FOPA (Assignment #2, 3 & 4)

 Date for Entry: (Monday 6th March, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

FOPA ASSIGNMENT #2

** Monday 6th March 2017 **

    Yesterday in the afternoon I got my Pan Arranging assignment two for credit completed. I made sure to print out my accountability statement along with the lead score that Mr. De Las emailed us along with a sheet I made of the instructions he sent in the e-mail.

    In class, he took out his red pent to correct my paper by the time. Some of us were all waiting for a big majority of the class to reach school. I was so nervous and vexed at myself with all of the red ink I saw him scratching up on my paper. When he called me up, he showed me the mistakes I made. It cost me some good marks. I just couldn’t believe I forgot to make those changes. 

Link(s):

1. FOPA (Assignment #2) - Tay Lay Lay.

 

FOPA (ASSIGNMENT #3)

** Friday 24 March 2017 **

    The date above is the receival of the Fundamentals of Pan Arranging assignment three by email. I have enjoyed the music from YouTube very much. It sounded like a winning piece with the ‘vibe feeling’ that it presented.

    I think that one day I will review this arrangement. Better yet, I think I would like to do over the entire arrangement from scratch without using the lead sheet from Mr. De Las. I am not sure how well this assignment was done. No marks were provided on the work.

Link(s):

1. “Know the Face” – Lead Sheet.
2. “Know the Face” – Assignment Score.
3. “Know the Face” – YouTube Recording.

FOPA (ASSIGNMENT #4)

** Thursday 20 April 2017 **

    The date above is the receival of the Fundamentals of Pan Arranging assignment four by email. This piece sounded like calypso and it was a long time since I heard a song that gave a good discussion. The experience of working with this piece was not as usual. I suppose maybe the feeling of the song or something gave me a challenge.

    The use of cut-time (alla breve) was not easy. I did not like it at all. The rhythmic writing most likely would have been the biggest challenge for me apart from trying to figure out what to do in the various sections. In reviewing the assignment, I saw that I did not use rehearsal letter markings as I like to have in my scores.

Link(s):

1. “Who to Blame” – Lead Sheet.
2. “Who to Blame” – Assignment Score.
3. “Who to Blame” – YouTube Recording. 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

UWI's Festival Library

 Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten)

[2017]

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today I got more sheet music to my collection at UWI’s Festival Library. I had to go there because I wanted to get more music for the first Assignment I had to do for Dr. Remy’s Steelpan Literature course. I got the music copied for about twenty dollars and then I sat there and filled out the forms for the booklet I was making to submit as the assignment.

I made sure to get these scores photocopied because you don’t find music so easy to get and then they are musical compositions done by Dr. Jit Samaroo too. It will be nice to finally have some of his work cherished in my collection and then one of the songs “Pan Patterns” is one of them I learned last Semester in the Intermediate ensemble for marks.

 

(**score photos**)

Daryl Zion M. Ali

FOPA (Assignment #1)

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 15th February, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today during my Fundamentals of Pan Arranging (FOPA) class, I was so happy I got my assignment done since Monday and placed it into my folder for safekeeping. It was also a good idea I had to re-use my Accountability statement sheet that I used for my academic course in the first term last year to submit my paragraph. Mr. De Las wanted to know what it was for and Samantha used it too. I had a feeling she would use the sheet but I had this feeling it was right to put one in the assignment too in case the assignment was rejected.

    We had to do a short eight-bar steelpan arrangement from a melody that sir provided us along with the chords he wanted us to use. I made sure to write down the things that he wanted in this assignment so that he would have fewer problems with mine and he didn’t. He only showed some little mistakes that I made but told me that I was on the right track. Thank God. I was glad to have an instruction sheet I made from the email he gave us to do the work. 

    Later that evening, I had a short coursework assessment for Miss Joseph class in “General Music Methods” which she made easy by letting us pick two pieces of paper. One with a letter and one with a number. The number was our turn and the letter would be the task assigned to us. She wrote on the whiteboard what assignment the letter would have been. My Letter was C which was to Teach a melody using a sustained pitch and my number was six. 

    I was a bit worried that I forgot the words to the short melody from the Practical Ear Training textbook used last semester. This exercise had to be done by memory. When it was my turn I simply went up in front of all my friends, applied the same friendly conversation mention I told myself to do for the last presentation in my “Introduction to Music Learning” course last semester and did it. When I left the front at the end of the song, I took my seat, I sat down and miss said “Thank you, Daryl.” I wondered if I did badly because I felt as if I wasn’t up there as long as I should be. Other students took really long.

    When class was done, miss Joseph gave out the results in whispers to us so none of the other students would hear other people’s marks. When I went for mine I had to step away from the Piano and go up hoping I did well. To my surprised ears, she smiled and told me [I got] thirteen [out of fifteen]. I was so glad. I left class to go home for the weekend.

 

Link(s):

1. FOPA Submission - Assignment 1. 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Panorama Medium Semi-Finals (T&T 2017)

Date for Entry: (Sunday 12th February, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today was the National Panorama Semi-finals in the Queen’s Park Savannah in town and it was a really hard and long day carrying a burning back pain from practice as well as bending down so low to reach the pan in that low rack stand. I met two of Aunty Roshida’s sons there while I was practising. I only knew Pots but the other guy I didn’t know. We couldn’t talk long because the girl drilling us was going through it over and over.

