get to have a
group session with training them on the piece. Not sure how well they stood
with their music-reading ability. They were recorded at the end of the sessions and the videos were sent to Miss Roberts.
For the day after the Form Fives were finished with their class, I threw up everything from the Form One curriculum book onto the whiteboard and then wrote out the topics in the few lessons I had planned out. The curriculum stuff was used as a checklist to make sure that the lessons had some of the expectations/ requirements for the Form Ones to learn.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Saturday 8 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
This
morning after getting to the door outside of the music room it was locked. I
had to go back to the office in front of the school to see if the keys were in
the key cabinet. When I opened out the cabinet door it was not there. A boy and
I were looking for it around the school and soon the other music students joined in the search.
Some
time into the first period, we did not find it until we asked Dr Sookdeo to
make an announcement for someone with the keys to bring it. It always felt
like a nightmare when the keys go missing. We got it and some remained while
the others went back to class. The boy got the keys from the guard. Someone
left the keys with the guard because the office was locked after the steel
ensemble practice last evening.
That same evening, I took the key to the music room and sped up the road to get to Curepe.
I wanted to see if I could have gotten the keys copied the quickest because I
was expecting the printer guy to drop the new printers and set them up for me.
Thankfully, the keys did not take long to make. However, as we crossed the bus
route to get to McLeod Street Daddy was telling me to “make sure dey work
‘cause not all does work sometimes.”
When
I got home, I had some quick reshuffling to do and got ready but the guy came
late. I took the time and created a class attendance form. I did not have a
class attendance register that Miss Roberts has as yet. For me, I found it
better for the students to write their names and then I could get into teaching
the lesson immediately. This form did not take very long to create.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Saturday 8 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
Today
was day four and I only had a double period of music with 1L for
periods seven and eight. It was my first time teaching them. This session was
much different because I had to do the lesson in their home class. Miss Roberts
had to use the music room with another large class.
I
had to go to the office to see who would have been my substitute supervisor for
that class because an OJT is not allowed to go into any classroom to do
teaching alone. I met Dr Sookdeo outside of her office and she knew I was
coming to see who the supervisor would be.
It
was being organised but fortunately, another teacher was there to accept. Her name
was Miss Sow and she said that she was the dean of the Form Threes and Fours. It
was the first time we met each other on our way to the classroom.
As
we entered, Miss Sow introduced me to the students and took a seat after making
them clean up the litter off the ground. I was a bit nervous because it was a
new class but I gave the feeling up. I just spoke to the students like normal
and wrote the work out on the whiteboard. The same presentation of the “Gymnopdie
No. 1” score was used and the same homework exercises were given. There were
a few minutes left for the class, and I packed up and returned to the
staffroom.
I had some worries about writing on the whiteboard. Standing close to the board I had the impression that my writing was straight. Only after taking a picture of the board, I saw what the students were given. It was good to know that everyone understood and we had a lot of fun drawing the treble clefs.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Wednesday 5 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
I
got to school and saw a lot of students in different types of clothing. I had
on my red shirt as I left it for the Republic Day celebration. A lot of other
teachers had on red also. The choir had to sing “This is our Nation’s Dawning”
and other solos were done during the lunch period. There was also dancing and
drama from the other students in the quadrangle. I did not go out to see
everything because I wanted to get my third lesson plan completed before going
home.
I
went to the office and asked about the procedure for requesting photocopies for
when I might need some in the classes further on. The details sounded like a
lot of run-around so I didn’t want to try it again. I had a nice conversation
with Dr Sookdeo when she met me before leaving the compound. I had gotten her
permission to create a video of the St. George’s college song just like
Hillview’s College song once I had let Miss Roberts verify the music that I did.
Had to get up to Curepe early because we had to go and trim before the barber
closed up.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Wednesday 5 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
Today
the staff room was empty because of the TUTTA day. I went through the stuff
that I had worked on with Miss Roberts too and she had approved it. I got some
feedback on the lesson plans. I also emailed her the music for the St. George’s
college song. She had to make prints of them for the ensemble’s rehearsal next
week Monday.
I
did not have a class in the morning but I sat with Miss Roberts asking her
about the National Anthem that I would have heard some of the younger children coming
to practice all week during recess and lunchtime. She said that she was using a
score that she found online.
