St. George’s College (Week #85) – Day #391

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 30 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 21 November 2024)

[T1, W:09 – WD:40, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning was hard to wake up. My eyelid was very uncomfortable with a swollen bump to the upper right and lower left by the nose. Had to look down to avoid the glare and light a lot. The office was still locked this morning. I saw "Choo Choo" conducting morning assemblies by the Form 3 corridors for that part of the school before their roll call. I went to purchase the two pies for after lunch. Still, no one was there by the office.

    I went to hurry off the timesheet. Two big scratches of errors. Thankfully Kiel helped me out. He got mine and left about 9 to 10 AM for the submission. These people are getting too ridiculous with the deadlines. If not the next day maybe Monday to collect. There was a joke about "AJ" writing Thursday the 30th instead of Wednesday the 30th in the Teachers' Attendance Book. He continued the joke, "The days of the week are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Get it right, people."

    Jess came late and left with Mel to get some fabric. I gave me a letter to type but I could not read it. I felt like writing music so that is what I went to do. The time flew by really quickly. I went to check on 3F. The music students were not there. They were outside of the music room. I had to go through my scales lesson with them. Jess did not return until the end of recess with Mr Marcelle. The pans used for practice were sent to the hall.

    During the fourth period, we finally packed up to go back. In the staffroom, I coloured the music room key with a permanent marker. Mrs Allen-Brown brought her son Mr Brown with her today. He was playing a nice rhythmic pattern on a track earlier. It was from someone playing a trap set. I wanted to get the music for Tunapuna worked on but Mel had some rush time to get it typed. Her friend Joshua didn't say much this time. His haircut was good after the long hair.

    I ended up getting sad news from Kiel that I had to do over my timesheet because all of our sheets had yesterday's date on it from the stamp. I was able to update the logbook one time before leaving the laptop with Mel and Joshua. I saw with shock that someone wrote the satanic "Happy Halloween" in the logbook. I didn't scratch it off before someone wanted to start some argument and waste time with unnecessary noise.

    Once Kiel got back we got the stamp tested first before putting it on our timesheets. The regular press-down was not found. Band rehearsal continued in the hall all the time while standing by the front desk in the office as the room smelled delicious of fries. I think that will make me feel for Muslim Barbeque later. Saw "Choo Choo" left for bank time. Wished I could leave until next week on Monday.

    As soon as I sat down in the staffroom I could not believe that it was 1:20 after lunch. That had explained why the staffroom began to get empty. Jess was going to have practice in the hall instead of class with 2F. I saw "Riba" coming to drop back Brooks and a scoop. The pies were not saved for me so I got a refund. 2F children were now being kept in the hall. Started to feel bad with the bump in my eyelid. "Rylie" was concerned about how I looked. Ended up back in the staffroom again. Students were bringing in some tenor pans but that didn't last long.

    Coach and I had a long wait to fix up the tables. The tables in use were tabken and a long white table we used was used for a whiteboard. We went to the side of the staffroom on the Form 1 side to get the disposed tables to recycle. Either way, I had a great session. "Dass" was given a medal. Still no Jessie. I played with Hailey Gumbs and Kerensia at the end. "Jenny" wasn't looking so well today. There was no Vade too. It took me a full 30 minutes to cool off. I gave the coach an attendance form that I had printed for him.

    I left the school and had Fai's that evening. The swollen eye was not letting me work properly. I was able to work out the Verse and Chorus for Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School. It was very difficult to source an idea for an introduction. Only John was hoping that I could get one. Couldn't believe that it took me a whole three hours to get some sort of melody. Then the strum ideas came.

    The chords were not difficult to determine. The chorus felt like it had space for some runs. I was forced to leave the completion for tomorrow on Divali because of useless human tiredness. I was certain of the end being tomorrow. I was able to create the uniform lyrics sheet to send John. Completion also occurred for the standard uniform cover page and Book body sectional pages. I just need to get the logo and school pictures to complete the full project and soon, the YouTube videos.

 

LINK(S):

• Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School (SONG) – Journal Entry. **

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:04 am – 4:42 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #85) – Day #389

Date for Entry: (Monday 28 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 21 November 2024)

[T1, W:09 – WD:38, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got up feeling worse than last week. I still tried to make it to school. As soon as my bag was in the staffroom I went to purchase two pies for after lunch and then went to update the OJT logbook. Nobody except me had signed since the term began. I got my timesheet for the month signed up until today immediately.

    Sometime in the morning, Donna came in from the outside. At the end of the second period, Mel came back. She said that was feeling sick and it was going to be a crazy week. She also mentioned that the Parents' Day will be held tomorrow and that Mrs Jones's retirement function will be on Friday. Hopefully, the time will be mentioned soon. Roberts came and dropped off the keys by me. Still no sign of Jess. I hope she comes soon.

    At recess time “Celia” in the announcement allowed Miss to speak about the retirement function. At 12:30 there will be a folklore character display and at 1:20 everyone will be in the hall for the function. I gave Miss the board that Aunty Vangy gave me for painting. She said that it would be handy for writing out the letters of Miss Jones' Name.

    Donna kept on trying to get the teachers to join the first PAN session for this afternoon. I heard that it will be on a Monday and Thursday after school. I'm not sure how many teachers will be wanting to participate. I learned last week, probably Friday, that the arranger will be Mr Marcelle.

