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Special topics: Kodaly-Based Musicianship
Lightly Row, Solfege & Reflection
September 14, 2020
September 14, 2020
4-Beat Musical Patterns & Reflection
September 21, 2020
September 21, 2020
"Fever" - Peggy Lee, Bass Line Solfege & Reflection
September 21, 2020
September 21, 2020
O Clair De La Lune, Solfege & Reflection
September 21, 2020
September 21, 2020
"Better Place" -- Rachel Platten, Solfege & Reflection
September 28, 2020
September 28, 2020
I chose to sing the solfege for part of “Better Place” by Rachel Platten because I absolutely adore this song. It makes me think about all the good things and good people in my life every time I listen to it, so it always brings me a bit of joy. When I decided to use this song for this assignment, I did not anticipate how difficult it would be to figure out the solfege. Eventually I got the first verse, however the chorus was a lot more difficult for me. I kind of panicked near the end of the video and did not end it very well so I apologize for that.
When I started figuring out the solfege, I used my tuning fork and tried to see where that would fit according to the note I chose to call do. The note ended up sol, so I used the do and sol notes to figure out the rest of the solfege as I sang the song. The first verse was a bit difficult, but I figured it out eventually. Again, I tried keeping the do note in my head so that I would hopefully stay on pitch. I think that worked out decently well.
When I sang the chorus, that was a lot more difficult because it took me a minute to figure out that one of the first notes I had to sing was do an octave up. Once I got that, I sort of figured out a bit more solfege. However, eventually I just got completely lost and panicked and just decided to stop. I went as far as I thought I could, it did not work out very well, but I tried.
My biggest issue with singing in general is that when I mess up my mind goes completely blank and I panic. This happens when I play my violin or just perform or present things in general. With this song in particular, it was more challenging than I thought it would be. I gave it my best shot since I wanted to record my whole process with it from the beginning. It was still fun and enjoyable. I look forward to the next assignment, hopefully I’ll do a better job with the next song I end up using.
When I started figuring out the solfege, I used my tuning fork and tried to see where that would fit according to the note I chose to call do. The note ended up sol, so I used the do and sol notes to figure out the rest of the solfege as I sang the song. The first verse was a bit difficult, but I figured it out eventually. Again, I tried keeping the do note in my head so that I would hopefully stay on pitch. I think that worked out decently well.
When I sang the chorus, that was a lot more difficult because it took me a minute to figure out that one of the first notes I had to sing was do an octave up. Once I got that, I sort of figured out a bit more solfege. However, eventually I just got completely lost and panicked and just decided to stop. I went as far as I thought I could, it did not work out very well, but I tried.
My biggest issue with singing in general is that when I mess up my mind goes completely blank and I panic. This happens when I play my violin or just perform or present things in general. With this song in particular, it was more challenging than I thought it would be. I gave it my best shot since I wanted to record my whole process with it from the beginning. It was still fun and enjoyable. I look forward to the next assignment, hopefully I’ll do a better job with the next song I end up using.
"Achy Breaky Heart" -- Billy Ray Cyrus, Solfege & Reflection
September 28, 2020
September 28, 2020
Before I recorded the dancing and bass-line solfege for this assignment, I looked up some line dancing videos on YouTube so that I could learn some for the recording. I had difficulty singing and dancing at the same time. Doing them separately is easy however putting them together is more difficult. The choreography I chose was pretty simple, but I still had a hard time singing at the same time. So, I decided to record myself dancing and singing separately and then put them together on a single video. I tried singing and dancing at the same time, but I kept forgetting to sing as I was dancing. But I think my solution worked out fairly well, I hope.
In terms of figuring out what to sing, I thought back to when we did this song in class and thought about where the chords fit into the music. I listened to the song a few times to get the timing in my head and sang along a bit. As I recorded my singing for the recording, I ended up finding a few patterns with the solfege that fit well with the music. I did lose myself in the music a bit and lost parts of the patterns I was singing, however I caught myself and just kept going. Even at the end I lost my place but that is okay. I had fun with it.
Singing and dancing to this song was very enjoyable. Next time I will try harder to sing and dance at the same time, it is definitely something I should work on a bit. However, I personally think I should work on solfege more and think about it more in other songs I listen to and practice. Again, this was a lot of fun, Billy Ray Cyrus really knew how to get a line dance moving.
In terms of figuring out what to sing, I thought back to when we did this song in class and thought about where the chords fit into the music. I listened to the song a few times to get the timing in my head and sang along a bit. As I recorded my singing for the recording, I ended up finding a few patterns with the solfege that fit well with the music. I did lose myself in the music a bit and lost parts of the patterns I was singing, however I caught myself and just kept going. Even at the end I lost my place but that is okay. I had fun with it.
Singing and dancing to this song was very enjoyable. Next time I will try harder to sing and dance at the same time, it is definitely something I should work on a bit. However, I personally think I should work on solfege more and think about it more in other songs I listen to and practice. Again, this was a lot of fun, Billy Ray Cyrus really knew how to get a line dance moving.
