No. 10 -- J.S. Bach

This is another duet that I was given in class to work on. This is a very easy piece of music in regard with the notes, but the problem is that it is fast and you dont have time to breathe. This duet has to be worked out slowly, playing it at the accurate speed, and placing breath marks were you consider where they should go, according to how much air you can hold in order to get a nice sound, and in order that it is enough time to pick up the rest of the notes you have left. In class we worked out some of the breath marks, but some are still to be placed. I think that this is the main issue of the song, because the notes are not hard, they stay in a register where im comfortable playing, and the notes are not varying that much. What I like is that the notes are in the same range, and that makes it easier to play because you can sort of know that suddenly its not going to make you go up another register. This song is not hard and its hard at the same time, I think that its not hard because the notes are very basic and the rhythms too, but at the same time its hard, because you really dont have many places were you can breathe, because the rhythm is too fasts and there are only eighth notes in most of the song. I think that I can work this song out if I sit one day and try to do it with dedication, not in a rush, thi shas to be worked out with patience. I know that it will probably sound a little rough when its worked out at first, because you need to get used to breathe short and not make the sound uneven. That is another problem, that you may have a lot of air at first and then at the end of a phrase you dont have enough air and it will sound terrible. I can work this out when I sit down with patience and dedication to do it. Maybe during the break, I will try to have the whole thing done by the end of the year.

Chamber Music

The book of Chamber music is a very good book, because it had short pieces of music, that are designed so that three clarinets play it. From this book the plan is to choose some songs and play them as a project for me in class. Over the past classes I have chosen some of the songs that i want to play from the book, which arent many, because some of them are not great in the first part of the clarinet, so I want it to be special to play and that it sounds nice. Here is a list of the ones Ive chosed:

• March from Partita in F from Faber.
• Minuet 1 from Partita in F from Faber.
• Allegro from Mozart.
• March from Fischer.
• Old German Dance which is traditional music.
• Sailor's Dance which is traditional music.
• Ecossaise from Hummel.
• Menuet from Trio No.3, Op.57, from Bouffil.

Those songs, I have played them once or twice with the help of my teacher just to see how they sounded, and if they were easy in every part. This songs are actually very easy, it has basic rhythms, they are not hard, and the notes are basic, they dont go up to a register that people cant reach, it is a good book that is simple to play.

No.1 -- J.S. Bach

This is a duet, I was given last class in school, so that my teacher and I can play it. This duet is not hard at all, it is just tricky in the part of the changing from 16th notes to 8th notes to quarter notes. This is tricky in my opinion because you start the song fast because of the 16th notes, and suddenly decrease the speed because of the 8th notes, this part is ease because its just a little bit slower than the 16th notes. But then you get to a part were there is a note that I can never play, because I dont remember the rhythm, so everytime that I have to play it, I mess it up and have to restart again. For me the most challenging thing is counting when the other clarinet is playing the response, because I just dont count, and watch the notes as he plays them, so if I lose track of where I am I get lost and have to restart it again from the same place we started before. This is very frustrating, because I should be able to play it without stoping because it isnt a hard song, it is pretty simple, the notes are simple, and are all in my register, the only problem in the song for me is counting. I just dont count and get lost half the time. i really need to sit down with a pencil and write down marks so Im able to know where to start counting or playing again.

C.P.E Bach Solfeggietto

This piece of music, is perhaps one of the most challeging things Ive played so far in my years of band because of certain notes, that are still out of my register, and I cant quite master. This notes are on the fourth phrase of the song, which are an E, G, F, of the highest register, that is listed in my book. I think that this notes are hard because of the position of the fingers, which is still weird for me, because I can move them fast enough to reach to the note on time, so there is a lot of squeaks when I play this notes. I still cant get my posture right, so that also influences the fact that I cant play the notes. I have noticed that if I sit a little bit forward in the chair and my back is in a good position the note starts to sound a little bit better, but I still have to work on those with patience, note by note, until the sound is fine, and not squeaking. Another thing that is challenging in this song, is the fact that everything is slured, this makes playing harder because even though you can just play the notes in a continous manner, the sound has to be right, and moving the fingers is "harder" because you dont have like a steady harsh beat that just makes you move the fingers with. The problem with the slurs, is that the notes have to be together, but have to sound even, like you just cant play less of a note because it is slured or if it isnt, they have to be even. So far I have been able to work out the first 3 phrases, and then skip the fourth, and move on to the ninth phrase, they are worked out note by note, I still cant played them in a slur because Im still not used to playing them fast or together. I will probably be able to work them out, if I sit with patience and do them over and over again, so that they get their proper sound and tone quality, for this I still have to work on my posture. I am setting an objective that by teh end of the third quarter I am able to play it completely, so for this I have to practice almost every day, sit down and get the upper register notes perfectly.

