Caribbean Studies Project - THESIS (MUSC 3099)

 Date for Entry: (Friday 24th January 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 27th June 2022)

Dear Diary,

    The time for the final year came and I knew I would be forced to do this ('year long') course. It was a course I knew that Degree students had to put together a project together like a book called a thesis and I was very scared of it since my certificate days. The thesis was just one of the many reasons why I did not want to do the degree in music. 

    There were no fixed days and times for thesis meetings with Mr. Sharma. He had agreed to be my supervisor for this project. I can recall people telling me to pick a topic that I was "interested in music" or "what is it that interests you the most" about something from my field of study. 

    Truthfully, I had no idea what I was interested in. Indeed, I had to go back to my second year days in primary school to study my entire life. Instead, I discovered questions bringing panic instead of a topic. It made me question why I was into music. It was not something I chose on my own. I only knew that it was chosen for me. And when passion came to the 'brainstorming table', I realised that I was going with the music as a person walking with me for all this time. 

    I did not understand why it would take me so long to find a topic. I felt left behind when others in the class were already with their topic and filling out their forms for topic registration. I even had a whole meeting with Mr. Sharma on just picking a topic alone. He was telling me that it is good to have three really good topics in case the one I chose was already taken or written on. He had to take a phone call in the middle of it so that gave me some time to think of it. All I could think about was Dr. Remy's Music Literature of the Steelpan Course.

    That course was something I wish I could have expanded on because I knew I liked making books from small. I could hear my thoughts from within saying, "Pick a topic you could talk on plenty." It made a lot of sense. I had a lot of work to work on and if it was a topic I could "talk on plenty" I would have exactly what to say, where to find the information either at home or in the library and how to structure the whole project. The bonus on it was that steelpan is a major aspect of the Caribbean and it still is a section of music that requires expansion.

    It was not easy convincing Mr. Sharma after his long phone call, to accept what I had written down in my copybook as the topic. We came up with two other topics and after I got some time to work on the wording, he reviewed them. By the end of my individual steelpan class with him the next week, I had my topic registration form filled out and he had to sign it, along with his copy and my copy. As soon as he signed it and I got into the car, I asked daddy to take me down to the 'Big UWI' to submit the three forms immediately ( **** September 2019). 

Link(s):

1. Course Guide.
2. Approved Topic Registration Form.**

SEMINAR #1.

* Unknown/Forgotten (Saturday November 2019) *

    We were asked to attend an online class for the thesis. I was very excepted because it was the first online class I was attending. The platform was called Blackboard Collaborate. I found the software very professional and really high-quality. This was a part of UWI's My-E-Learning. The PowerPoint slides were amazing. I appreciated all of the decorations. This plenary was not stressful or as scary as I thought it would be. 

Link(s):

1. PowerPoint Lecture Slides - Seminar #1.

SEMINAR #2.

* Saturday 12 October 2019 *

    The second semester was to be done in person in a classroom in the Humanities Building. I cannot recall the time it began. The entire class in a complicated group from all other creative fields were assembled. We met Dr. McCollins and Mrs. Marshall who ran the course in person. 

    This plenary literally gave us insight into everything expected in the project. Towards the end of the seminar, Mrs. Marshall gave us back our topic registration Forms. They kept a copy that was supposed to be theirs and I received the copy for Mr. Sharma and my personal copy.

Link(s):

1. PowerPoint Lecture Slides - Seminar #2.

MID-YEAR "SUBMISSIONS"/REVIEW.

* Friday 20th December 2019 *

    This was the submission of a form that the supervisor had to fill and I had to submit it in Mrs. Marshall's cubical down at the 'Big UWI'. On Thursday before, I had enough of someone provoking and damaging me all semester long. 

    The semester and exams were over so I went to set up my little table in school to do some painting in the Cheesman Building. I want the distraction from everything that had happened to me. This was a wish of mine to be able to sit in school and do the painting. All the pieces would go towards my composition assignments for the composition course with Mr. Sharma.

    Surprising an art school don't have a place for their painters to paint. I listened to the piano pieces for the exam going on inside Lecture Room 3. Did not know it was an exam until I heard applause.

    As the exam came to an end everyone exited the building and then I saw Mr. Sharma and Mrs. Ramlal looking down at me. He told me that the submission for the thesis mid-term review was supposed to be done and we didn't go through it. Didn't even know I had to do that. The moment the joke came I could have exploded. 

    So when they left me: I packed up my stuff, went all the way home, got my flashdrive with the project, and got back to school at the scheduled time that same day. I had an hour to wait to get back to school in the office's waiting area for the student there to finish. 