When
I got to see a copy of the first page for the full score, I was very surprised
and shocked. I recognised it immediately. I was right when I looked down at the
title because I saw it was an adaptation done by me. I did not even remember I
had done this since my certificate time at UWI in September 2015. So, it seems
as if the band would not be learning two of my arrangements.
That
evening I had the first form one class to try the first lesson. It started well
but then there was a murmur group of seven girls pooling their heads in a
circle to talk about a lot. I wasn’t able to settle them and then after was a
‘happy group’ towards the end.
I
did not get to do pitches on the treble staff but we spoke on what is music,
the uses and purposes of music, music theory, a strategy for remembering music
theory, the staff and drawing the treble clef.
I
was told by Miss Roberts that as a teacher I had to get a class register and take
attendance for the class done. I felt that as an OJT they might not want to
give me one so I decided to take a blank sheet of paper and create a list for
it. I have decided that I would work on making one for myself and also a roll
sheet that I saw Miss Roberts using.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Wednesday 5 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
Today
Miss Roberts couldn’t make it to school. I was asked by Dr Sookdeo if I still wanted to
continue to teach the class. I didn’t feel so confident to do it alone so I had
to say no. I felt disappointed in a way that I could not go and teach the
children. I went to my desk in the staff room, sat down and then went to review
the work I had planned out for the first lesson for Form Ones.
I
took almost the whole morning working out a second lesson and started thinking
of ideas for what I would like to do in the third lesson. I couldn’t believe it
was so hard to get ideas to come to mind. The room got me feeling cold and I
had a little cold because of getting wet in the rain after meeting daddy at
Curepe terminal yesterday after school.
While
I was working, I met Miss Ramsaran as she spoke to me from the side of my desk
and she said that she was waiting for something for me on the college song. Some
time had gone by and she returned by the desk to hand me a book. It was
fascinating looking through the book. I admired how detailed and well done it
was made. I had some cherished chats with my neighbouring desk persons.
That
day during lunchtime, I had been permitted by Dr Sookdeo to leave school at
1:30 to go down to Chaguanas to visit my Placement and Marketing Officer to submit
my forms and documents. I also had my degree I got from UWI last Friday and
also got wet in the rain. I thanked God for holding up the rain for me to walk up the road
from the school and for dad and me to get to the OJT Head Office.
We
had a lot of walking to do. Only a few drops of rain fell on my head but it
held up still. When we got there after finally getting the taxi, I was not
allowed to go in to see Mrs Williams. The girl at the front desk took the copy
of the certificate and the degree itself to Mrs Williams and came back with the
degree for me. I kept it in the red casing for safe transport.
By
the time I left the building and we were out on the road, I felt a big relief
coming out in me. I was glad that the paperwork was done and out of my hands. Unit
Trust was locked by 2:30 pm exactly when we got to the front door and that
angered me a lot. I was hoping to get everything done so that we wouldn’t have
to go back down another day.
Heading
up home in the car onto Green Street, the rain finally broke out. I got to finish inserting the
names of the persons responsible for the St. George’s college song. It appeared
to be surnames in my view as Bailey & Campbell. The book did not mention a
name for the song itself so I decided I would call it “Onto Victory” as it’s a
temporary title until someone alive can state otherwise. I also took their logo
and crest from the school’s website to make it a part of the score for decoration.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Wednesday 5 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
The
second day came. I was later than the first day by twenty minutes. I
waited to see Mrs Sookdeo before school was called because I did not get to
hand in my identification card yesterday. She took it to have someone make a
copy for her and I waited because the assembly was about to begin. I enjoyed
the music that they played just before the assembly officially began. They had
morning assembly again which produced a type of family feeling I enjoyed.
I
was joined by Miss Roberts in the office again and we spoke about the special
request and offer I was given by Dr Sookdeo. They were arranging supervision for me to go about that new responsibility.
After an orientation of the school from Dr Sookdeo, the Visual Arts OJT girl and I
got desks in the staffroom. It was amazing in that room.
Some
time had passed before I got back to the music room to rejoin Miss Roberts. I spent
some time with Miss Roberts for the rest of her classes during the day and got
some advice from her about planning for the classes. I also enjoyed the short
choir rehearsal during the lunchtime period. Some girls came to learn and put together "Our Nation's Dawning".
