Reflection

      From these journals I have seen myself grow as a musician.  In the beginning I was still learning the correct way to hold my bow.  And I really didn’t know what to write for this journal because I didn’t quite know what a quality performance is.  After a while of writing these journals I found that the reflecting on what we were learning in class and answering the question “What is a quality performance?” really made me think about the music.  I used to think I wasn’t really that important to the orchestra last year and I wouldn’t put in 100% every day.  And like so many people say you only get out what you put into things so I wasn’t doing the best that I could.  However, now I know that I will not be getting anywhere if I kept on thinking this way.  Now I try to make every note count and put in as much effort as a sleep deprived teen can at ever rehearsal.  Putting in as much effort as I can will make a quality performance.

December 17th, 2010

      The concert last night was amazing!!! I thought we did pretty good and didn’t mess up really at all.  But it was the higher orchestras that were so amazing.  The sounded like a professional orchestra.  The Muse song composed my Alex Martin was really cool, like Muse’s music.  I also thought it was very interesting how Alex composed and arranged it herself.  Also, the really long piece that had the full orchestra, choir and Harvey on the piano was epic and incredible.  I hope that one day I will get into one of the higher orchestras.

      When asked the question what makes a quality performance, I can now say I know the answer to that.  It is playing to the best to your ability.  We didn’t sound nearly as good as the other orchestras because some of us are younger, have a little less experience or could put in more effort.  But we sounded good for us.  But we must continue to put on a great quality  performance.  To make a quality performance we need to practice the music and know everything about it and still be able to step away from the music and work together and improve between each performance.  So your performances will be improving in quality every time.

December 15th, 2010

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  IT’S THE DAY BEFORE THE CONCERT AND WE ONLY HAD ONE REHERSAL THIS WEEK!!!!!!!  I AM SO AFRAID FOR US NOW!!!!                                                        

     Sorry about that.  I am very much afraid for us now because of the two stupid snow days that made it so I was living the day before all my midterms over and over again.  Kind of like the groundhogs day movie…. except a lot worse!!!

     Today we went over our pieces again for the last time before the concert and we sounded fine.  I just really think that with like one or two more rehersals could have really helped our performance a lot.  But it is too late now and it just leaves me to practice more so we can sound like a high quality orchestra

December 7th 2010

Yesterday after practicing I promised to write some more but I practiced for so long the next thing I knew it was almost midnight!  So, I decided to go to bed so I wouldn't fall asleep in all of my classes.  Anyways, after my practice I went over those little things over and over again, trying to perfect them as much as i could.  Recently I think I have discovered part of the answer to "What makes a quality performance?" It means knowing the music inside and out, knowing your part and knowing where it fits in with everyone else, knowing the hard parts by heart but not skimping out on the easy stuff either, knowing every change of bowing, every note, every articulation, ever time signature change, every rhythm, but while you know all of that you can also step out of the music and feel where the music fits in and feel everyone else all together, playing together, not separate parts but as a whole moving together, listening to each other. A quality performance would be a performance where each person is playing to the best of their ability and playing together. And wow that was kind of a really big sentence!  I guess I just had a lot to say.

I kind of got this epiphany I think when I was writing last night.  I was thinking how there are those little things that i know I could fix if i just practiced it a little bit more.  Also, that I shouldn't just let those little things be bad because I think no one can hear me because if everyone let a few bad things always happen we would sound like fifth graders!  Not really a quality performance.  And the epiphany grew today, in orchestra, you said something... that i totally forgot.... that was really important!... but i can't remember... it was important and totally made something click in my head about what makes a quality performance.  It was something to do with getting out of the music and listening to each other and finding where we fit in with the orchestra. And I was like "That’s it!"