    The project was looked at with everything that was done and Mr. Sharma filled out his supervisor's form. It did not take more than an hour to do. As soon as that was over, I went down to the 'Big UWI' immediately again and submitted that form to Mrs. Marshall. Overall, I'm not sure how many students would have done this but it did seem like an important exercise to see if the student was doing their work.

SEMINAR #3.

* Unknown/Forgotten Date (February 2020) *

    This was the final seminar for the course. It was a very lengthy and energy-consuming one. It was a review of everything discusses in the previous seminars and also some other guidelines on the submission and the content of our projects. My hand was writing as fast as it could while the two ladies spoke. Their advice and comments were not in the slides. 

Link(s):

1. PowerPoint Lecture Slides - Seminar #3.

FINAL SUBMISSION.

* Friday 17th April 2020 *

    The date above was the deadline for the thesis. However, for me, I was at home number two in the shed having a review of my thesis (on Thursday 16th April 2020). I decided to convert the Microsoft file into a PDF and then have it submitted to the appropriate portal of UWI's My-E-Learning platform. 

    Indeed, it was an early submission. My work was already reviewed with Mr. Sharma the evening before and he told me to "keep checking over and if you really want to submit early then the choice is yours." I asked for his opinion because I wanted to submit it on time. 

    I did not want something to go wrong such as glitches or an overload of students on the platform causing a delay with their uploads on the deadline mentioned above. I decided to enjoy the rest of the evening. One short surprise scare was that Dr. Remy told me I spelt Mr. Funk's name incorrect without the K. I didn't bother. The project was complete and was finally over with until the deadline at 4PM was met.

Link(s):

1. Thesis (Submission) - Daryl-Ali-HUMN3099-2020.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Steel Orchestral Techniques - (MUSC 3103)

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 22nd January 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 27th June 2022)

**image of textbook cover.

Dear Diary,

    This course took place in the Pan Theatre/Studio 3 of the campus instructed by Mr. Sharma. It would be my second course in there are the fundamentals of Steelpan Arranging in the Certificate programme. We were given copies of the course textbook and a baton. They were to be paid for from the second class which I did. I really did like the coloured paper of the course textbook. It was a nice add as compared to all the other compiled textbooks that were handed down to us in previous classes.

    This course would have been a practical one where each member would have a change to practice conducting different full band excerpts. When one person was up in front, we were expected to be paying attention of direction/instruction by Mr Sharma and playing the music at the same time. Whenever other students were conducting, I had my book and pencil to the side in case other notes were needed. I just wrote them out in my course textbook instead for easy lesson finding.

    I can remember that I was the first in class to go up and do the conducting. I wasn’t scared but really excited to try. There were two times in class that I was called on. The third would have been the mid-term assessment. Other events occurring from this course would be reflect on below.

Link(s):

1. Course Outline.

 

MID-TERM ASSESSMENT.

* Wednesday 11 March 2020 *

    This was the day after my birthday and that crazy exam from Mr. Murray. I also had my thesis interview done with Dr. Remy earlier this morning. We had conducting exam today. I was the first one to go up and do the exam. I got to school in all black. A dress code was not given for the exam but I thought that would have been suitable for the exam because it would given the class members playing more focus to my face and hands.

    There were four pieces to do: (1) an excerpt from lesson one, (2) an excerpt from lesson two, (3) an excerpt from the fermatas section, and (4) excerpt from the lecturer’s choice. As I conducted, I saw the notes I made from the classes and remembered what to do.

    There were some where I was asked to do the conducting over. The best ones were uploaded to YouTube as an unlisted video by Mr. Sharma for us to do our evaluations. We were asked to review the conducting of ourselves and put a mark.

    Mr. Sharma said that he would also be doing the evaluation and might be emailing some of us for consultation on the type of mark we gave ourselves if it was not close to this grade. Luckily, I was not one of those persons. Not sure if it was a joke or true statement but then I’m not sure of anyone exhibited that instance. The evaluation was submitted (on ****) by email.

    I did not agree with the form given to us in the course outline. I decided to recreate the work and had it submitted. There were two versions of the form done.

Link(s):

• Evaluation of Conducting. ** [Not Available.]
• Conducting Evaluation Form – My Version.
• Pre-Downbeat-Prep – (Conducting Recording).**
• Cononation March – (Conducting Recording).**
• Sie…Bach – (Conducting Recording).**
• Nocturne by Mendelson – (Conducting Recording).**

FINAL ‘PROJECT’/FINAL BAND CONDUCTING ASSESSMENT.

* Forgotten/Unknown Date *

    This course did not have a final written exam. It was a 100% practical coursework class. This kind of assignment just like the choral assignment I was very worried about and did not want to do. Thankfully again, COVID-19 came and forced the assessment to be forced to change.

