Intro to Songs of Unity

Today we started by writing a reflection about both of our performances, saying our comments and critiques, which one we thought was better and why, the pros and cons, etc. Then, Mr. Karena told us about our new unit: Songs of Unity. We talked about how there are different types of songs that unite people, like religious music or negro spirituals and many more. Then Mr. Karena told us our assignment was to create a performance of a song of unity and add our own twist to it. He showed us an example of a group from the first year in Hangzhou (fun fact: one member was my sister). Our class has 8 people, so we can randomly got sorted into two groups of 4. My group includes me, Hannah, Celine, and Arnold. We then brainstormed about possible songs and came up with this list:

Man in the Mirror

We are the World

Imagine

Try

Stronger

True Colors

I Won't Give up

Just the Way You Are

What a Wonderful World

All of the Stars

Come Together

Parents Weekend Performance VS Sunday Performance

We performed on Sunday night on December 6th as a second assessment to give us a chance to improve our performance grades, then we were given the choice between these two performance and say which one we preferred and why. After performing twice and watching both over afterwards, I personally think my first performance was better. This is for several reasons. Firstly, because during the second performance the "whiplash" (basically the amount of reverberation of the string that sounds very bad) was much worse. Additionally, my voice was almost completely inaudible in the second performance, while in the first my voice sounded much louder and more confident because it was amplified from the mic. Even though both times I was nervous, the first time was more genuine and the nervousness propelled me to do better, while the second time the nervousness brought me down. I also practiced more before the first performance because I thought for granted that the second time would be easier because I'd done it before, when it wasn't and I was shaking and didn't play well or project as well. I think the second time my playing of the chords was more technically correct and I made less mistakes in the finger work, but overall the I think way the guitar sounded and ironically my confidence and how my voice sounded was much better in the first time.

27/11/2015 Lion Dance Music Composal

27/11/2015: Today in class we created a 2 minute 10 second long lion dance accompaniment track with our knowledge of musical and rhythmic components, as well as binary.

Rhythmic Fruit Salad

Today in class we started a new unit about drumming patterns. Mr. Karena showed us this nice way to remember how to play each rhythm in this "rhythmic fruit salad".

Solo Performance - 13/11/2015

My Solo Performance Video:

Recently over Parents' Weekend all music students were required to perform our solo pieces at their current state of progress whatever it might have been. I performed I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz on the acoustic guitar and sang at the same time. I was very visibly nervous, but I tried my best and I think that's what matters.

I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz Program Notes & Analysis

I Won’t Give Up - Jason Mraz

Y10 Music Semester 1 - Angelina Wang

I have chosen to perform the song ‘I Won’t Give Up’ by Jason Mraz. "I Won't Give Up" is a song by American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. It was released as the first official single from his fourth studio album, Love Is a Four Letter Word on January 3, 2012 via iTunes. It was written by Mraz and Michael Natter, and produced by Joe Chiccarelli.

The acoustic folk ballad was written during his activist outings and discusses not giving up on loving someone, loving oneself, and not giving up on one's dreams. It received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who agreed that the song is straightforward, emotional and inspiring.

The song was also a success on the charts, debuting at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming his second top-ten single, after "I'm Yours" (2008). Internationally, the song achieved large success, reaching top-ten positions in Ireland and Netherlands, while reaching top-twenty positions in Austria, Canada, the United Kingdom and more.

Mraz explained the track, in a "track-by-track" commentary for Billboard: "'I Won't Give Up' was written selfishly. As many of my songs are, I write for the purpose of understanding what the hell's going on in my life, my position in the world, processing that lesson and that miracle that I'm learning. Seeing it on the page, proving to myself that I understand the lesson, that I'm applying it to my life, and that I can move on. Ultimately it was about, you know, regardless of what happens in this relationship, I don't have to give up on loving this person, or loving myself, or give up on whatever my dreams are. Even though it's written through the filter of relationships, it's not necessarily specific for relationships. For me, the true meaning exists in the bridge saying 'I don't want to be someone who walks away so easily, I'm here to stay and make a difference.' That is for all of us. We all have something that we're fighting for or that we're striving for. Whether we want to coach our soccer team to victory or lose five pounds in a month, whatever it is, there's nothing too small worth fighting for and there's nothing too big worth going after." ["Jason Mraz, 'Love Is a Four Letter Word': Video Track-By-Track."]