    We had class with 2F and the groups were not ready. Only one group presented and the class was kept back for being too noisy. I had a big fight to stay awake and the cold in my nose was tough to handle. When I gave "Miss Williams-George" her score for "Trini to de Bone" she looked very happy. It was my tenor pan copy that I ended up giving her. Children were coming in to practice and the time was being run by the students. The laptop was left to charge the whole time that I was gone. It still needed some more time in the staffroom.

    Only once lunch was done I had my two pies. "GG," said that it smelled good and wondered if it was a double at first. One blow of my nose and everyone was shocked. While typing up the library report from this week, there was a short joke about "Kimmy's" new surname from marriage. "Celia" said that it was a good thing she told them early. She mentioned that it took Miss Soodeen a while to announce her new surname as Soodeen.

    Table Tennis was great with Vade today. He’s really good. The Coach came a bit late but we got set up quickly. He came in with a handful of medals and gave them to me to hold for a few minutes. One time in the session, he gave me one to give to Vade. I ended up finishing a bit later because of the late start. The first teachers' pan rehearsal was done at some point while I was cooling down and drying in the staffroom. Javid, Donna, "Patty", "Jan", and Mel came back.

    Mel and Jess demanded that I go with them for a ride. Her mom was driving today. They stopped in San Juan to give us a ride. Miss went to Massy's first before we got to a maxi. Andrew went out this afternoon and he brought back some Popeyes for me. I forgot that they had wedged fries. The rest of the night was getting the library to stamp a picture for Isa to make it into a sticker. The time went by. I began to fall asleep on the couch. This sent me to bed very soon.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:29 am – 4:53 pm)

Day #390 – (7:53 am – 3:07 pm)

Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School (SONG)

Date for Entry: (Sunday 27 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (2024)

School front**

Dear Diary,

    The journal entries below correspond with my work on the school song for Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School Song.

 

MEETING THE “UNIVERSAL CHALLENGE”.

** Sunday 27 October 2024 **

    This evening, I had a scheduled meeting with John in person at home. At first, it was requested that some music notation be made. I was excited to see what kind of song he was bringing for me to work on. Before the work began (at 3:30 PM), he told me that Tunapuna Presbyterian Primary School had a school song, and they got a recording in the school from a visitor named Mrs Myrtle Panday. She once taught at the school.

    I got a copy of the lyrics sheet that he had prepared before moving to the computer. He asked to play the piano and said that the melody had been taken from the song “The Happy Wanderer.” This was my first time hearing the melody. At the end of the single verse that he played, I mentioned that it would have made a great tune for a steelpan arrangement. I think he was hoping that would have been done, too.

    He also shared with me a copy of the “Happy Wanderer” score from a songbook called “Let Us Sing”. I chose to YouTube the song too to follow the words from the songbook and the gentleman playing his guitar. Once we got to the Chorus, he mentioned that the words were to be replaced with the words created by his wife Allison.

    By opening the lyrics sheet he had created, I realised that the school song was originally strophic (only with verses) and the chorus has now been given a Chorus by Allison in 2024. The melody was copied from John’s “Let Us Sing” songbook for both Verse 1 and the chorus into Musescore. I had it copied and passed for the other three verses.

    When it was time to insert the words from the school song, it was then that John had sent me the recording of Mrs Myrtle Panday singing. His melody was in C major. She sang in the key of G major. I had the tune transposed and began working on the changes. Hearing several changes, it was best to open a new score on Musescore and transcribe the recording from scratch.

    After scoring the first verse and the first chorus, it seemed to me that their verses were shorter than the original melody. The chorus was shorter by eight crotchet beats (or two bars) of music. Moreover, looking at the chords in John’s book (using them as a guide) I knew there was going to be a lot more I needed than what was provided. This was also mentioned to him.

    Within three and a half hours, the entire lead sheet was finished and ready to become a steelpan arrangement. The first lead sheet and a recording were sent to John and Allison. When looking at the temporary result, I noticed the name. The given ‘name’ was “My Alma Mater”.

    Again, as with other school songs, it had to have a name. This was the final challenge of the night with the song. John’s suggestion was “Your call I’ll Always hear” from the first verse. I was sharing how it had to be something that stood out the majority of the time as with Tunapuna Secondary School when choosing the name “Thy Light is Come”. Looking at the Chorus that Allison created, I took the sentence “You Truly are the Best” for the name.

    I also wrote down some more information for him on a short piece of paper about things I needed for the project. We had a joke about the paper being ‘homework’ for Allison. There was a list of ‘homework’ for John too in hopes of it becoming another possible music project that I can work on.

 

Link(s):

• Happy Wanderer Score. **
• First Lead sheet Attempt. (*Destroyed)
• Happy Wanderer (YouTube). 

 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT: THE VERSES & CHORUS.

** Wednesday 30 October 2024 **

    Tonight, a strumming pattern and bassline were given to the first verse and chorus. They were attempted on the same night as the first attempt to create a lead sheet (Sunday 27 October 2024) but that attempt was not successful.

    After three hours of working on the strums (from 6 PM to 9:13 PM) I was able to find something that worked. It was immediately copied and passed for the other three verses and their choruses. From the last beat of the verse into the chorus minor changes were made to accommodate the transition.