Not
sure if the weather will be good tomorrow. I hope to visit Mrs Williams down
in Chaguanas to submit a copy of my degree and verify that it is accurate.
Hopefully, I would be able to submit to her my papers before the deadline.
On my way out of the compound, I met Miss Ramsaran from yesterday morning. I had asked her for some assistance in finding the name of the St. George’s College
Song, the name of the person(s) that composed the lyrics, and the name of the
person(s) that composed the melody. I emailed her that evening with what I had and a recording of the full steelpan arrangement.
I hope that within time Mr Sammy or
someone might be able to tell us what the 3 answers are. I’m glad and grateful that Mrs Sookdeo was approving of what I had done for the steelpan version of the college
song.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 5 November 2022)
Dear Diary,
The journal entry below is a compilation of recorded events related to the creation of the steelpan version of St. George's College Song.
CREATION OF STEELBAND ARRANGEMENT.
** Monday 19 September 2022. **
[St. George's (Week #1); Day #1]
Today was my first
day being an OJT trainee at St. George’s College. Daddy and I left the house at
6:45 in the morning and took a bus on the bus route to Barataria. I entered the
compound at exactly 7:25 by security. Coming down the road to the school, I was
worried because I forgot my identification card at home.
The lobby area was
the corridor entering the administrative area and I met two other new persons who
come in that day. We got to see the morning assembly gather around the school.
It was a completely different experience than Hillview’s morning assembly. This
assembly was short and interesting. Many students sang and played different
instruments.
When the assembly was
over, I waited and waited. The boy and girl with me had already met their
supervisors and went on with them. Sometime around 9:32, I met Miss Roberts.
She had come to sign in the office and then took me to rest my bags in the
music room.Upon entering the music room, it was
like heaven. Something I wished Hillview could have had. They made it up like a
classroom, with instruments and a really beautiful piano. I was not sure if
they had a steelband.
We had to leave the
music room becausethere was a function to start in the
hall soon and Miss Roberts had to wait with the students who had to perform.
The national anthem was done, and a vocal piece was done by two girls at the
end. The college song was also performed at the end of that function. I stood
from the chairs they gave us and waited extremely patiently to hear what it
would sound like.
When it was over, I
was amazed. I liked the melody a lot. I knew it was a different school
altogether but the song comforted me. I began to wonder if there was a score
for it. Unfortunately, just like Hillview and Vessigny, Miss Roberts told me
that the school did not have the melody notated.
On the other hand,
Miss Roberts did manage to show me from her computer what she had “tried to
write it out” over the summer vacation for the COVID-19 period. I went quickly
to see what she did and I was happy because it was a good start to having
something on paper. We had some technical difficulties when the computer
spoiled the work she did.
I decided to mentally
plan over the entire college song as if it was to be a steelpan arrangement
because it would be easy to write it out when I got back home. All day I thought
of the rhythmic structure for the middle and back of the frontline pans.
I told Miss Roberts
that I would not disturb the notation that she worked so hard to do. I wanted
to do my version before I ended up spoiling what she did. Some minutes after half-eight
that night, I was able to complete the entire arrangement. A lot of gladness
came to me. Miss Roberts messaged me back and she said that it was good enough
for the steelband to use.
Link(s):
College Song Recording. ** [For
Request by Email.]
ASSISTANCE, PLEASE.
** Tuesday 20 September 2022. **
[St. George's (Week #1); Day #2]
On my way out of the school’s compound, I saw
Miss Ramsaran and asked her for help in finding the name of the St. George’s
College Song, the name of the person(s) that composed the lyrics, and the name
of the person(s) that composed the melody. I hope that within time Mr Sammy or
someone might be able to tell us what the 3 answers are. I’m glad and grateful
that Mrs Sookdeo was approving of what I had done as the steelpan version of
their college song.
THE STUDENTS' HANDBOOK.
** Wednesday 21 September 2022. **
[St. George's (Week #1); Day #3]
While I was working at my desk in the staffroom,
I met Miss Ramsaran as she spoke to me from the side of my desk and she said
that she was waiting for something for me on the college song. Some time had
gone by and she returned by the desk to hand me a book. It was fascinating
looking through the book. I admired how detailed and well done-it was made. I
had some cherished chats with my neighbouring desk persons.
