Tuesday, December 28, 2010

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.

Friday, December 17, 2010

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.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

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

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

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!"

Monday, December 6, 2010

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.