    I was wondering if an introduction would be appropriate. I had a big scary fright not knowing what to do at all. John told me to create something nice. This most definitely would have had to be left for tomorrow then. The three hours had tired me out. While listening back to what I did for the night, I began to hear more possibilities for the chorus. A note was left in the Musescore file for tomorrow.

 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT: THE COMPLETION.

** Thursday 31 October 2024 **

    Today is Divali. From about 8 AM this morning work on the introduction began. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to create a short melody from scratch. Sadly, the verses or the chorus did not have much that I could use to work with at the time. I decided to keep it short within four bars and then find a way to make it flow into the first verse.

    By 1:43 PM the first version was sent as a recording to John by WhatsApp. It was discarded immediately. I found it necessary for an F-A-C chord to be used in the last two beats of the introduction before the first chord of verse one.

    Once the introduction and the verse worked best to my liking, the chorus followed similarly. However, the possibilities for the chorus were tried and it worked. Only the tenor pan part will carry it. My wish was to do the same in the lead sheet but having separate voices created an untidy visual. The arrangement was finally completed by 1:58 PM and sent back to John.

    By 2:30 PM the lyrics sheet was taken and created in uniform styling to the previous books. The cover page for the book was created and the ‘Book Matter’ document was prepared. I will have to find the school logo to generate the parts of the steelpan arrangement and have the documents ready for compiling the booklets.

 

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS.

** Saturday 02 November 2024 **

    Today, I was given the images of the school. The quality was excellent. The only issue was that there was a date stamp. I had to find an online programme to assist me. It was not easy until I found the right platform. More technical work was required, but Praise God, I was able to accomplish the task.

    Seven images were sent to me and after a very long and careful process of elimination, I came down to four good images for being used in the YouTube video of the school song. The most important things for these images would be showing the front of the school, the name of the school on the building, and most importantly, the Aramalaya Presbyterian Church that crowned the hill to the top of the street. I still have to see if the four images will be used or if another will be eliminated by that time.

 

SCHOOL LOGO.

** Wednesday 06 November 2024 **

    Tonight, I was able to get the school's logo. Unfortunately, the status of it was a photograph of a professionally created one. This professionally created one was not sourced. It took me three hours of trying and hoping that the internet would be able to assist me. I discovered a site called Canva that was able to alter the witness of the background, the darkness of the lines in the image and other editing necessities.

    The black and white version was the first that I had created for the evening. This was my favourite out of the two versions. The second one was a lightly black and blue-coloured version of the lines. I tried to make a coloured version to match what was provided to me.

    However, black was the only colour being given. I wish there was a way to go back and change the colour to light blue like the Presbyterian Church’s colour. These images were sent back to John for the school to have copies of them and decide if they would like to use them.

 

(MORE COMING SOON!!)

St. George’s College (Week #84) – Day #387

Date for Entry: (Thursday 24 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 29 November 2024)

[T1, W:08 – WD:36, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I woke up from sleep and slept back. I had a Curepe pie too and ate it on my walk down Sixth Avenue. The driver got angry in San Juan when a Maxi didn’t let him pull out of the road. All of the teachers were in their homeroom. I sat there working on the end of yesterday's entry.

    Jess came in and went to get 2L down to the music room. I walked down with the remainder of the students. They listened to Calypso songs and then were given a note on Indian cultural Music. Jess played them Chutney and it was music I did not like, Lol.

    Before she left the class, I told her joked and told her to turn that monstrosity off before leaving. She laughed saying, “Wuh happen, Mistah Ali? When yuh getting’ married this is de music dey go be playin’!” Yeah, right!

    Soon the 3M students came. Matthew and “Mr Gayle” were by the piano the whole time, while “Su” and Seth were playing catch. The whole double period was going and I was wishing I was either home or in the library at church working.

    I ended up falling asleep as soon as Daddy left me home and woke up at 11 PM. I had a good chat with Steven and then went to do library work until 4:30 AM. I took some more rest for about two hours before the start of another day at school.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:04 am – 4:08 pm)

Day #388 – (7:59 am – 3:08 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #84) – Day #386

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 23 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 29 November 2024)

[T1, W:08 – WD:35, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    Waking this morning was not so easy. I got on the bus after 8 AM. I recall hearing a song but I forgot the name of it. This song would have been good for a steelpan arrangement for “Miss Williams-George” and “Manny” to play with some other students. There was another song that was good too. It was a Soca song but I didn’t remember that one either, lolz.

    I met Mrs Solomon in the lobby as soon as I got into the compound. I didn’t sign for yesterday. Not sure when anyone else will sign for all of October. Mrs Solomon said that Reference and Reserved books were to be kept in the library. “Only the Reference books you were allowed to bend the lending rules BUT only for one night.” I will have to see I Mrs Sharma and Clarence are going to lend the jigsaw puzzles or keep them for use during Sunday School sessions.

    I mixed up today for Day 4. We were free for the first two periods. Jess and I went through the “That’s What Friends Are for” arrangement and started to change the strums. 1F got marked by me today on their Calypso Month Presentations. Miss Jones came to dance and did some whining when the students didn’t know how to dance. She said that her stage name is “Helen of Trinbago”.

