Music Center
Reflection One
While doing the solfege assignment I found myself laughing a lot because it feels really strange attempting something that's unknown. I thought the easiest way to approach the assignment was to sing a song that's very familiar to me. That is why I chose "You are my sunshine" because it was my favorite song as a child and my mom would sing this to me quite frequently. I started the video by singing the song with it's original lyrics and rhythms. After that step I chose to break the song down line by line and then slowing down the tempo to get an even better grasp on the solfege. This worked out very well in the end for me because slow and steady wins the race! I overall really enjoyed working on this.
Reflection on the 4 beat patterns
I really enjoyed doing this assignment. I thought it was interesting to see how my thought process was when trying to come up with patterns on the spot. It was challenging to switch from major to minor modes on the spot though because it was not a lot of time to think of a pattern. I think this task helped me to find the home key of different melodies better and it also made me realize that not all home keys start with do and not all chords are do mi sol. The chords can be inverted and I find that very interesting. In light singing last year, we would always sing do and then follow that with the do, mi and sol of the key so it's hard to get out of the habit of doing that.
Reflection On "Fever" By Peggy Lee
First of all, I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it was different from anything I have ever done. Besides our class on Friday, I have never sung to a song using la, do , and mi to the rhythmic baseline so this experiment was very odd but also interesting. Second of all, I felt like I had no idea what I was doing but that was fun for me. Normally if I don't know what I'm doing I would panic but this was so fun that I actually really enjoyed not knowing what I was doing. I definitely think this was a good challenge for me because I learned a lot about solfeggi and how it is used in all pieces. I am excited and looking forward to the next time we do a task like this!
Reflection on Amazing Grace Solfedge
I chose the song amazing grace for my solfeggi assignment and I chose this song because I grew up in a christian church so we sang this song frequently. I also thought that this song was a simple song that I could figure out easily for the solfedge. I think it is funny how I have sung this song so many times but I have never actually considered the solfedge for this song and I think that this song was easier for me to figure out instead of the last song I chose (You are my sunshine). I liked doing this song because there were steps and leaps but they were typically leaps you would see so it wasn't hard to figure out the solfedge. Overall, I enjoyed doing this assignment and I thought it was easier this time to figure out the solfedge because I was more familiar with it.
Reflection- Before You Go Lewis Capaldi
Going into this video, I thought it would've been a lot harder to do a song on the radio or a show tune or any type of song that isn't an easy lullaby or hymn. But I found that it was a lot easier than I expected and that a lot of music on the radio is just steps and not a lot of leaps that are hard to figure out. The only leap that this song had was the line "Before You Go" which ended up being do fa mi ti which was easier to figure out than I thought it would be. I think I just need to go into these videos expecting to nail it and then I won't be so intimidated by the assignment. I also found that I forgot the key that I was singing in at one point which is out of character for me1 For some reason I just went blank and completely forgot but I need to remember that it's okay to forget and it's not a bad thing. It can actually be very normal to forget a key especially when you're not singing along to a track so, I think I could be more forgiving with this.
Refelction- Achy Breaky Heart
This assignment was very fun but also very weird for me. I found it hard to dance and sing the solfeggi at the same time, especially since I am not a great dancer. I also remember singing do re mi instead of do me sol just because I was used to re being in the pattern because of the sol ti re ti pattern. Even though I know the pattern is do mi sol mi it still messed me up because of the other patterns we were singing! I think I need to let loss a little more with these assignments and just have fun because I get super nervous of singing the wrong pattern or the wrong part but if I loosened up then maybe I would enjoy myself more instead of weighing myself down. I look forward to improving at these challenges in the future and hopefully my dancing will improve as well too. I found myself getting really nervous to dance but I need to remember that neither of you guys will laugh at me because I am just trying to have fun! I hope to loosen up with these challenges in the future.
Reflection- Somewhere Over the Rainbow
I think that this solfege was a lot easier than other times because I am getting more familiar with it. I really enjoyed working o this song because I think it is very beautiful and very popular. I still think it's funny that I have heard this song so many times before yet this is the first time I have ever challenged myself to figure out the solfege. I think I got the solfege pretty spot on because it was not extremely challenging. I started with the beginning and then most of it was steps and then some leaps that weren't too tricky.
Bring me a little water Sylvie Reflection
At first, this assignment really intimidated me and I was scared to try and record this assignment. Once I started I realized that I was doing really well. I think this happens with a lot of my assignments for this class. I am always afraid to do these assignments because solfege can be quite hard and it feels like you are going in blind when you try and sing a song in solfege. I am glad that this course is helping it to become easier for me because I think this skill is an important trait to have especially as an educator. I had so much fun doing this assignment and I thought it was exciting to try new harmonies in the piece instead of sticking to the simple melody. I hope to create more of these in the future.
Solfege Exercise
The solfege exercise really makes you think constantly about what comes next. It's hard to remember what comes next when you are already thinking you are confused. I found it hard to memorize these exercises because it is new to me and also because there is a lot of patterns to know. The exercises are helping me to become more familiar with solfege which is good especially for this course. I'm excited to be totally fluent in solfege!
Improv to Backing Track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTUtcLt_aC0&feature=youtu.be
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I found this assignment to be quite challenging. It wasn't hard for me to come up with the chords at the beginning but as I started to improvise more the easier it was to second guess myself. I found myself singing the wrong solfege numerous times and then trying to recover by finding Do worked really well and helped me stay on track more. When the improvisation on loo came in it was like a saving grace for me because I find it easier to focus just on singing instead of singing and adding solfege. I think this will become easier as I practice more in my day to day life and in class.