    Initially, we would have been asked to select a full band piece. To the late parts of the semester some of us in the class went to the office and go scores from a big box of music that Mr. Sharma allowed us to make copies of. I had registered to do “A Whole New World” on his list after gaining approval. When the weekend came, I went to Musescore and rewrote the entire thing because it did not look very professional. These pieces were works done by previous students.

    A Zoom meeting was held for the class for the modification of this final project. We were given an email first with YouTube recording of steelband performances to listen to first. We were asked to select the piece that we were interested in conducting and there would one separate class for those. I had chosen “Song of Lopinot” by Dr. Jit Samaroo. We were asked several practice questions on the piece and then dismissed. We were told to create a recording and have it submitted for marking along with the same evaluation done as in the mid-term assessment.

    The deadline was removed for submissions at any time to work on thesis later onward. There was also going to be a viva voce section of this assignment like in the Choral modified assignment. This was held on (****) zoom for the week it was done. There were going to be a few students on a particular day having their conducting recording being reviewed by Mr. Sharma and then we were asked several questions on the pieces and from the score. I recall being in Curepe and house two’s living-room doing this part of the exam. Luckily, it was alright. I still wished I had better ways of answering them.

    In my time of “Music Literatures of the Steelpan” course I was happy to have made a copy of the score when I had to do the book report assignments. Those were the two time I visited the Festival Library down by the ‘Big UWI’ where the Republic Bank now stands. I was able to study it with the recording on YouTube for the conducting exercise.

Link(s):

• “A Whole New World” – Full Score. ** [Permission was not granted.]
• “Song of Lopinot” – Conducting Recording.**

x

 

    I was glad that the course worked out well in my favour along with the COVID. Since day one I had thoughts on working on a new version of the curse textbook but I thought of Musescore ad did not find it necessary. I found the book good enough to stand on its own. Who knows, maybe one day I will just decide to go and make a version of my own since I like to make over these kinds of books. 

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Choral Techniques - (MUSC 3102)

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 21st January 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 28th June 2022)

Dear Diary,

    It was somehow mandatory to do this course. A victim again for another semester and now apparently for the whole academic year. The course immediately began on the prescribed time and I sat there in class feeling like there was nothing new but the same class as the last semester. 

    In other words, a similar course with a different name. I did enjoy the score analysis part of it. In terms of assignments, there were too many as the previous vocal class and some conducting to do in the middle. Again, I was thankful for the the COVID-19 being set upon us for the recess I was hoping for (but knew was not possible before the time). 

Link(s):

1. Course Outline.

ASSIGNMENT #1: WARM-UPS.

* Tuesday 5th March 2020 *

    This assignment was difficult to do. I wished I had more experience in vocal works to be able to do this. I had five examples done but they were melodies. I had to do them over. Four out of five new examples were done over last-minute in the Festival Library as I waited for my scheduled time to see Mr. Murray. The class members were asked to schedule their time on a form stuck on the outer side of his office door.

    That meeting determined which Warm-up would be used for the conducting assessment. There was also a conducting and singing aspect of the meeting. I was asked to sing the selected warm-up to make sure I knew it. Then I was asked to conducted. I was tested on mistakes and then asked to comment on his singing.

Link(s):

1. Warm-ups Mistake. ** [For Request by Email.]

 

ASSIGNMENT #2: WARM-UPS CONDUCTING.

*Tuesday 10th March 2020 *

    This was my birthday. It was not so hurtful as the others, thank God. I also had the warm-up conducting where I had to teach the class the selected warm-up and then conduct them. This exercise was recorded in class but the recording was corrupt and could not play. The copy by email gave the same issue. There were several times that Mr. Murray stopped me in the middle of the exam to the point where I got angry. I wanted to just give up on it or demand a zero and walk out the door.

Link(s):

1. Conducting Assessment - Recording. ** [Not Available.]

 

QUEEN’S HALL ‘CLASS’ FIELD TRIP.

* Friday 13th March 2020 *

**group pic

    Mr. Murray was planning for us to have a class field trip to go down to Queen’s Hall for a viewing of vocal music at the Music Festival being hosted there. It was the Wednesday after the conducting exercise but because of Steel Orchestral Mid-Term assessment it was postponed to the Friday.

    However, during my thesis meeting with Mr. Sharma, we got the news that there was the first recorded case of COVID-19 in the country. Mr. Murray sent out an email saying that the field trip was cancelled because of that. This took conversation but lightly in our chat group.