    The class ran into all of recess. I went to use the washroom and then went back to class. We were told by “Celia” that school will be classed for lunch at the end of the fifth period and then reassemble to the hall at 12:30 for their Divali programme. That was like a blessing for me.

    After recess, the Form 4s came for class. They worked on the “That’s What Friends Are for” arrangement. Shiva was taking out the elephant and peacock props that Mel had made for the Divali function tomorrow. We had choir but I went to the office to get my scores printed. I met “Johnny-Boy” and Kevin there. They were still excited that we travelled out yesterday while they were paying to get a project printed. Had some waiting for the paper to be loaded into the machine.

    “Manny” was in the choir meeting the others weren’t around the music room. People were looking for me to remind me of the ISCF meeting. Dr Allison reminded me too while waiting for the prints. Only after lunch during lines, I gave “Manny” and “Mr Barbour” their copies of “Trini to de Bone”. Sadly, I did not have any extras to give “Miss Williams-George”.

    I met “Michael” down by the 1L lines and gave him a copy of “Silent Night”. He saw the Bass clef and didn’t know what it meant. I told him to just focus on the lines with the Treble Clef. It was a score for a piano solo. There was an interesting pat on the shoulder given to me by him.

    Jess and I sat by her desk to plan out the programme for the concert and the cost of the tickets. It took the full seventh and eighth periods to do this. I told her that I was going to have breakfast before we began. I got to the hall and the Coach came late. I felt like there was a good bit of improvement today. Thankfully Mr Ali was able to comment the same. Seems as if the serving was getting better. I played with Kerensia for most of the time at one table.

    At one point, Mr Ali had put Kerensia and me on one side of the table to play against “Jenny” Atwell. She was good but the ball kept bouncing away from us. Towards the end, one skilful student played one-on-one with me and I had some long exchanges with him. That was with “Wayne.” It was good that Mr Ali good to see it. I tried my best to mimic the technique that he was showing to Kerensia last Monday. It seems as if observation is the only way to get better in the programme. I was also able to do some ‘nets’ and he said that those were good.

    Up by the bus route, a bus driver waited for me to cross the road one time. I got up to Tunapuna with Daddy at 5 PM. I didn’t get to play any games after 9 PM. Instead, I was up all night until 12:30 recreating the Author’s card and the Subject card. I hope they will work. I worked on the Subject Card and kept the border that was originally used.

    For the Author’s card, the border had to be varied so differentiation could be done fast by the glace of an eye. The pretty corners of the border were replaced with big coloured circles for the Author’s card. The lines attached to the pretty corners were recycled and doctored to fit the card. It should be as clear as possible for a lot of writing to be inserted. The reserved side of both cards was given the ownership labelling of the church library’s name, library logo, and as customary my logo to the lower half. I needed to go to bed immediately.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:29 am – 4:42 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #84) – Day #385

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 22 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 29 November 2024)

[T1, W:08 – WD:34, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning the rain was falling heavily. I had asked for the same report as yesterday. Thankfully it was small droplets one at a time on my head. Homeroom was in session. Praise God the staffroom was empty and there was no noise again like yesterday. I think Donna was absent today. I purchased two pies from the café once and asked for them to be collected at lunchtime.

    Jess and I went to the music room after her roll call with 2F. We had 2L and they got the Calypso Month note. Electricity went in the middle of the session for the whole school. I'm not sure how far into the neighbourhood that it went. Towards the end of the third period, Mel opened the art room for me to get the cleaning supplies that I had lent her to the Form 5 students. The door could not lock when we were leaving. The lock was turned to lock, but the door kept on opening back.

    The Tenor pans in the pan room were wiped out but it was better to have a tissue to wipe them dry. The water left a dry muddy stain. We had 1L right after and they were outside in the courtyard to do their Calypso Month presentations. I was given the college song quizzes to mark. It pained my hand but I got them completed through lunchtime.

    “Mr Dawn” came to sit with me as a form of protection when being chased down by some students from his form class. I met “Mr Lallman” trying to sting “Mr Peters”. He asked if to do it and I said no. It was good to see “Varry” and “Ace” again on the piano. They were trying to figure out “Road Runaway” again. I could not believe I didn’t get time to YouTube it to see what it sounded like. If the current didn’t go, I could have gotten to print the copies of “Fur Elise” for them.

    Mr Marcelle came a bit late while Jess started the practice. Fusha remained sitting with me until she was tired of waiting on Roberts who was supposed to come to school at the sixth period. I came in way after the roll call to speak with the children in the pan room. I went to get the pies and the pepper was a wonderful sting. My bottles of water were already cold under the air-conditioned breeze.

    Went to use the washroom and got back to the pan room for the Form 4s. I was wrong about being too late in my mind. The students were now getting prepared. The entire double period flew away quickly and the school day was over. Before sitting back at my desk, “GG” had offered me a ride either at 4 or 5 with her husband but I wanted to get home.

    The sit in the cool bus was good. It was a long 8 periods of work. I had a walk up the road with Kevin and “Johnny-Boy”. The three of us boarded the same maxi together. Daddy and I went to Charan’s in Tunapuna before going home. I think I will start the music journal archiving next week. During the evening, I played thirty-three levels of cooking game before getting to work.

