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.