    A lot of others were backing out and took the weekend to themselves and some others were still going. I honestly didn’t bother to care about COVID-19 at the time. Going out and experiencing something like this was never part of my childhood/schooling life so I dressed up and went down to Queen’s Hall with Brandon. We met three students from class who came in some minutes after us. Unfortunately, the programs were sold out by the time we got into the sitting area.

    There were a few different competitions taking place one after the next. The singing competitions for the night took place first. A lot of us in the audience were confused most of the times when the lady made errors in pronunciations of the pieces. Few times we saw Andrew from class accompanying some of the contestants.

    There was a steelpan composition section to be judged but Brandon was ready to leave. We left the Hall and got back up to Curepe. I still have some of the points in my scrap book. Mr. Murray told us to walk with a book to make notes when the judges made comments on some of the performances:

• XXX

    Some of the groups were also called back onto the stage to give feedback. Carl was the conductor for a vocal group and his one was also called down. Not many persons were there in the Hall at that time of the night. But I did have a great time. The COVID-19 masks were not in effect at this time. It felt like I had gotten to go out for my birthday in a way. Discussions on me making a course textbook was also opened up while we waited in the sitting area.

 

ASSIGNMENT #3: REPERTOIRE & SCORE ANALYSIS.

* Monday 16th March 2020 *

    We were asked to select twenty vocal pieces of music and analysis them. It took me a while to finally sit down and begin on the said date above. Since there were twenty of them, I decided to analyse four pieces for the weeks and by Saturday the assignment would have been ready.

    The form for this assignment was taken as an arrangement of my newspaper forms from the “A Season of Steelpan” research books. I thought that the watermark at the back was a lot of distraction from the content just looking back at it. I had tried my best to find YouTube recordings that matched the literature in the score and have it inserted into the document. When the assignment was returned (***) there were only a few comments that made as notes within the file.

Link(s):

1. Graded Score Analysis Submission. 

 

ASSIGNMENT #4: REHEARSAL PRESENTATIONS.

* Tuesday 27th April 2020 *

**email for psalm approval

    This assignment may have been very unbelievable to do in real. We were expected to learn a selected vocal piece of our choice and then be prepared to conduct it. Since the COVID-19 lockdown prevented the assessment to go the way it should have been, we were asked to have a class meeting on Zoom to discuss the assignment.

    This assignment was modified to be a viva voce exercise where the piece would have been emailed for approval as usual but then questions would have been asked on certain points of the music. This exam was conducted on Tuesday 5 of May 2020 as a one of one via Zoom. Each person had their own time scheduled. The questions were alright. Two of them were very difficult for me.

Link(s):

1. “A Psalm of Praise” Score.

 

ASSIGNMENT #5: INTERNAL CHORAL MANAGEMENT.

* Friday 8th May 2020 *

**email of submitted assignment

    The date printed above was the submission date via email. We had to plan an entire choral concert including putting music together, selecting venues, preparing a budget, etc.

    I decided to prepare five documents that separated each of the required portions of work. I thought that might have made the grading aspect easier for Mr. Murray. One document was completed per day. The Saturday was review of all prepared documents of the assignment and then submission late that night. For the purpose of easy documentation, attachments 1 to 4 was saved as one file below. The fifth attachment goes separately.

    I decided to call the event “A Night of Musical Delight.” I had to think of my friend Anton in order to gather a lot of inspiration and assistance to complete this assignment. We were told that the concert had to be “concert programme of pieces – no less than one hour. 40 minutes of the programme must be strictly choral music.” I decided to work on the pieces one time.

Link(s):

1. Choral Concert Assignment Instructions.
2. Night of Musical Delight (Concert) – Attachment 1-4.
3. Night of Musical Delight (Concert) – Attachment 5.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Music Education 2 - (MUSC 3502)

 Date for Entry: (Monday 20th January 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 27th June 2022)

Dear Diary,

    The writing below is a profile and recording of the events and coursework done in the Department of Festival and Creative Arts (DCFA) Music Degree Course, Music Education 2. Mr. Sharma was the lecturer again for the course and it was a continuation of Music Education 1 from the previous semester. 

    Several works in this course were more PowerPoint lectures done by the students and document-making assignments that were to be submitted by email. There were no works of DAPHA Projects done for this course.

    The first class began with a light joke about the final written examination of Music Education 1 and how everyone failed it. The class began shortly afterward.

Link(s):

1. Course Outline.

ASSIGNMENT #1: REFLECTION PAPER.

* Wednesday 12th February 2020 *

**email

This assignment asked us to write on teaching methods by Dalcroze, Orff, Kodaly, and Suzuki Talent Education. Two questions were also required to be answered:

• What aspect(s) of each approach do you think you can use in your own teaching style and why? 
• Compose a concluding paragraph stating specifically what you would use in your own teaching practice (Include at least one aspect for each method).