    The task of getting a catalogue card done for the first puzzle was difficult. I tried the card game and it was almost easier but trying to find the information was a bit challenging at first. I will have to ask Mrs Solomon tomorrow. The rest of the night went in a rush.

    Later at 10 PM, I got a call from Mrs Jaikaran bout the name of the bhajan. She said that the Hindi did not make sense and the song would be a “Conflict of Interest” because it mentions Jesus in it. I felt so disappointed. Somehow, I thought of Asha before bedtime. I hope she’s okay.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:11 am – 3:42 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #84) – Day #384

Date for Entry: (Monday 21 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 29 November 2024)

[T1, W:08 – WD:33, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning was not a good morning to wake up. I was not feeling well. It did not feel like a morning to go to school but I got my butt up and out of the house gradually. I got to school late. Spoke with Miss Mary from the pavement before entering the compound by the guard booth.

    As soon as I got to the kitchen, Donna’s big mouth was heard. Too early in the morning for that noise and she should know how to voice it properly. It seems like she and “Andy” had a buss out by the way he looked when I was coming into the compound. I went for the pies but they had not fried them as yet. They were paid for still being collected later that day.

    Jess called me down to the music room handing me the keys. The air condition units were turned on. I thought that we had Form 1s but it was 3F. None of the groups had their assignments ready. They were given the first period to work on it and the second period would be the note on simple and compound time signatures. The students took forever to write.

    During recess, I got a pale and mop borrowed to try and clear up the room. I decided it would be best to start from the back by the guitar pans and come up to the front by the purple door. Kayla came in with her friend who sounded lovely for singing, They helped Jess move the yellow Salah Wilson steelpan books to the brown shelf outside in the classroom.

    Meanwhile, I was digging out broken tiles and sweeping up the dust. Jess gave me a long and skinny plastic bag to put in the smaller tile pieces. When I tried to do the mopping, the floor was getting muddier than before so I left it as it is. Miss Leiba at lunchtime was surprised when she saw me with the mop and pale and asked what I was doing with it. She said that’s not my job but it would never be done if I didn’t do it myself.

    I got the pies and “Mr Danclare” was telling me a joke about sharing is caring. We had a good laugh about it and spoke about Form 7 and Form 9. I went to the staffroom from the kitchen side. Mel told me that Mr Marcelle was supposed to come for a meeting and that “Jan” was asking for me. The pies were nice. We were told about the Georgian chat on Facebook and an improper comment that the Principal made in it.

    At the time of roll call, Jess left but she didn’t come back. I was in the back of the staffroom by the round table with Mr Marcelle until the end of school. He shared with me a copy of the score that he had prepared for the meeting and the two of us spoke about the modulation (of the tonal centre*), verse & chorus. When we played back the song I pointed out that the notation was looking very different from what I was hearing. He then looked back from the top with me and realised that it was the wrong score that was printed today.

    Table Tennis session was good today. I got to the hall at 2:51 and Coach came some time after. We discussed the time that I could stay and I played with Saskia and Vade. Kerensia was my opponent for the session.

    “Patty” was there waiting for Vade’s practice to finish. I prayed to God to send the angels to hold up the rain. A few drops touched my head but it held up. Only when I got to Curepe did it break out. The bus driver was so kind to pull very close to the side of the terminal steps for me to come off. Daddy was waiting with his doubles. Rain fell for a while. The necklace man had to cover up his stall and come in.

    The evening ended with a brighter sun before the sky darkened. I ended up writing all of this entry while inconsiderate people downstairs smoked their various natsynesses and made use of the ‘F word’ in every sentence. However, teaching “Miss Garaway” the first part of the National Anthem was very nice today.

    A nice Form 1 student brought his guitar to play for us. I can’t remember if his name is Michael. Jess had sent me to help him out and speak about the Christmas Programme and the Panorama Concert. He played “Om Jai Laxmi Mata” and it was very romantic. I immediately thought of the song “Silent Night”. It would be great if he could play it just like that for the concert.

    The pen I was using for this entry was too useless. It was nice of Messiah to assist me with the Table Tennis at the earlier part of the session. I felt like I was getting better at serving.

    Tonight the time was taken up doing the journal for the library on Saturday. Clarence had sent me the two paragraphs for the Adult Welcome Letter. The time went by and I did not get to work on any steelpan artwork.

    Instead, I worked on music for Michael in case he came back tomorrow. I also got the piano score for “Greensleeves,” which was sent to the school for printing. I did not get to finish my cooking game challenge. I ended up missing out on a split of three hundred purple gems.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(9:10 am – 4:20 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #83) – Day #383

Date for Entry: (Saturday 19 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 10 November 2024)

[T1, W:07 – WD:X, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This was an extra day. The first Saturday of Panorama practice. I woke up late too. Did not want to wear my track pants but it was the only best thing that I had. The sandals were the lazy choice and it hurt my feet eventually. The toc-toc part was left out for me. I had some more learning from observation while working with Mr Marcelle.

    At 12:30 I had to leave. I gave “Mel” the count pattern so she knew how the song would go while listening from the music classroom. Had to rush up Sixth Avenue to do library work. Rain came down outside of Hosein’s. I had to take another shower and it felt better in even more casual clothing. It felt better working in the library.