    In the evening time at around three o'clock came, I went with Cael and Toyanna and two other girls to find a changing room because all of us didn’t come in the T-shirt they gave us. By the time, we got to one of the toilet tents, one of the girls said, “Buh you’s ah boy, I thought you woulda pull out yuh shirt and change dah like nothin’.” Somehow, I was expecting someone to say that at some time now but then I kindly responded, “Yeah girl, ah know I’s ah boy but not like those others.”

    I only made two slips on stage and that was all but it was fun. I had a good time whining and ducking and all the other stuff in the back. It was good to cross the Grand Stand once more as I thought that I would never cross it for my third time but it was possible today. I went home with Mr. Gill and his wife in their van afterwards. 

    They gave me two sandwiches and it was good. Actually, it was the only meal I had for the day and I was waking since half seven out of bed and sleepy still. There was only one recording of the performance. It did not really provide a good quality sound. No visual was given, unfortunately. I did not even have photographs from this particular stage crossing moment.

Link(s):

Daryl Zion M. Ali

UWI Students Music Concert

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 7th February, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

[Written as Update Report]

Dear Diary,

    On the 7th of February, the students of my Certificate class was working towards a concert for the ending of our programme. Anton had the idea and mentioned that there was no time where the entire class did a performance as a whole. Plans for the concert went on and he was the one that worked on the music and arrangements for the different groups such a steelpan, voice, brass etc. 

    I can recall that some things gave me scare in the music for the tenor pan parts during my assignments one and two in West Indiana collections when we had Dr. Remy's steelpan literature course. On this day I was given the "I Wish" arrangement. Up to now, I did not listen to what the original composition was from YouTube.

    On 3rd of February, 2017, some days before an email came with music for "Defying Gravity". Some other day I was emailed a final Programme or maybe a list of the intended order. It could have changed during the penultimate week of the semester when I had decided not to take part in the event. To this day I still feel guilty and mean for not going and joining the others. The same feeling occurred when Milano was asking me a particular question and I did not feel nice about the response I was given. I "lost" a lot at one point.

Link(s):

1. I Wish (Tenor Score).
2. Defying Gravity (Tenor Score).
3. Final Concert Programme.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Ode to Joy Arrangement

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 7th November, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    At the end of class today with Mr. Sharma, he took out the “Ode To Joy” steelpan arrangement score I emailed him and went through it with me for the second time on the piano. There were several corrections needed from the first version. This time around I was glad that only one note was needed to be changed to make the song work. 

    I hope that it would be something the Sunday School band would be able to work out easily. I was glad to manage to have the internet printout of the string full score sir gave me to use for the arrangement and also the folder page with a strumming pattern suggestion for the guitar and cello pans.

Link(s):

1. Ode to Joy (Steelband - 1st & 2nd Attempts).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Comments You Make Others Smile

 Date for Entry: (Monday 16th January, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary,

    Today after class Dr. Remy reminded us about the band she was forming for the 2017 National Panorama. I was thinking about joining for the longest while since the first class and then I decided to go ask her but then I made sure to tell her that my problem would have been getting transport. She went quickly and got me a printout of the Tenor pan score and gave it to me. I felt so happy when she gave it to me because it was one more score to add to my collection.

    Two weeks later during practice at the panyard, I got the book bonded with the cover that I designed. In one part, Dr. Remy and I was trying to figure out the song from memory after she had taught me the ending part. There was one point where we had to use the score and then she ended up holding the book. By the time, she closed the score, she realised that I bounded it and created a front cover she smiled as she handed me back the book. I can’t say it made my day since it was night so it made my night, Lolz. 

    I also appreciated Dr. Remy getting Mr. Gills to drop me home and pick me up for practice on those nights. I was very surprised when he told me that he was the owner of the panyard in the van one night. I also got to make friends with his Son Caelen and his niece Patrice during the long-time spent there and I also got to have more friendly fun and laughs with more friends I I made at UWI and from other past friendships.

 

Link(s):

1. "Ducking It" (Tenor Score).
2. "Ducking It" (Tenor Score - Version 7B).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

First Day of Semester 4

 Date for Entry: (Monday 16th January, 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 15th November, 2021)

Dear Diary, 

    Today was my first day back out to School for Semester 2 of my second year of the Certificate Course. Dr. Remy would be my lecturer today and I hope this class goes well and is nice. 

    During class, before it began, she asked me if I knew the story of the flying book stand. I respond no to Dr. Remy and she said “usually the person who was sitting up in front was the one to get hit with the book stand. I burst out a loud laugh with her and then she told me "I am a brave soul". 

    It made me feel nice but really and truly no one wanted to come up and join the front row as usual. Surprisingly, Samantha was not in the front row on the others side. I am the one to the front row sitting on the side nearest to the door and she sat in the same row nearest to the piano. This was our sitting pattern from every class. 

    We went true the course outline and some of the books she brought to show us. I could see that this course would be a really nice one for me, seeing that there are lots of things I was doing since at a very young age required in here.

    The course outlines provided is one that I have taken from Dr. Remy and recreated to fit two pages.

 

Link(s):

1. Music Literatures of the Steelpan (Course Outline) - My Version.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Christmas Service (2017)

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 25th December 2017)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 16th March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This is an entry of another performance for the Sunday School Steelband on Christmas Day. The Reverend doing the service today Mrs. Anabelle Lalla-Ramkelawan. We had to play at some point later in the service apart from where it was indicated in the program. I cannot recall the piece that we played for this particular service.

 

Link(s):

1. Christmas Service 2017 – Aramalaya Program. **

Daryl Zion M. Ali