Reflection

In the Automatic Chromatic Warmp ups, I have various problems, specially when we are going down the scale, because I get very confussed specially when you go from B to Bb, because moving the fingers is sometimes confussing. What I can do to practice it, is to play it slowly and then increasing the speed in order to get the notes right, and not going ove the mistake and later having to work harder to fix it. Another place where I get problems, is in letter C and D that you have to go down the scale and automatically up, this is hard for me because I have to work harder in my breathing and my posture, because I dont have enough air left and the sound is not the best quality. Another issue I have when playing is my posture, because I either cross my legs, or put tension on them, and this makes my breathing be bad, and not have a good sound. From the songs we play in the concert band, the one I have more problems with is Motown Revue, because I have only played it twice, and didnt know how it sounded. I have the terrible problem that I know how to play the songs, because I listen to other clarinets play, and thats how I get my music solved in two seconds, I am very bad at sight reading my music, and thats an issue, because someday I will have to teach other people to play it and there will be no other person or people who I can listen to, and it will be a problem for me later on in band. So I have to take the time, and mark with pencil the measures and rest and specific places where I'm having problems, so I can solve them with my teacher. In Motown Revenue, what really complicates me, is the eighth note rests, they annoy me and I skip them, so I have to take extra time with that song so I can solve the problems, form measure 17 to measure 41, where all the rests that are problematic for me are. The other song, in which I have problems with is in A fifth of Beethoven, in measures 20 to 24, where the clarinets have a series of 16th notes, that are sometimes confussing because of their speed. Each time I play them I get one step closer to actually getting the notes right, because I start playing them slowly, and then I increase the speed to what it actually is. The problem in this part of the song is the rhythm, because its note hard, but the parts that confuse me, is after three beets in G going down and up in the 16th notes, thats what is hard for me in this song.

The Brochure

About two weeks ago, Mr. Tomassi sent us as homework to investigate and do a brochure about Dixieland Music. We also had to burn a CD with a couple of songs as examples of what Dixieland Music was. This whole project came up, thanks to ou r up coming concert, in which most of the songs we were playing were Dixieland music. So I got home, and started doing some research about what Dixieland music was. When I had all my information I divided it up, and made a brochure with it. Then I had to do the final touches that were the pictures, and decoration.
This project was really easy, because mostly what you had to do was do research, undestand it, and write it up.
When I finished this project I understood what diexieland music was, its an early form of jazz music that was developed in New Orleans, and one of the most famous players was Louis Armstrong.

Reflection

When we are in class, we normally play the three warm ups, some lessons from the book and the songs for the next concert. Our three warm ups are called, the Remington, the Wind Orchestra Warm Ups and the Chromatic Scale Warm Ups. The easienst one for me, is the Remington, because we've been playing it since we were in sixth grade, and its very basic notes. The Wind Orchestra warm ups, is also easy, because once again we have been playing it since we were in seventh grade, and its not that challenging. On the other hand, the Chromatic Scale Warm Up is very challenging, and it makes me really think about what im playing, the other ones I already know them and its kind of automatic for me to play them, this one though is new, and its very chalenging, because you need to think about sthe fingerings, rhythm, and whats comming next if its a flat or a sharp or a natural note. I know that if I practice this quite oftenly I will be able to do it, because it should not be that hard, it only needs practice. Then after the warm ups we normaly play a couple of songs from the book, this year the book has not given me any very challenging stuff, that i havent been able to play. It has been pretty easy and not challenging, probably it will be more challenging later on, we are in page 15 or so. Finaly, we play songs that are part of our next concert. The songs that I find most challenging in general, are Saxophone Rag, American Exaultant, and Basin Street Blues. Saxophone Rag, is not that hard, because its very repetitive, it has the same rhythim practically the whole song, and repeats here and there. American Exaultant, is the one that troubles me the most, because its only scales, and it very but very fast. This song is one of the most challenging ones we have played this far this year, because of its speed, its not the notes, its the speed. On the other hand Basin Street Blues, gives me trouble everywhere, it is not that fast, but the rhythm is confusing, and I mess up a lot in that song. Then there is the clarinet solo, that is weird, and kind of hard because it uses a lot of d# and that note is very annoying to play because its your pinki doing the work. So this is a reflection of what we mostly do in class.