December 6th, 2010

        Last week in class we went over some of the rough stuff in our pieces then played them like it was the concert on recording.  First we played Egyptian Legacy.  The beginning was good but at some parts we fell apart but got back together latter.  However at the end some of the sections were just not together.  I was only able to evaluate this because of the recording.  The recording let the whole class here what we sound like to other people.  What we found wasn’t exactly what we wanted to here in all of the parts.  But some were pretty good.
       After Egyptian Legacy we played American Landscape.  Almost the entire piece was perfect.  My section, the cello section, was together in all of our parts.  Except I had a few parts were I messed up a little like I always do.  Now that I am thinking about how I always mess up on those little things here and there I kind of want to go practice now.  So, I will wrap this up really quick, practice and then write about that.
This week i am getting a closer look at what could be a quality performance.  There are many parts in both the songs where we sound like good quality.  Even you, Mr. Wolf, said that at this one part we sounded like a professional orchestra!
        In American Landscape the whole orchestra was together for just about the whole song.  Also, in Egyptian Legacy we are definitely on our way to a really cool and quality performance.

November 22, 2010

         This week we had only one rehearsal because of the thanksgiving break.  In class the cellos and violas went into the closet and practiced Egyptian Legacy.  We worked on the end of the second page where we have the really odd funky bowing.

Odd Funky Bowings in Egyptian Legacy measure 88- 93

And I think we have finally mastered it.  Since we have mastered this we are very close to making quality music. 
         I have learned that in order to have a quality performance every part of the piece must be perfected.  In order to perfect every part we must play them over and over again and work together.  We can learn so much from the people who might be sitting right next to us.  From my fellow cellos I have learned way more than I could ever figure out on my own about the music and playing techniques. 
          Also, I find that working in smaller groups away from the main orchestra is really useful.   During the few classes that we worked in smaller groups I got to ask any questions I had about the music to my peers which was very useful for me and really cleared some stuff up for me.
We definitely are on our way to making a Quality Performance.

November 3rd, 2010

            This week I worked on Egyptian Legacy, American Landscape and Danny boy in class and at home.  In Egyptian Legacy I have made some improvements.  From measure 38 to 52 I now understand the rhythm and bowing.  Also, I for sure know the beginning of the pieces now pretty well.

38-52 in Egyptian Landscape

However, I still don’t know what to do after 64 because we haven’t gone through it yet in class.  This makes it hard to practice these parts at home.

After 64 in Egyptian Landscape

            In American Landscape there is a very large pizzicato part in the piece its pretty much the same thing over and over again.  Also, it is being played pretty fast so its kind of difficult.  In class we worked on it a lot which helped me understand it a lot better.  Now, I know it pretty well. 

Pizzicato part in American Landscape

 Also, from 52 to 61 there is accented notes that are a little funky but sound cool.  I need to work on them to make them more clear.

52-61 in American Landscape

            Finally, Danny Boy is a very nice, slow and relatively easy piece.  It does have some shifting in a slur that I have to work on.

Danny Boy

            At this point none of the pieces we are working on are a quality performance.  In Egyptian Legacy we don’t know half the piece.  However, we are pretty good at the parts that we do know.   In American Legacy we sound good at most of the parts but there is still the parts with the pizzicato.  And in Danny Boy I could work on it a little more too.  If I made all of these changes I would get closer to having a quality performance.

October 27th, 2010

Egyptian Legacy

            Two weeks ago we received new piece of music called Egyptian Legacy.  It has lots of complicated bowings and accents.  However, it does have lots of repetition which makes it easy but boring.

            Through measures 38 to 51 it has a lot of odd bowings with lifts and up and down bows.  I do not get it yet.

38-51 in Egyptian Legacy

Also, at 88 there is some funky bowing that I also do not get at all. 

88-93 of Egyptian Legacy

        However, the beginning is sort of easy and I know I will have it down in a little bit with practice at home.

        At this point, I am not doing a quality performance, yet.  I will need to first tackle the rhythms and notes and add in dynamics and articulation later.   Once that all happens I will have a quality performance.  But that will take a while.

October 20, 2010

        We recently had a playing test.  I think I played pretty well.  I got a 4 in tone quality and left hand and posture, a three in rhythm, pitch, dynamics, and right hand posture and a two in articulation.  These are pretty accurate.  After listening and seeing m self playing I have found that I could try to articulate my bow strokes but this will be hard since I am still figuring out how to hold my bow properly.  My dynamics, pitch and rhythm could use more work.  Also I should practice and check my bow hold regularly when playing and working with exaggerating my articulation.

            While I play in practice I make sure to but special attention to my bow hold and take note of the changes in articulation.  Even though there is not many major articulations in the new piece will work on exaggerating them all as much as I can.