    I did one paragraph on each different method and included a response to the questions above. I could not believe how long it took me to complete this exercise. The assignment was sent in my email and the results came back within two weeks.

Link(s):

1. Reflection Paper.** [Not Available.]

ASSIGNMENT #2: PERSONAL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY.

* Monday 16th March 2020 *

**email

This assignment was two pages in length. It was not so difficult as the first. However, it made me question myself as a teacher and I questioned which of the several methods studied in class and those from the previous course would best suit me. 

Link(s):

1. Teaching Philosophy.** [Not Available.]

ASSIGNMENT #3: CURRICULUM DESIGN.

* Monday 23rd March 2020 *

**email

    I was asked to “design a three-week unit of lessons” for any secondary class. I must admit I was very panicked about doing an assignment like this because I had no idea what to do. I also did not have an idea what I could design to teach in three weeks. Only coming down to the final few days I was able to sit down comfortably in my gallery at home and plan out what I wanted to teach.

**image of the plan for the assignment.

    I decided I would have my curriculum assignment designed for a Form 4 class that would sign up for Music CXC. It was an attempt to see how best I would have introduced the younger version of Daryl to steelpan arranging.

    Although the assignment was to be a Form Four class as mentioned in the submitted assignment, my mind was planning it out for a Form 3 class. It was my wish that there would have been some form of steelpan education in music before music was ‘dumped’ overall upon moving into Form 4.

    One challenge given to us was that we had to utilize several learning theories in the lessons. In addition, to have work where the students were working together. This brought the idea for steelpan arranging where the members of the class would be placed into groups. They would be required to create a short melody on their own, learn how to create a harmony for their melody, and apply rhythmic accompaniment for the rest of the steel band. Six learning outcomes would have had to be presented as part of the students’ experience in the project.

    The rest of the project would involve the students in using computer notation to put the arrangement together and consult with their teacher on their progress. Towards the end, a written portfolio would be submitted for a separate grading that would include a copy of the score, journal entries, and other materials used throughout the three lessons. The second part of grading would then focus on the group performance based on the group’s creation.

    Upon submission of this entire assignment (on the printed date above), I also included a PowerPoint that would have been used in all three lessons. This was not mandatory but I still did it to illustrate the various topics that would have been discussed during class ‘plenaries’ to teach the students.

    The plan was very helpful. The next being challenge was providing a way to grade everything with the rubric. Just looking at that long letter-sized page was super intimidating to me.

    I will agree in saying that this assignment was a last-minute done project with the amount of time taken to figure out what I wanted to do and then being able to come up with a plan. Once the plan was made for the lessons, I made a strategy in completing the entire assignment within six days. It was workable and effective. The assignment was then ready for submission by email.

Link(s):

1. Submitted Assignment. 
2. PowerPoint Slides (Sample) – Lessons 1-3.
3. Melody Worksheet. ** [For Request by Email.]

ASSIGNMENT #4: OBSERVATION REPORTS.

* Thursday 28th May 2020 *

**email

    The class was expected to get permission from a school or whomever to observe the class for three lessons and write a report on the conducting of the class lesson by the teacher and answer some questions on the students by an understanding of the lesson, working environment, any group working, etc. I was also asked as part of the observation to make recommendations and other suggestions that may have been better for the lesson.

    This was an assignment that I did not find much comfort in doing because it seemed unusual how they would ask us to go out into a school for an assignment like this. In many ways, I thank the conditions of COVID-19 which caused the assignment to be amended for better production.

    We were emailed a series of YouTube links to study the class lesson as if we were there and write a report on them. There were three observations required so I did one a day with a fresh mind to focus on everything. Because of the lockdown, the deadline was pushed back. It would be unknown but the submission date would be the date printed on the email message.

Link(s):

1. Assignment Submission.

• 4th Grade Rhythm Activity and Solfege Activity.

• Fifth Grade Lesson (Part 1).

ASSIGNMENT #5: PORTFOLIO.

*Thursday 28th May 2020 *

**email

    The course outline stated: “A teaching portfolio is a collection of materials compiled by a teacher to represent aspects of a teacher’s own practice. It is a vehicle for self-evaluation, as it allows the teacher to reflect on his or her philosophy and practice, to assess strengths and weaknesses, and highlight growth points and accomplishments.” This to me sounded a little like my music journal. At that time, my music journal was 14 printed volumes and 16 batches of unbound paper.

    When I heard that the deadline was moved to a further date too like assignment 4 because of the COVID-19 lockdown, I got to work immediately. Everything was opened in the house and set down all over the living room for photographs. All textbooks for UWI courses, assignments, and other works I had done were ready to be written in this assignment document. It was not difficult to do at all because I had written about everything in my music journal. Other parts were required to be expanded for the assignment.