The structure of the song is Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus’, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus”, Chorus. The song starts off with a pianissimo acoustic guitar melody, then the first verse, also sung in pianissimo. In Chorus and Verse 2 he very slightly crescendoes into piano, until Chorus’ is sung in a rapid crescendo to forte. He diminuendo's to a solid mezzoforte during the Bridge, then crescendoes back to forte for the Chorus and Chorus”, until the very last chorus is sung piano pianissimo and a capella. The tempo of this song varies from 45 to 46 beats per minute, and spans a total of 4 minutes exactly. The piece is in compound time: 6 8 time, which means there are six quavers/eighth notes in one bar. There is a mix of syncopation during the start of each line in the verse and in the chorus, although no duplets or triplets. I think this piece is very inspirational, raw, emotional, and empowering. It is quite simple, but it holds hope. Usually the melody only goes up one step at time, but incorporates hops at the end of each line in the verse, and the song in general is very conjunct. In the chorus he starts each line with a leap, then decreases to hops and the last 2 notes are always the same in the regular chorus. The bridge is two repeated notes stepped back and forth until he sings a hop apart and holds it for two beats (an ostinato that turns into a sequence). The piece is in a diatonic key, E major, and its range spans from B2 to Ab4. It’s a acoustic folk ballad with a single melody and a sparse arrangement. The instruments features are (in order of appearance) acoustic guitars, main and backing vocals, maracas, rhythmic beats of bass drum, and keyboards. I think Jason Mraz’s voice is a tenor’s, which is quite suitable for me as I am an alto, so our ranges are relatively similar. The instrument most noticeable during the piece would be the acoustic guitar and his voice, although I think the other instruments are important too, as they add to the atmosphere and layer textures (voice against strings against woodwind against tuned and untuned percussion). This piece is primarily homophonic, thick during the chorus and thin during the starting and ending verse and choruses. It’s a solo, except for during the Chorus” it turns into a melody with a gospel choir-like chorus chanting after each line. There are many open cadences and consonants, and all the harmonies are diatonic.

I chose this song because it was performed by one of my favorite artists on one of my favorite TV shows (Glee), but even before that it was one of my favorite songs, and I felt a strong personal connection to the lyrics.

Works Cited

Atlantic Records. I Won't Give Up Jason Mraz. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons, 16 Jan. 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

"Jason Mraz, 'Love Is a Four Letter Word': Video Track-By-Track." Billboard. Prometheus Global Media, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/1067020/jason-mraz-love-is-a-four-letter-word-video-track-by-track>.

Mraz, Jason, and Michael Natter. I Won't Give Up. Jason Mraz. Rec. 2010. Joe Chiccarelli, 2012. ITunes - Apple. Web. 6 Oct. 2015. <https://itunes.apple.com/hk/album/i-wont-give-up/id505582714?i=505582724>.

Copy of Performance Criteria

   

CISHZ  Y10  Course Outline

Music Assessment Criteria and Assessment Dates

Music Unit – Solo Performance (4 months)