Last Classes

During the last classes in band, we have done the usual warm up which is The Wind Orchestra Warm Ups and a Remington. Then the last class before going out to Lagunazo, we played the Chromatic Scale Warm Ups which is a song, where you play all the notes in the chromatic scale until certain notes up and down. For me this is one of the most challenging things we play in class, because, first you need to keep up a rhythm, and then you have to be aware of the notes you are playing. For me going up the chromatic scale is way easier than going down, because I get really confused when you have to think of the notes backwards. After playing the warm ups, we started playing the music we played at the concert last Saturday. Most of this songs are really easy because they repeat themselves, and you just go back to the beginning of the song, or to certain measure line. The most complicated song for me to play, is Basin Street Blues, which we have played only twice, and is harder than the rest. The hardest part of this song for me, is the Solo the clarinet has, because you have to follow a certain rhythm, and the song is fast.

Class, August 18, 2010

Today in class we played our instruments. Mr. Tomassi gave us new music for us ti play in the Welcome Back BBQ, such as the Saxophone Rag and Animaniacs. He also gave us a chromatic scale warm up, a chorale warm up, and rythm studies for band, which is a series of songs, of different styles of music, where the time signature changes a lot. In this class we also worked on the first pages of the book, because we just got the new book, and we went through pages 1,2,3 and our homework was to review all of the exercises and some of the following pages. This class, was not very different from the ones last year, where we unpacked, set up, played the warm ups, some exercises in the book, and then review the songs for the concert. I hope that we can play Saxophone Rag next class, because we really have to practice it, because most people say that it is a very hard piece of music, when it really inst. 

Class, August 16, 2010

Today August 16, 2010, we had a band class, the homework of the scales. So the first thing we did was review the homework, all of us, went to the board and did one problem and explained to the class why it was that way, and why we had added the flats or sharps to make the formula match the scale. We did that for about three quarters of the class, then Mr. Tomassi told us to get our instruments and we played for the rest of the class. We are now playing a new book called Essential Techniques, which for now has been about the same level as the end of our last book. But flipping through the book, I saw that things got harder. But with a lot of practice and effort it shouldnt be that hard. For Homework we had to open up this blog, and write the entries for the classes, also that we had to correct the scales that we had wrong, and to do the Gb scale.

Class, August 12, 2010

On August 12, 2010 we had our first official 1 hour and 30 minutes Band class. In this class Mr. Tomassi handed us a worksheet that was kind of a review of what we already had learned last year about scale construction. In this worksheet we reviewed all sorts of things, such as what were whole steps, half steps, the notes in the staff, and the notes in the piano. He also reminded us about the notes in the black keys of the piano could be a # (sharp) and a b (flat) in the same key, because a # rises the note half step up, and the b lowers it half step down. After reviewing all of that, we reviewed how to construct Major Scales, with the formula WWHWWWH (Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half). Based on this formula and the notes in the piano, the scales should match the formula, like if you need a whole step, but you have its just a half step, you add a sharp to the note. Based on what we learned on that class, Mr. Tomassi sent us to do about 14 Major scales for homework. In my opinion I was able to do them quicker than when I did them last year. I think its because now I understand the concept better, and I have reviewed it a lot.

Class, August 10, 2010

On August 10, 2010 we started school, and so we had our first Band class. On this first band class Mr. Tomassi handed us the rules for the class and the guidelines and grading systems, for playing tests, and rehersals. When he gaves us the rules and guidelines, we discussed them with him, and he made sure we understood what we were doing this year in band. This was the shortes class of the three we've had so far, so we didnt have much time to learn anything new, we just discussed the rules, and what he was expecting from us this year.