Link(s):

1. Submitted Portfolio. 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Choral Arranging - (MUSC 3201)

Date for Entry: (Thursday 12 September 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 21st March 2022)

Dear Diary,

This course was a lot of trouble and work. I did not like it too much because of the difficulties and obstacles that occurred to make me stumble. There are several activities that were required of us to complete and submit. Not all were graded towards final marks. It was in the second class that I was able to pay for the course textbooks and started conducting with the class. Some of these assignments were not labeled properly on submitted assignments. They remain the same in entries below.

Link(s):

1. Textbooks Receipt.
2. Course Outline.

 

ASSIGNMENT #1: CANTUS FIRMUS & COUNTERPOINT.

* Thursday 19 September 2019 *

This was homework. It was returned on Thursday 3^rd October 2019. I was glad that there were not many things wrong with it. I still did not understand the work involved in it that much.

Link(s):

1. Cantus Firmus & Counterpoint - Assignment #1.
2. Cantus Firmus & Counterpoint (Recording).**

 

ASSIGNMENT #2: FOUR-PART WRITING.

* Thursday 26^th September 2019 *

I got back this assignment on Thursday 3^rd October 2019. Seems as if there were other parts of the homework that I did not even realize I had to do. On the other hand, I was grateful that not many scratch markings were done on the assignment again.

Link(s):

1. Four-Part Writing - Assignment #2.
2. Four-Part Writing [Assignment 2] - (Recording).**

 

ASSIGNMENT 3: PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT

* Monday 30 September 2019 *

These questions were taken from the textbook. I decided to do one a day to complete them. It really did need one day to focus and complete each exercise. I did not remember to leave out my name. That’s why Mr. Murry scratched it out. He wanted my student’s number alone. 

    The third one was where he pulled one of the many jokes on in front of the class. Looking back at the scratched markings in red like blood, I was disappointed in myself that I couldn’t work it out better. The compilation video was created on Friday 5th August 2022 and became a DAPHA Project.

Link(s):

1. Piano Accompaniment – Assignment.
2. Piano Accompaniment – Assignment #3 (Recording).

 

ASSIGNMENT 4: THREE-PART WRITING – 

“BOYSIE”

* x *

The biggest scratch I should see after getting this assignment back was the question for a cover page. I was “oh goooooooosh”. I got 14 out of 20 for the piece. I still would like to take a listen of the recording to see what it was like in the time of doing the course.

Link(s):

1. “Boysie” Two-Part Writing - Assignment #4.
2. “Boysie” Two-Part Writing - Assignment #4 (Recording).**

 

ASSIGNMENT #5: THREE-PART WRITING – 

“THE WATER IS WIDE”.

* Thursday 19 September 2019 *

This assignment was one that took me a big fight to accomplish. I was met by Mr. Murry on the corridor and he yanked me aside verbally. He said that I got zero in my assignment. I did smile and fake it but at that point of the semester, I had endured enough mess. The other angering and hurting events cannot be recorded or said here. I had to do over the assignment and submit it again. I did exactly that and left it there to continue swallowing the poison. I thank God that I am free and not trapped as the others.

Link(s):

1. “The Water is Wide” Assignment 5 – 1st Attempt.**
2. “The Water is Wide” Assignment #5– [2nd Attempt].
3. “The Water is Wide” Assignment 5 – 2nd Attempt (Recording).**

 

ASSIGNMENT #6: FOUR-PART WRITING – 

“GLORY BE TO THEE, MY GOD THIS NIGHT”.

* Monday 25 November 2019 *

The class was given three strophes (or verses) and were asked too three types of accompaniments, create an introduction, one homophonic technique at least, and at least two polyphonic textures. Luckily, the strophe was eight measures long. I did remember the name Thomas Tallis from my Western History reading.

    Looking back at the scratches, I did not know why Mr. Murry wanted my piano accompaniment to be lower. The same thing happened on the second page. However, he also had a problem with the forte moving to piano on the next beat of measure ten. A circle appeared on page five and that does not have any problems for me. I’m glad with the mark at the end.

Link(s):

1. “Glory be to Thee, My God this Night” - Assignment #6.
2. “Glory be to Thee, My God this Night” Assignment 6. (Recording).**

 

ASSIGNMENT #7: FINAL SATB – 

“JOHNNY GROTTO”.

* Monday 16 December 2019 *

We were asked to select a West-Indian song and arrange it for SATB with piano accompaniment and it had to be at least forty measures. I did a lot and Mr. Murray said to take out some. The instructions page detail other techniques required. The song of choice I did was “Johnny Grotto” which is provided in the document also. The assignment was submitted at the DCFA office on the day of the Music Education 1 final examination.