Improvisation to an 8 measure melody
I found this assignment a bit challenging but also super fun. I found it interesting to go back to what I created before and look at it as a melody. At the time I just thought I was singing randomly but little did I know that these random notes I were singing could because a melody. I think that's really cool because a lot of us don't think we have what it takes to create a melody even if it's just a simple 8 measure melody. This assignment showed me that just improvising and having fun is how you can create a melody and it will actually sound good. U always was astounded by people who can compose really well, and I still am, but this assignment made me believe that maybe one day I can do it as long as I keep pushing myself to create new ideas.
Reflection on the Telemann
This assignment was really hard for me just because I have the worst memory. I found it challenging to memorize the song while also using hand signs as well. When I first started to memorize the Telemann I started one bar at a time and would memorize that bar first. Then move on to the second bar and so on, after this I started doing one line at a time. After memorizing one line at a time I tried to sing the whole piece from memory and I had to cheat a few times and peak at the sheet when I first started but as time went on and I kept practicing it became easier and I no longer had to peak at the book. After I had the song memorized fully I added hand signs at a slower tempo and then eventually sped it up to full speed. This process made it easier and it was better for me to learn this way but it was still challenging over all.
Reflection on #21 and #23
In order to learn the pieces I first started at a very slow tempo and would only sing one bar at a time. Eventually I started speeding up the lines as I got more comfortable. Finally I started to sing more than one line together and that is how I ended up with the finished product. This assignment was a lot harder than I expected for me because I found a few of the harmonies in number 21 difficult such as the do to la in line five and the la to fah in line six. Normally these harmonies are pretty simple since they are apart of a chord but in this example it was hard for me to find them. I found that number 23 was pretty simple with the solfege but harder with the rhythm.
You're Beautiful Sofege
This assignment was really fun and really encouraged me to keep learning. The process of singing loo first and then adding the solfege really helped because I had a chance to hear and sing the pitches before adding names to them. This also helped me realize that it can be easier to find the solfege if you just add steps to the process. Sometimes I go straight for the solfege and fail which can be frustrating so these steps encouraged me to keep trying before giving up instantly.
Solfege Patterns
These solfege patterns were really fun to learn and didn't feel like work! Normally when I pull up an assignment I dread doing it but this process just felt so fun so I'm glad our class gets to do things like these to keep me motivated. I found it challenging at first to get the less from do - fa or fa-re because even though these jumps seem to be easy they are hard when you first approach them. I practiced the patterns a few times through and it got easier as I progressed which was great.
Reflection on Melodies 1-7
This assignment was very hard for me and I found it challenging to switch from major to minor one after another. I struggled with the mi solfege in the minor mode and also the sol in the minor mode as well. I think the more I practiced these exercises they got easier but I still found it hard to make these changes. Once I got to the end of the recording I did find that I was doing better at the melodies. Overall, this exercise was helpful but also challenging!
Reflection on A Dorian Improv.
I thought this improvisation exercise was really fun to do. I found it a little tricky to come up with different patterns but I thought I did a good job mixing it up at times. I like doing these improvisation tracks because I think it's nice to be creative at times and I like the creative aspect of this. I really like the sound of do in the Dorian mode because I think it clashes really well and it makes a nice chord with the backing track. Overall, it was exciting to be creative and try new patterns!
Reflection On Canon 131
I had a lot of fun with this assignment. It's fun for me to harmonize with myself and make music with myself. I enjoy this because I know that I can depend on myself where as, singing with another person you can't always ensure they will be right or that they will come in at the proper time. Therefore, I always enjoy these types of assignments and listening back to the harmonies and music I created. I think it was hard for me in the beginning to come in at the proper measures in the canon and also to make sure I went at a steady tempo but overall, I think I did a pretty good job.
Dorian Canon
Writing this dorian canon was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I found myself making a lot of mistakes and having to rewrite a lot of different notes. In the end I ended up going with something a little simple just because I was feeling really challeneged. I think what I composed works well and it was fun to be creative!
Dorian Canon with ammorette
Doing this canon with a partner, Ammorette, was really fun. She was super helpful and also really encouraging. We both had a hard time composing and both decided to just go with the flow when writing this piece. We had a lot of fun doing this together.
Canon 39 Reflection
This canon is really beautiful and it was really fun to get to record the parts and hear the amazing harmonies. I really enjoyed hearing the notes of the last line and that was definitely my favourite part of the canon. I really love doing these types of assignments because it's so amazing to hear how well your own voice sounds with itself. I hope we continue to do more of these assignments in the future because they are so enjoyable!
New Dorian Canon
Fear is a Liar Rhythym
Doing this song was very challenging but I did enjoy doing it. When first listening to the song I thought it would be easy to decipher the rhythms but since it incorporates so many ties over the bar line and just in general it was tricky to figure that out. With that being said I am very proud of myself for figuring out these rhythms because I do think they are quite difficult. I think I could have chosen an easier song but this one was fun and I enjoyed the challenge! I hope that we can continue to do these types of assignments because I enjoy learning about rhythm and I always feel so accomplished when I finally figure it out.
Sight reading canons
Yahweh Project
This project was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed working with Lexi and Mahima. It was super easy to harmonize with them and blend with them because they are so musical! I’m so glad I got the chance to work with them. The song we chose wasn’t extremely hard but it was fun to figure out the solfege for the runs and also the rhythms for the different runs. It was hard to figure out the solfege in the beginning but as time went on it got easier to remember and sing. It was also very fun to record the video because it just felt like we were dancing for fun. Overall I had a lot of fun doing this project with Lexi and Mahima and they were really easy to work with!