    During the evening alone in the library, I had visits from Christian and Alana. They got to see me now opening the newly purchased puzzles and packaging them into ziplock bags that I brought from home. I used the adhesive labels to put the number of pieces in each and the name of it. Some of the puzzles had to get names of their own. Another visit was made by Dexter and his friend. We had a good chat about barbeque while I was working.

    A memorial service was in session downstairs at Morton House while I was leaving. Daddy helped me carry the big box of puzzles and cards home. They had to be worked on at home because of the cataloguing and no internet in the library.

    That night I went home to get a score of “Greensleeves” for Jess and making an attempt at transcription of “Jingle Bell Rock”. I hope that the steelpan work for the song comes out well. Maybe it might be easy enough for a teachers’ band piece.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

St. George’s College (Week #83) – Day #382

Date for Entry: (Friday 18 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 10 November 2024)

[T1, W:07 – WD:31, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning was a quick one although there was a second knocking on the window. The buses were gone by the time I crossed the road. The first one to come opened its doors for me and the drive was swift. The sun was hot and roasted my skin.

    The air conditioning was cold by the time I got into the staff room. Miss Dayna placed a cake on her desk and set it near me. I laughed to myself maybe she was cooking me up for the double pepper in the pies later. “Mel” was sticking her birthday card on the wall while I walked out. The office was locked again. Not sure when someone will show up. It might be better to switch to my OJT position and then be working there to help out the office.

    As I got the pies done, Jess was doing some scoring on her laptop. I used the washroom and went to visit Mrs Solomon for the catalogue tutorial trials. This took us through the third and fourth periods, until the very end of recess. She sent me to get a Viva water and a cheese stick. We had a big laugh on my turn about the types of card designs that I made for cataloguing saying, “Mr Ali what is that? I doh know what that is nah!” I gave her a blank cut 3x5 card and we used that.

    I felt strange because, at 11:04 in the staffroom, I was still seeing children all around the place as if it was still recess. “Mel” told me that there was going to be an assembly in the hall. No one knew what it was really about until Mr Charles began to address the situation. Children in the male and female washrooms were wiping faeces on the walls and ground and littering the area all over. It took a lot of the fifth period was gone and then sent back to classes by the sixth period.

    I met Jess at 2F who we had at the time. They were given the assignment and then were given a note on Calypso History Month. Ended up staying for practice one time. Off and on Mr Marcelle had asked me to play the music for the children and then I played the toc-toc. Miss brought the consent forms for practice on Saturdays, which begins tomorrow.

    Back in the staffroom, I tried to get Musescore set up. It was too hard trying to find the master volume control. They seriously need to update this new version. Mr Marcell and Jess could not hear the “This is my Flag” arrangement properly. I got good feedback from him about the visual presentation of the notation from my laptop screen. 

    That evening make some more progress with the COAG song “Has God Truly Become Your Life”. Two sections and the end to go. The night finished late. I had to change and drag myself to bed. Seems like this whole week was less sleep and tired awakenings. The weekend will be packed too with more events.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:45 am – 3:12 pm) 

St. George’s College (Week #83) – Day #380

Date for Entry: (Thursday 17 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 10 November 2024)

[T1, W:07 – WD:30, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    Why is this week so stressful? The weekend was not so easy. Even the toilet wanted me to come back so I took a longer while. Kiel went to the “Civil” mini-mart by the road before we walked down Sixth Avenue. I laughed to myself when he walked down the road and got to the front of the gate before me with his long legs. The office was locked again. Also, the men's toilet was locked and I had to go use it so I had to hold up.

    At the end of the homeroom session, there was a big talk about a girl lying to a teacher and carrying a parrot to Nelson’s Island in a lunch kit, which possibly destroyed an entire ecosystem. Miss Mustapha mentioned that she had been acting Principal and Acting Vice Principal for the past two days. I was happy for her a little bit. The other bit not so much with the work and responsibilities that come with it, lolz.

    Looked as if they were in big trouble for the parrot. Mrs Jaikaran came in a rush by me saying, “De Diwali programme on. Just waiting for the date to be confirmed. So get yuh act together.” The word “act” caught me by surprise in a concerned way but maybe she was in a hurry to get to class. When I got to the café I saw Miss Mary and “Carthio” talking to each other. Mr Richard jumped and said that he had no pepper for me when I asked him for double heavy pepper.

    Jess did rhythmic work with the Form 1s in beat groupings of 2s, 3s, and 4s. They were introduced to the terms bar and barline. Maybe this was the introduction for time signatures? The homework was corrected after. I spent the recess time with “Ace”, “Varry”, and “Jay” by the piano. “Varry” got through the first line of George’s anthem on the piano. They then moved on to try figuring out a song called “Road Runaway” from memory until the end of recess. I had never heard that song before.

    Jess ended up playing the drums in the pan room. Praise God the men's room was opened and I got to use it. Mrs Ramsingh and I had a good laugh about it outside again. I went to help out the office but someone had gone with their table that was needed to put “DD” stuff. I went to practice with “Mel” and got to beat the Toc-toc again.

    The practice ran right into the seventh period and 1L came. They were given the same rhythmic lesson as 1F this morning. Except the homework was corrected first by me while she went to chat with Roberts. The rain clouds were really dark in the sky. It was nice to see the three fellers again at lunchtime. The evening went by too. There was no water until 10 PM.