Link(s):

1. “Johnny Grotto” - Assignment #7.
2. “Johnny Grotto” Assignment 7 - (Recording).**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Composition - (MUSC 2101)

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 10 September 2019)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 21st March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    I had been looking forward to this course for several semesters since my first year of the certificate program. It was finally here and I happily took my first-row seat as usual. There were several pieces of homework to be done as assignments for marks and a lot of other activities that had made this semester SUPER interesting.

Link(s):

1. Composition– Course Outline.
2. Words and Music Handout.

 

ASSIGNMENT #1 (FIVE IDEAS).

* Tuesday 10 September 2019 *

The first assignment was presented in class tonight. We were asked to find a partner and play one of their ideas for the class. The person I teamed up with was Tinesha. We got a tenor pan to the empty Pan Theatre to try out the ideas. Hers was simple to sight-read out but she seemed surprised when I got them correct.

    When I gave her some of mine, she couldn’t manage so in class I ended up playing all the ideas instead. It took a lot of time to go through the assignment. I might say the whole class when feedback had to be given too. I apologize for the condition of the document. It was chipped up into pieces to save on paper to archive.

Link(s):

1. Five Ideas Assignment.

 

ASSIGNMENT #2 & 3.

* Tuesday 17 September 2019 *

We were asked to develop at least one idea (from assignment 1) and one of his partner’s ideas. Instead, I took one of my idea for assignment one and created another of my own. 

    It was very late in the night before class was over. I was not that well. Mr. Sharma and two other students tried the piece out when I could not make it to play it. It seemed as if the assignment itself was not good enough. My idea was to make something simple. I was thinking of a preliminary piece that might be done for an exam. In the portfolio will be a further discussion on this failed attempt.

Link(s):

1. Assignment 2&3 - First Attempt: Score.
2. Assignment 2&3 - First Attempt: (Recording).**

ASSIGNMENT #4: FORM 

“GORRATA VOCALITO: HUMMINGBIRD MEADOW”.

* Tuesday 1 October 2019 *

I took about four days doing over something from scratch to meet the requirements of assignments two and three to use it as required in assignment four. I was able to make an introduction, the first section, and a second section. 

    Section C was not ready because the time was spent/expired and the class was about to begin. That night, only Mr. Sharma, Brandon, Milano, and I were there in class. Not many were present. Everyone else was not there. They seemed to appreciate and support the long runs in the song. Mr. Sharma supported the piano part and commented on the 'slim' use of writing in it to "make it real easy". This gave me the confidence to continue with the rest of the piece. 

    This piece was presented to the class on another date later in the semester. At that time the entire class was present. I was able to get some comments from Anton mentioning the key changes and the pauses at the end of a section. He compared this piece to the "Dance of Nature" piece for the same comment. It seemed as if all the runs in the piece had made everyone speechless? No one else commented again.

Link(s):

1. Score.**
2. Recording.

ASSIGNMENT #5: MUSIC WITH TEXT – “LOVE IS ALL I NEED”.

* Thursday 17 October 2019 *

**pick of score

There was an assignment that asked us to use a poem and create music for it. During the summer vacation that went, it was a Friday evening after the second ‘Law and Gov’ class that I heard to sound of a different lady singing in my mind. The music given to me was Rehearsal Section A. I did not have a manuscript paper with me in the car, so I took a copybook and wrote out the lyrics before typing to figure out the correct rhythm. I had a lot of hard trials trying to connect back with that lady in my mind for the rest of the music. It was not so easy.

    I did not know what Ella Fitzgerald looked like in real but the sound of the lady in the light silk blue coat sounded like her standing on the club’s stage. The setting for me seeing the woman was in a dark club with a music band. I could not see the woman’s face but from the five seconds I got from hearing Ella’s voice on YouTube, it matched. It seemed scary but I continued to see if I could get help.

    My experience playing the piece in class was a silent one. I did not have many words. I was hoping that Anton would have been able to teach me something. Mr. Sharma had met up with me after a thesis meeting on a Friday evening to help me change measures 78-79. I added it to my journal and did the entry for it.

Link(s):

1. Score.**
2. Recording.**

ASSIGNMENT #6: “DANCE OF NATURE”.

* Unknown/Forgotten Date *

Mr. Sharma told us about a collaboration composition that the DCFA dance department wanted to do with the composition class. He began to explain that the dance was divided into three sections to represent the elements of Earth, Water, and Fire. We were allowed to work in groups of three doing one element each or to attempt composing the entire piece individually.

