I have already reached my growth plan goal so Kiya and I decided to take on an extra challenge of playing Amazing Grace as a duet. As you can see in the video below, Kiya is singing and playing the guitar and I am playing the recorder. This song was challenging for me to learn because it was a lot longer than my previous songs and it had some fast notes that had notes with challenging finger transitions. For example the song goes from B to D’ to B to D’ and then B again so it was hard for the notes to be similar but having to go at a different tempo. I found playing alongside another instrument helped me stay on the correct tempo. When I first began to learn this song I was playing alongside a Youtube video so I could hear what I was supposed to sound like. Later in my learning, I was having trouble knowing what I was supposed to play at certain sections of the song to stay on tempo with the guitar. To help, Kiya played the piano because it was easier to follow. We took many recordings and then chose the one that we thought was our best. The video is attached below. Kiya was very patient with me while learning the song and helped me the entire time. It was fun to play together.
Category: Music
Over the weekend I had a lot of extra time. I am ahead in my other courses so I used last weekend to work on my growth plan. I am missing the last week of school and I know it will be stressful before I leave so I am working hard to get my work done that I can at the moment. I was at my grandparent’s house so I was able to practice my recorder for many hours without having the worry of annoying my neighbours in residence. I ended up learning my second song which is Happy Birthday. I took many recordings of myself so I could hear where I needed more work. There was one point in the song where I found very challenging because the notes went from G to F#. I worked and focussed on that section of the song for a long time to get more comfortable with the hard finger positions. The very bottom hole on the recorder is supposed to be on an angle to make it more comfortable and easier for your pinky to cover, unfortunately mine is directly in line with the other holes which makes this piece of music more challenging. I tried to move it but my recorder does not come apart there. To record the video I waited until Tuesday for a couple different reasons. Firstly, to give myself a couple more days of practice and secondly, to record it in the music room where I did not have to worry about being too loud. Kiya also came to the music room and we decided she would sing in the video for fun. The video is attached below.
I did not think I was going to learn my second song this fast. Since I was behind at midterm, I worked extra hard to get caught up and ended up reaching my growth plan goals. I found it much easier to learn a song when you give yourself many hours to sit down and learn it because you get in the zone and your fingers seem to get adjusted to the finger positions. Although I learned this piece of music over the course of a week, it was not easy. I worked long hours, mostly because I enjoyed the challenge.
This week is the beginning of the second part of our growth plan. During our work period today, I worked on the note C because it was a challenge in my first video. I was hitting the note well so I do believe it was because I did not want to annoy my neighbours in residence. Now, I plan to go to Learning Commons more frequently to practice and to record my next video. During our work period today I also discovered that the second song I chose to learn is way too challenging and is unrealistic to learn for the amount of time left in this term. I was planning on learning the Mii Channel Theme song but I have changed it to Happy Birthday. My new song, Happy Birthday, covers a wider range of notes than my previous song When the Saints Go Marching In so it will still be a challenge, but it is more realistic. I also believe this is a more beneficial song to learn for my career because I want to be a kindergarten teacher; therefore, I will be able to play it with my future students as they sing. Today I made a lot of progress. I began with choosing a new song, then wrote down the count on my sheet. This piece of music is three beats per measure. I then watched a few videos on Youtube of people playing this song on the recorder to see the rhythm and the finger positions. As of this point, I have begun to learn the first part of the piece.
This week is midterms and unfortunately I am behind schedule on my learning plan. Due to my recorder problems I have learned how to play “When the Saints Go Marching In” but I have not begun to learn my second song yet. My plan was to get a start on my second song but I will have to do extra work in the second half of this term to reach my goal. I believe I will still be able to reach my end goal because I now have a recorder that works so there is nothing preventing me from practicing.
I just got my new recorder; therefore, I have begun to learn how the notes are actually supposed to sound in comparison to how they were with my broken recorder. As you can hear in my video, playing C is the most challenging note for me to play correctly. I think this is because you need a lot more power when you blow and since I am not supposed to make a lot of noise in my room, I am scared of being too loud.
Overall this first half of the term has not gone as planned. My recorder obstacles caused frustration but knowing that it was my recorder and not my playing skills was very relieving. I knew getting a new recorder would fix my problems. This next half of this term should be better.
Attached below is a video of me playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Learning my recorder has not been a smooth sail. I have been working on learning how to play my recorder about 20 minutes, four times a week. I have labeled the notes on my piece of music just to help me learn them. When I become more familiar with the notes, I will erase the letters. I have watched videos and looked at pictures on Google to learn how to play each note. I am still finding it very challenging to play the notes that involve more holes being covered. I am also finding it hard to play/learn the entire piece of music so I have split the piece of music into 4 different sections.
I have started to do less note studying and more playing of my recorder and I have run into some troubles. I was practicing and out of nowhere I was unable to get any sound out of my recorder, even without any holes covered except for the back one. I continued to play the piece of music with no sound to work on my finger positioning. I became very frustrated and had to take a break. A few hours later I returned and tried to play my recorder again and I got some noise out but not as much as I should. I originally thought it had something to do with too much moisture inside the recorder but I have no way of taking it apart because it is wooden and is only one piece. After leaving the recorder for a few hours and coming back and it still not working I have come to the conclusion that I will get a new recorder. Learning the notes and an instrument is already challenging for me and I do not need the extra stress and challenges of my instrument not working. Having to go and buy a new recorder may make me fall behind on my growth plan but I will work hard to catch up.
On January 27 we had our first working class where we learned the different notes on a sheet of music. I completely forgot how the notes on the line spell out Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and the notes between the lines spell D following by FACE. This will certainly help me remember the notes and the order of the notes for future reference. I worked with others who are also playing the recorders on the first three notes (B, A, and G) and worked on the correct positioning of the tongue and lips while playing. I have a wooden recorder and I find it to be a lot quieter and harder to perform the notes that involve more holes being covered, for example the note G. A music professor came into the room and said that wooden recorders are actually better and that I needed to work on it to get better with getting the sound through. As a small group, we watched youtube videos to learn the notes and practiced along with the video. I found the video helpful because we could hear how the notes were supposed to sound compared to how we made them sound. We also took turns playing the recorder on the same note to hear the similarities and differences between our recorders. My goals that I will plan to obtain before the next class that we are working on our growth plan is to learn more notes and play the notes correctly.
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