    I got to speak with Clarence about the library and things that we need to do. The Adult’s Welcome Letter was emailed to him for reviewing and working on the required two introduction paragraphs. I got work done on the COAG song “Has God Truly Become Your Life” and it should be completed soon.

    The other one can be worked on or “Gracefully Broken” by Tasha Cobbs. I did not spend much time with the music but the television went on until midnight. Thankfully, I was able to stick the receipts on paper for submission to Clarence on Sunday.

 

LINK(S):

• Road Runaway.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:11 am – 3:25 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #83) – Day #379

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 16 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 10 November 2024)

[T1, W:07 – WD:29, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    Another morning was it to awake. I got dressed casually for the first day of Table Tennis classes if it happens. I was lucky to make it to school early. People were around my desk. Finally, they all moved away. I gave “Mel” her birthday gift in a plastic bag. It was a crossword puzzle book. Only when I finished my Curepe pie, I signed the inside of the front cover.

    Jess and I had a class with 2L. The children went to change for their presentations. They had to research the history of a parang person to present, a single one of their songs and the others in the group would dress as backup singers. I liked the song done by Ameer's group, which would be nice to be a steelpan arrangement (“Papa Chucks”). The second group did “Education”. Some of the groups did not have their history so the mark will have to remain until they upload it to the Google Classroom.

    While 3M was coming down, I went to buy the pies for after lunch. I asked Mr Richard to keep the pepper out until when I go to collect them. Not many of the students had their work for presentation or tracks selected, which also was the reason no one chose a genre. Recess came and I spent the time with the Form 4s. Jess went to get her duster while I corrected the scales, triads and beaming in their Grade 3 past paper done in class previously.

    There was an early review of time signatures and the note tree. They spoke about the history topics and distributed it from now to the first term of their Form 5 experiences. Water soaked the corridors. Mrs Solomon was working with two girls and said she might be ready by 12:45. I didn’t bother going back again. Instead, I went to eat the two pies I paid for earlier. I remained by my desk to complete Exodus Eleven. I began chapter Twelve right after.

    At the end of school, “Mel” was surprised at my first day of Table Tennis. Spoke with the teacher about the fee and also the possibility of training for tournaments. My first attempt was “Mr Dass”. Just before “Miss Gumbs” was showing me how to hold the paddles. I also got to play “Jenny” Atwell a few times and some games with Vade.

    I also had a few with Jahiem and he was trying to show me how to serve and how to swing the paddle (out front; NOT sidewards). I was swinging the paddle too high. The first try was very difficult for me. I left school a few minutes after 4 as discussed with the coach. He mentioned that his surname was Ali as well. Have not been feeling to do any music writing these few days.

    Tonight I took some time trying to find the documents for Isa and remaking some to single sheets instead of supplicates on one page. Just like the children’s package having a letter, I decided to go and make one for the adults as a welcome letter one time.

    This creation took me three hours to compose the vocabulary for the dull document, which was half a letter-sized page on both sides. A separate and yet independent border was also selected for it. I will have to see if Clarence can come up with the two paragraphs for the introduction and welcoming. The lower part and all of the second side were done by me for tips on the registration.

    Later that night, after 10:45, my time for gaming was taken to try and tally the receipts for reimbursement. After 5 attempts the final number kept on varying. I will have to give it another try tomorrow evening.

 

LINK(S):

• Papa Chunks.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:51 am – 4:25 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #83) – Day #378

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 15 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 10 November 2024)

[T1, W:07 – WD:28, (Td:3)*].

** short scoring

Dear Diary,

    This morning was another difficult challenge to get up. Only at 7:10, I got up to shower. Thank God I made it just in time for school. Assembly time was very quick. I saw Miss Harris and her children out in Barataria for a ride to school. She was there by the time I walked into the staffroom. There was no sign of Jess as yet. Still feeling very tired and hungry. Looked like they cleaned the kitchen. I loved the Margarine smell but now it's upsetting with the replacement of bleach.

    I went to the cafeteria. On my way there Mrs Solomon was now coming in by the waiting corridor. She spoke to me about the catalogue cards. Since we did not have internet we planned to meet at lunchtime tomorrow. Aaron and “Gabby” were liming in the hall as I walked over. There was a new boy who served me the pies this morning. Mr Richard asked if I wanted more pepper and he said sure when I said yes.

    I wasn’t sure if Jess or Roberts were in the office but it was the same green colour as I was about to wear as well. I’m glad I didn’t because “AJ”, “Hams” and Mrs “Choti-Ram” had those colours on. As I looked on it looked like Maroon or green was the colour for the day. As I was eating, Jess said that she had some documents to print for the Form 4s and asked for me to collect them at recess time. She also spoke with me about the master timetable to be made for this academic year.

    Soon Donna came in making a joke about someone vomiting in the kitchen. She also made a joke about me having “fun” in the staffroom. It seemed as though she was mentioning me about writing in the journal and we laughed. Mrs Santana got the “That’s What Friends Are For” score copy that was left for her. She made a joke about friends and Miss Dayna laughed while I was having my Channa pies. They were good and hit the spot but what was not good was my drink from the fridge going missing just so.