B is for Book, Bass Line Solfege & Reflection
October 5, 2020
October 5, 2020
Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly), Solfege & Reflection
October 5, 2020
October 5, 2020
Bring Me Lil' Water Sylvie, Solfege (3 Voices) & Reflection
October 15, 2020
October 15, 2020
Solfege Exercises & Reflection
October 22, 2020
October 22, 2020
Guitar Backing Track in C Major, Solfege Improvisation & Reflection
October 29, 2020
October 29, 2020
Guitar Backing Track Improvisation & Reflection
November 18, 2020
November 18, 2020
I enjoyed this assignment quite a lot. It was interesting figuring out the notes for my improvised melody and putting them to sheet music. I had a few difficulties with this assignment when I decided to add more to the original melody I created. Figuring out the original melody I sang was simple, however it got more difficult when I added 4 more measures for the bridge. I know the bridge should probably be 8 measures long, but I had a hard time figuring out 4 more measures that could use to lead back to the original melody.
The melody I improvised is in C Major and I knew that the first note I sang was do. I sang the melody in a scale-like pattern so that notation was not too difficult to figure out. At first I didn’t think that I sang something melodic because I hadn’t listened to my recording in a while. But I discovered that I actually did sing one that was about 4 measures long. So, I had enough notes for the A section and the beginning of the A prime section. I just repeated the first two bars and then made up a couple more bars to the melody to end the phrase on a V-I cadence. The improvised melody I used starts about 3 minutes and 14 seconds into my video.
Then of course the harder part was coming up with a mini bridge section and making sure I added the proper chords. Once I had the phrase figured out I was able to pair the notes in each measure with some chords that seem to fit. Sounds like the chords I chose work, that’s what my ears are telling me however I could be wrong. Some days my ears misinterpret things but that depends on the day.
I think the only other thing I had issues with was finding the right notation software. I tried two different software’s. The first one I used didn’t let me use dotted half notes for some reason. However, the second software I found called ScoreCloud gives me the option to add dotted notes and things, so I decided to use that one. I think it worked out decently.
When I decided to add more to my little composition that made things a bit more complicated. But I think I figured something out. Now that I finished the assignment, I feel that I could have added more to the bridge if I didn’t get so stuck overthinking it. Part of me does feel a little proud of myself. I’m not usually comfortable with improvising and/or composing so it was pretty cool to make something out of those few improvised bars.
The melody I improvised is in C Major and I knew that the first note I sang was do. I sang the melody in a scale-like pattern so that notation was not too difficult to figure out. At first I didn’t think that I sang something melodic because I hadn’t listened to my recording in a while. But I discovered that I actually did sing one that was about 4 measures long. So, I had enough notes for the A section and the beginning of the A prime section. I just repeated the first two bars and then made up a couple more bars to the melody to end the phrase on a V-I cadence. The improvised melody I used starts about 3 minutes and 14 seconds into my video.
Then of course the harder part was coming up with a mini bridge section and making sure I added the proper chords. Once I had the phrase figured out I was able to pair the notes in each measure with some chords that seem to fit. Sounds like the chords I chose work, that’s what my ears are telling me however I could be wrong. Some days my ears misinterpret things but that depends on the day.
I think the only other thing I had issues with was finding the right notation software. I tried two different software’s. The first one I used didn’t let me use dotted half notes for some reason. However, the second software I found called ScoreCloud gives me the option to add dotted notes and things, so I decided to use that one. I think it worked out decently.
When I decided to add more to my little composition that made things a bit more complicated. But I think I figured something out. Now that I finished the assignment, I feel that I could have added more to the bridge if I didn’t get so stuck overthinking it. Part of me does feel a little proud of myself. I’m not usually comfortable with improvising and/or composing so it was pretty cool to make something out of those few improvised bars.
Canon Book, Exercises 21 & 23
December 8, 2020
December 8, 2020
"You're Beautiful" -- James Blunt Bass Line Solfege & Reflection
January 21, 2021
January 21, 2021
Solfege Patterns & Reflection
January 21, 2021
January 21, 2021
Musical Examples, Major and Minor Modes, & Reflection
January 28, 2021
January 28, 2021
Canon 131 & Reflection
February 4, 2021
February 4, 2021
Dorian Backing Track Improvisation & Reflection
February 11, 2021
February 11, 2021
Canon in Dorian & Reflection
March 4, 2021
March 4, 2021
Canon 39 & Reflection
March 18, 2021
March 18, 2021
Can't Sleep Love - Pentatonix, Rhythms & Reflection
March 25, 2021
March 25, 2021
In-Class Sight Singing Practice with Canon 38, 41, & 129
March 26, 2021
March 26, 2021
Canons 38, 41, and 129 & Reflection
April 2, 2021
April 2, 2021
Final Project, Desperate Measures - Marianas Trench, Solfege Cover & Reflection
April 16, 2021
April 16, 2021