Heading up home in the car onto Green Street, the
rain finally broke out. I got to finish inserting the names of the persons
responsible for the St. George’s college song. It appeared to be surnames in my
view as Bailey & Campbell. The book did not mention a name for the song
itself so I decided I would call it “Onto Victory” as it’s a temporary title or until someone alive
can state otherwise. I also took their logo and crest from the school’s website
to make it a part of the score for decoration.
I went to the office and asked about the
procedure for requesting photocopies for when I might need some in the classes
further on. The details sounded like a lot of run-around so I didn’t want to
try it again. Dr Sookdeo walked out of her office and met me before leaving the
compound and we had a really nice conversation. I had gotten her permission to
create a video of the St. George’s college song just like Hillview’s College
song once I had let Miss Roberts verify the music that I did.
Link(s):
Hillview College’s School Song.
STRUMMING AMENDMENTS.
** Monday 17 October 2022. **
[St. George's (Week #7); Day #26]
I went back to the office and sat in
the classroom next door for the majority of the day working on the steelpan
version of St. George’s College. I changed the strumming in the introduction.
All the pans for verses one and two carried the same rhythmic pattern.
At first, I thought that it was not a
good gamble. I told myself that even though it worked in Tunapuna Secondary
School’s Song this one might have had a different outcome. There was a lot of
playing around with the introduction until I finally got something that worked.
My only insecurity was the effectiveness of the bassline. Towards the end of
this exercise, the score became version four.
VERSE TWO'S CORRECTION.
** Monday 31st October 2022. **
[St. George's (Week #7); Day #25]
Today was the first working day for St. George’s
College at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) campus in Valsayn.
In the last thirty minutes before school finished, I got my way back to Block K
to work on the melody for the college song. The ‘children’ in the staffroom
were noisy as usual. Miss Roberts and I tried really hard to listen to the
video with the children in the video singing the St. George’s College song. The
second verse had a change in only one measure. I was glad that the review went
by in that short space of time.
INTRODUCTION STRUMMING PATTERNS.
** Tuesday 1st November 2022. **
[St. George's (Week #7); Day #26]
Today the school had home
periods for periods one and two. I was supposed to have 1 Mitchell for those two
periods.I went back to the office and worked at George’s College. I changed the strumming in the introduction. All the pans for
verses one and two carried the same rhythmic pattern.
At first, I thought
that it was not a good gamble. I told myself that even though it worked in
Tunapuna Secondary School’s Song this one might have had a different outcome.
There was a lot of playing around with the introduction until I finally got
something that worked. My only insecurity was the effectiveness of the
bassline. Towards the end of this exercise, the score became version four.
By the middle of
lunch, I was able to complete typing out the end-of-term exam for the form
ones. I did not mind that the room was hot. However, a lot of sleep was being
fought. Did not know why that was happening. Last night I stood up after
getting the zeal and two more questions to make up the comprehension section. I
had lunch afterwards. The exam paper was reviewed by Miss Roberts and it was
ready for class. I just have to figure out how to do copies at school.
MASTER SCORE – SHORT VERSION.
** Saturday 12 November 2022.
**
Today I tried to create more space on the full
score (double tenors and double seconds now share the same staff). At first, I
had nicknamed it ‘short version’ but the Musescore programme was able to play
the full steelpan arrangement.
I took that particular file as the one to
represent St. George’s College anthem. I also took the St. George’s Logo I could
finally get from Thursday evening and added it to the Musescore file. All these
changes made the song become the fourth version.
COLLEGE SONG BOOKLETS.
** Friday 18th November 2022. **
[St. George's (Week 9); Day #39]
This evening the booklets with copies of all the steelpan
parts were created and compiled into a book. They were spiral bound. I still
yet have to wait for Dr Sookdeo to approve the ‘experimental’ video before it
was sent off to YouTube. On Monday 21st of the following week, this book was
only shown to one teacher before a warning was sent to me. I had the books packed
up and returned them to the plastic bag. This remained on the desk for another
three weeks.
On this morning, a message was sent to Dr.
Sookdeo for approval on a score video of the St. George’s College Song. It is one
minute and twenty-one seconds in duration. I still await feedback. I hope that
it works. There were not many good images on the internet of the front of the
school. I found a beautifully captured image of the school’s hall from the quadrangle.