Assessment Task	Descriptors	Criteria	Due Date
Criteria A Program Notes Individual Assignment	Write program Notes on a piece of music you have chosen to perform on a musical instrument.   Describe the historical context (when and why this piece was written) Describe the musical features in terms of Dynamics Rhythm Tonality Structure Melody Texture Harmony Comment on your personal connection to this piece and what meaning it has to you.	Criteria - A Knowing and Understanding (8)	Early – October 3 October Program Notes Due
Research Rehearse and Recreate a performance (10 weeks)	Students need to rehearse and practice their piece of music and write comments on their progress. All feedback should be recorded in the feedback circle document.  There should be at least one entry for every week.	Criteria – B & D Developing Skills (8) Responding to Music (8)	Early – Mid Nov Practice Rehearsal
Responding to Music. Peer, Teacher and   Self Assessment (4 weeks)	Students will perform a selected passage of music from their chosen piece of music	Criteria - B Developing Skills (8)	Saturday 9 Nov
Continue with Rehearing and preparing performance	Students will continue to rehearse for their final performance using teacher, self and peer assessment	Criteria - B Developing Skills (8)	End of Nov FINAL Performance Saturday 28 Nov
Peer Evaluation and Self Assessment	Students will develop and explore ways of creative thinking These ideas should be expressed Through the process journal	Criteria - C Thinking Creatively (8)	Begin Dec Hand in process Journals   Saturday 5 Dec
Responding This assessment task will be on-going throughout the whole unit	Students are encouraged to develop the following: -A connection to an ATL - evaluate and respond  to their own and others performances - commitment to practice - transfer learning to new & other areas	Responding - D Responding   (8)	Begin Dec End of the unit will be Saturday 5 Dec

Music Technology

10/10/2015 - World Mental Health Day!

Today Jean Yap came into our class to teach us about her specialty: Music Technology. She briefly introduced us to the software she uses called Ableton Live. She said she likes her approach to songs because it's much more dynamic compared to writing stiffly and with restrictions like when "Oh there will be 4 bars of intro, then the pre-chorus, chorus," etc. Then she raised the example of the popular song Uptown Funk, and how there were only 2 chords, but the main thing that changed the texture were the different sounds and instruments added. Mr. Karena added in about the 5 basic parts of a drum. There is the bass/kick drum (lowest), the high hat(crosses), the snare(high), the crash, and the tom(s). 

Jean's email is jean_yap01@hotmail.com

For the rest of the lesson we played with the keyboards and Ableton and practiced our solo performances. This first screenshot is my rendition of a basic drum beat in common time. The second is my attempt at incorporating a piano jingle, but as you can see I hadn't yet balanced it yet so some sounds are longer or shorter than others.

Wade in the Water - Elements of Performance

The Elements of Performance (using DR C SMITH):

The song is sycopated- which basically means the notes are off-beat. The brotherhood sing louder on the repeated phrase "God's gonna trouble the water" for emphasis. the tempo is 108 (Andante/Moderato) and is a relatively steady walking pace. "Wade in the Water"  is a Negro spiritual first published in New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1901) by John Wesley Work II and his brother, Frederick J. Work. Negro spirituals are religious songs that were created by enslaved African people in the United States. Spirituals were originally an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while also describing the hardships of slavery. The song relates to both the Old and New Testaments. The verses reflect the Israelites' escape out of Egypt as found in Exodus:14. The lyrics of the chorus: "Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water" refers to the biblical statement on healing: "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." Negro spirituals were important because they allowed a form of release of the slaves who had to live in captivity and had little to no freedom. Music acted as a form of their freedom.

Dr. C. Smith

Today in music we reviewed our music worksheet/quizzes from last lesson. We learnt about how to read musical time, the length and names of different notes, the clefs and their monikers, and the acronym for the 8 elements of music (Dr. C. Smith) which goes as follows:
Dynamics
Rhythm

Color (of tone)
.

Structure
Melody/Pitch/Register
Instrument
Texture
Harmony
Then we had a small aural test where we had a melody written in front of us which Mr. Karena played it and stopped, and we had to circle the last note played. I got 5/5. He also told us an opening incomplete bar is called an upbeat bar or an anacrusis.
After that he played two pieces and made us try to fill out the 8 elements of music.

What makes a good performance?

Confidence, passion, physical bond with the instrument, creativity (unique style), technical skill, focus, vulnerability, connection with the audience.
Tori Kelly - Dear No One (cover by Leroy Sanchez)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuq8mktbO54

I think even though this song wasn't wrote by Leroy Sanchez, I really feel his confidence on the belt-y notes, and his vulnerability when he sings higher and looks completely engrossed in the song. His technical skill is also good, as heard in his vocal control when switching from note to note. He also looks very much like he is playing his guitar, rather than vice versa.