    Haven’t seen Dr Allisson for these past two days. I wish I could take days off like her when she needed them. Jess and I had 1F in the third period. As soon as I made the corner to the music room, she said we would go to 1F homeroom instead. The same was done with 1L yesterday. The time took longer to go. Had to use the washroom quickly as I got back to the staffroom. I got the copies after having time to go back and ask Jess for the number of copies in her email she wanted.

    The Form 4s had their SBA session today. I got pictures from “Gabby” notes of yesterday and today. Today’s topic was the rationale, instrumentation (in a table, instrument family, class, timestamp of entry), genre, and expressive features (Dynamics, Tempo, Articulation). We had a few minutes and only the Bhajan was played.

    Panorana practice was on today and Mr Marcelle said that after the meeting he chose the song “Out and Bad” as the tune of choice after experiencing the meeting from last evening after school. He also mentioned that he was going to begin the introduction immediately which he doesn’t usually do first. Everyone in the practice was given the rhythm and I began to score the rhythm while other students wrote out their music in copybooks. He got to see the scoring and agreed on the difficulty of moving from crotchet beats to minim’s cut-time.

    Later that afternoon, I went to visit Isa and he printed a version of the fused ‘cat’ and ‘sub’ card. He used a different software from Adobe to line up the documents properly The other separate cards were made by me on Microsoft as a test and they didn’t line up. Isa said that it was best for me to recreate the document as a single sheet and he will make the software duplicate them on a page.

    In my hands, I was then left with a tight decision to make. I busted the joke to Isa and Daddy that I had to choose between the two types of cards as if a doctor was asking me if I wanted twins (being obedient) or the only single child alone (‘rebellious’). We had a good laugh at the word rebellious too concerning myself.

    A stop at Vashni was made for markers. I saw that they had book ends but Avion didn’t know where I could get them. The second of two COAG songs got chord symbols inserted tonight. I also got strums to work after a long stressful trial of making them work. Hopefully, both songs will be completed by the end of next week.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:58 am – 2:45 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #83) – Day #377

Date for Entry: (Monday 14 October 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (2024)

[T1, W:07 – WD:27, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    It was too difficult to wake up. I sat on the couch like a zombie. Daddy asked why I wasn’t ready yet so I explained the same. The time was 7:55 to get to the compound. I told Miss Happy Birthday when she came and said by her desk. “Choo Choo” spoke with her. The assembly went by late too. It took up the full first period.

    Jess could not find the keys to the music room. Miss Harris came in. I sat by a drain studying how I could have forgotten my diary at home. She found the keys and took the 2L children down to the music room. I remained waiting for the few students to write on paper some information for their roll book. Before it blew away I took it to Mrs Ramsingh one time. Thankfully she was by her desk in the staffroom to receive the paper.

    Jess gave me the theory to do with descending scales: G, D, A major in the sharps and F and Bb in flats. Didn’t know Mr Marcelle was there in the pan room until after recess. Roberts was also there until after recess. She took the classroom for the two Upper Six students.

    The 1L children were taken back to their homeroom. They were taken through the words of the National Anthem and were given questions from Claire’s book. I felt too hungry although I had two Channa pies during the third period. Miss Hannah was shocked when I asked for more pepper. She laughed and went to prepare the pies.

    There was a man named Naiem who came to Trinidad from Denmark at school that morning. I learned he was a past student before migrating. He came looking for Miss Paul. I was able to let him know that she had retired. While sitting at my desk “Mel” came back. She asked if I was going to the meeting. I didn’t know today was going to be Panorama practice. She said that’s why she came back from class early.

    When we got to the music room no practice was going on. “Mr Hunte” and Mr Marcelle were rearranging the pan room. I ended up playing a chromatic exercise with “Mr Hunte” and Seth that Mr Marcelle gave them to do. We were joined by Arela on the Double Tenor and he played the Tenor Bass. He was surprised that I got out the entire chromatic exercise.

    I spent the rest of the roll call and seventh period helping him make the room neater. He continued to change the hooks on some of the background pans, while Jess taught Family of Instruments and Classification of Instruments to the Form 4 students. She moved onto scales in the eighth period.

    While I sat back in the staffroom to ask if there would be a Panorama meeting Mr Marcelle confirmed. I rejoined the class to do Double Tenor for the rest of the scales. We went through “Yisu Ni Kaha” and Mr Marcelle enjoyed it. After school, he commented lightly on the chords used and the pitch allocation for the voices (or different steelpan instruments). Individual pieces were worked on in the last few minutes before school was over.

    It was only after 3:35 that the meeting began. Only a lady was there apart from Jess, “Mel”, Mr Marcelle, Mrs Rivas, Mr Charles and myself. We had a good laugh in there towards the end about a previous George’s sports day. Aunty Vangy had allowed me to attend the meeting. Didin’t know that she was coming to get me. The gentleman to see about the bathroom was coming this evening.

    As soon as I got out of the car “Super” had called me to ask for help on his History paper. He was considering doing a second paper when not have the time to learn an entirely new piece to present before the class. I had some explaining for that. He said this idea came from the early printery.

    Tonight I got to the chorus of “Has God Truly Become Your Life” from the COAG group. There was a great deal of progress made. The time was running close to 8:40 so I stopped to write the entire journal entry for today. When to lay down on the couch and fought to get up.

 

LINK(S):

• “Has God Truly Become Your Life”.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:55 am – 3:07 pm)