The video felt like more was missing. I just wished that more of the history
was available.
SCORE VIDEO 2ND ATTEMPT.
** Monday 5 December 2022
**
[St. George's (Week 12); Day #49]
The second video attempt was created on this day
and it replaced the first attempt. The duration remained the same. To this date, there
was no approval or responses given on the first attempt. I feel as if I may
just have to go ahead without Dr Sookdeo’s approval and send the video online. Somehow
things are moving strangely around the area. More curious than in the first week. I hope nothing bad happens.
THE LAST THREAD.
** Wednesday 7 December 2022
**
[St. George's (Week 12); Day #51]
Today was the deadline for online marks for the
term. I had a bitter conversation with Miss Roberts over the phone from the
office at my desk on Monday. I understood and listened. I did not continue because
my heart was ‘stabbed’ on that day.
Today Miss ‘Rough-Tops’ was out again and she attacked
me at the gates for a second time. In the quick moments going into the eighth
period, I shouted out my dissatisfaction in the echoing corridor at the message
from someone on the song. I don’t think this piece will be continuing. As of
now, it will be put to rest. The entire next day presented an episode against
me that was not pleasing.
YOUTUBE
VIDEO.
** Tuesday 3rd January 2023
**
[ St.
George’s College (WEEK 14)– Day #55 [1/1] ]
Today
was the start of the new school term. As soon as I got home, I went right ahead
and uploaded the St. George’s College song video. Before I could even do that,
I had to do over a recording of the Musescore file playing out the song. The
experimental version had difficulty. Thankfully, this did not take me more than
ten minutes to do and the uploading.
Looking
back at the video, I felt satisfied that the song came out well but I did not
like having to wait and be stalled for a week. I still hope that this recording
would be useful to teach the students the song. This too was also a DAPHA Project.
Actual Date of Online
Entry: (Wednesday 5 October 2022)
Dear
Diary,
Today
was my first day being an OJT trainee at St. George’s College. Daddy and I left
the house at 6:45 in the morning and took a bus on the bus route to Barataria. I
entered the compound at exactly 7:25 by security. Coming down the road to the
school, I was worried because I forgot my identification card at home.
The
lobby area was the corridor entering the administrative area and I met two
other new persons come in that day. We got to see the morning assembly gather
around the school. It was a completely different experience than Hillview’s
morning assembly. This assembly was short and interesting. Many students sang
and played different instruments.
When
the assembly was over, I waited and waited. The boy and girl with me had
already met their supervisors and went on with them. Sometime after half nine, I
met Miss Roberts. She had come to sign in the office and then took me to rest my bags in
the music room.
Upon
entering the music room, it was like heaven. Something I wished Hillview could
have had. They made it up like a classroom, with instruments and a really
beautiful piano. I was not sure if they had a steelband.
We
had to leave the music room because there was a function to start in the hall soon and Miss Roberts had
to wait with the students who had to perform. The national anthem was done, and a
vocal piece was done by two girls at the end. The college song was also performed at the end of that function. I stood from the chairs they gave us and waited extremely patiently
to hear what it would sound like.
When
it was over, I was amazed. I liked the melody a lot. I knew it was a different
school altogether but the song comforted me. I began to wonder if there was a
score for it. Unfortunately, just like Hillview and Vessigny, Miss Roberts told
me that the school did not have the melody notated.
On
the other hand, Miss Roberts did manage to show me from her computer what she
had “tried to write it out” over the summer vacation for the COVID-19 period. I
went quickly to see what she did and I was happy because it was a good start to
having something on paper. We had some technical difficulties when the computer
spoiled the work she did.
I
decided to mentally plan over the entire college song as if it was to be a
steelpan arrangement because it would be easy to write it out when I got back
home. All day I thought of the rhythmic structure for the middle and back of
the frontline pans.
I
told Miss Roberts that I would not disturb the notation that she worked so hard to do.
I wanted to do my personal version before I ended up spoiling what she did. Some minutes
after half-eight that night, I was able to complete the entire arrangement. A lot of
gladness came to me. Miss Roberts messaged me back and she said that it was
good enough for the steelband to use.
Link(s):
College
Song Recording. ** [For Request by Email.]
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