    Just by the options being given to us, I knew immediately a group attempt would not work. I knew if I had to come up with this composition (or if I chose to), I had to do it all on my own and work out the obstacles. Because it was now a piece of music to be done for a dance. I was not sure if the dance was a group performance or a solo. 

    Some weeks after, some of us in the class were introduced to Ms. Paul who was the teacher for the dance group for this composition project. This was the first time experience for me where music and dance were done. She had three ladies in the dance studio. Each one of them did an individual element. Some of the class students were recording the dances. I took the time to look at the dancers one after the other and special attention to Ms. Paul when she counted in the dancers and the instructions or corrections to the dancers.

    There was a dark and rainy Sunday after coming back from steelpan practice at church, I began working on the composition. I could not rely on anything but what came to my mind and my own discoveries in composing. After three and a half hours of starting, I had thirteen instruments in use. This work continued for some more time, about less than three weeks. After completing the water, I had a medical challenge that became worst and I had to go to the doctor. I could not walk well for two weeks but had to force the pain in school for those weeks.

    Sometime after I was better, I was able to complete the piece. I went to Isa to get two copies of the full score. One was for Mr. Sharma and the other was mine to keep for personal archives. We had a short hour meeting in the office to review the composition with Sir. He had the composition played on the loudspeakers in the office and told me that there is a big difference between hearing the music from the computer and in a large area. The music was then emailed as an MP3 to Mr. Sharma and he sent it off to Ms. Paul since she had already left for the day.

    The piece was also presented in class by Mr. Sharma on the next class we all had to meet. Something about the composition happened but it was fixed and ready for the dancers to use. We had the idea to have the composition done as a live performance but it did not work out. I had all of the parts created and even an Indian music notation score for the sitar in case Mr. Maharaj was to join us. Challenge arose in the process of that score since the key changed so many times. Also, I had to face the occurrences of empty measures. I recalled Mr. Maharaj telling us in class that Indian music is not intended to have any rest for long in between. At some points notating rests was a challenge since sustained pitches also used a dashed line and different rhythmic patterns brought up several challenges.

    The class listened and someone else from class had done music for the earth element. He had shared his creation two weeks before but the other two from his group didn't start. Mr. Sharma told us after playing my composition that he had decided to use my composition because the time was "getting close to the "Festival of Dance" concert and [it] was the only completed piece."

    The Indian Classical Ensemble had to perform for the same concert on both nights (Friday and Saturday). Only on Saturday night, did I get to see the performance with the composition. It was not done exactly as expected. I saw that they had taken the MP3 and made a 'dance collage'. 

    The three elements were videotaped and then scrambled into pieces while the music ran in the recording. I felt cheated in a way because I had calculated each step that the dancers moved in the studio on the day of our in-class recording. Every turn, every move, every step or articulation done by the dancer was timed accordingly so that it would suit the dancers one after the next. In class the week after the concert Mr. Sharma shared a similar comment based on what he was expecting after asking me in front of the class how I found it was. I am still very grateful for the opportunity.

Link(s):

• "Festival of Dance" - Concert Program.
  
• “Dance of Nature” - Score.**
• “Dance of Nature” - (Recording).

EXTRA ASSIGNMENT.

* Unknown/Forgotten Date *

There were five different exercises given to use by Mr. Sharma and it was labeled as Extra Assignments on the UWI's My-E-Learning platform. He said that we could do all five to replace one of the assignments. 

    I personally did them all because I wanted to have the extra fun. However, it was a lot of hard work involved. I also needed to have a good strategy. I decided that since there were five different worksheets to complete for this assignment, I would complete one worksheet a week. 

    Each worksheet per week would be worked on each night on the piano. By each Saturday, the pieces would be reviewed in their entirety and then scored out on Musescore by the Sunday evening. I knew it would work and I felt very proud that all five worksheets were completed by the sixth week of class. Presentations for these worksheets could have been done in class at any time.

Link(s):

1. Extra Assignments: Worksheets.** [Request By Email Only.]
2. Extra Assignments: Scores.** [See Final Portfolio.]
3. Extra Assignments - (Recording).

FINAL PORTFOLIO.

* Unknown/Forgotten Date *

At the end of the semester, a portfolio was required to be submitted. This project would be marked in place of a final examination. In the completion of the assignment, I was proud of all the accomplishments throughout this course. 

    My "Dance of Nature" composition was taken by the DCFA dancers for their "Festival of Dance" concert. I was also happy that I was able to break the page record in portfolios. Mr. Sharma said that the most amount of pages he had to grade was 80 pages. I presented 126 pages for marking. All pieces were introduced with a short description and a reflection. 

Link(s):

1. Final Portfolio.

Daryl Zion M. Ali