Recent Changes

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata mashed up with the happy birthday song.
is altered.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata mashed up with the happy birthday song.
are played. I chose the mashup because turning the happy birthday song into a minor classical piece that matches the composer is rare. The moonlight sonata's chord structure continues but the keys and the theme is altered.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata mashed up with the happy birthday song.
I based the mashup on Victor Borge's classical happy birthday mashups and I modified the ending and the way the chords are played.

Practice Journal:
Tuesdays: Practice 2 pieces (A and B)
Thursdays: Do fingering studies
Saturday: Practice 2 pieces (C and D)
Reflection on feedback:
The feedback I received from my brother was very critical and like me, he was a perfectionist. I need to balance my tone and sould lead the piano more.
Lessons from own recording:
The dynamics shift too quickly. I should learn to gradually increase or decrease the dynamics. The rythm should be improved and intonation as well as articulation must be improved. Some trills were quite "muddy."

Term 1
Week 4
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week 5
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week 6
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week 7
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week 8
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week 9
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week 10
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Violin Lesson
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Term 2

1. During the 1920s and 1930s - give a brief (2 sentences) historical outline of what was happening in the world.
During the 1920s, organised crime considerably rose and there was prohibition of liquor in the United States. Jazz Age emerged and the Stock Market crashed in 1929 causing the Great Depression.
2. How did this affect the music in the 1930s.
Men and women struggled to survive during the Great Depression and had no money to spend on record albums and dance clubs. Jazz emerged and people loved dancing to it. The new music made the Great Depression more bearable.
3. What was the significance of the Blues during the 1930's.
The Blues reminded them of their past struggles and expresses solidarity and faith in the future.
4. Comment on the Rhythm of both pieces.
Brother Can You Spare a Dime
 The rhythm changes constantly throughout the whole song. It's syncopated and swung.
Putting on the Ritz
On the second piece, the rhythm was much faster than the first piece. The rhythm was fairly constant on the first part of the song and turned into a swing on the second (instrumental) part of the song.
5. Comment on the orchestration of both pieces
The orchestration of "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" accompanied the singer to a great extent. The violins sang along the singer during sad moments and the brass instruments accompanied the singer on exciting moments. On the second piece, the brass instruments played a big role in mashing up the jazzy music. It sounds as if the instruments played their own individual parts uncooperatively and then mixed up together.
6. Comment of the Dynamics of both pieces.
The dynamics on the first piece was genuinely confusing. The singer was talking while singing but the dynamics portrayed his different feelings in the song. The second piece consists of accents and the dynamics doesn't vary considerably much. The second song in the second piece was filled with fortes and some mezzo fortes.
7. Comment on the main difference of music of the 1910s and the music of the 1930s.
Music in the 1910s are very organised in rhythms and varied in dynamics while music of the 1930s was played freely without any concern of consistent tempo or dynamics.

Area of study Two: Performance technique
April 7, 2011
Instrument: Violin
Composer: Georg Friedrich Händel
Title: Sonate II Movements 1 & 2
Category: accompanied work composed prior to 1910
Individual performance techniques:
Slurring
Chromatic slides
Staccato
Harmonics
Bent notes
Bowing
Technical challenges:
Accuracy of the pitch
Advanced bowing
Control of the dynamics with the bow
Clear articulation of scale passages
Controlled vibrato
Maintaining and changing tempo
Expressive challenges:
Sense of a dynamic performance
Stylistic challenges:
Bowing techniques of pieces in the Baroque period
Resources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITuECBJbBOU
performance by Anton Polezhayev
Handel was a German-born Baroque composer and was a devout religious man like Bach. He wrote countless oratorios, sonatas, church music, operas, concertos and many others. Sonate II is one of many pieces that he had written and the performance techniques should be played differently to the classical or modern music. For example, at that time staccatos are played bluntly instead of being played sharply. This composition had a rather deep solemn tone. The Sonate wasn’t supposed to be played with a strict tempo. Feelings must be used to interpret the song. It’s like telling a story about going through life’s difficulties and emotions. To achieve the maximum performance of the piece, soft bowing must be used in the first movement. On the second movement, the tempo is allegro and the dynamics are mostly forte.
Exercises that will help achieve the best performance:
Technical
Learning scales is one of the most important and basic exercise that will improve the articulation and correct pitch of the melody. The scale consists of three full octaves ascending and descending from the first position to the 6th or 7th position. Triads, dominant septiem and cadence are also practiced.
Firstly, the piece must be played slowly. Avoid errors and play with a constant tempo that is comfortable. The tempo had to be increased over time. Tones must be clear and on the right pitch. This exercise will help the violinist to play the piece with clear articulation.
Etude no. 13 by Kreutzer is an excellent practice piece to smoothen quick transitions between the strings. The etude is very similar in technique to the technique used in the second movement of Handel’s sonata.
Technique Studies by Sevcik are very effective in training smooth transitions from position to a higher one and the lower position. The book covers exercises focusing mainly on position transitions.
Practicing vibrato on a single note in both on a slow pace and a fast pace trains the finger to be stronger and more robust in the quality of the vibration.
Watching professional performances of violinists could inspire gestures and techniques that can be played resulting in an expressive and beautiful violin performance.
Technical Challenges:
Bowing: Handel’s sonatas must be played softly, therefore requiring soft bowing. The bow must be handled lightly and tipped slightly so that fewer strings on the bow touch the violin strings. Furthermore, the bow must be placed away from the bridge to achieve the soft quality of the tones.
Accurate pitch: All the notes are to be played with utmost accuracy. The fingering must be simplified to avoid cracky noises and wrong pitches. Unlike the piano or the guitar, even a millimeter can affect the pitch greatly.

1. Comment on the texture of the Orchestration.
2.The perfect combination of various musical instruments made the texture very rich and thick. Every part has its own texture and different instruments stand out. The Romantic period had significant technological advances enabling powerful sounding performances. Most of the sections were thick and solid while some of them were thin and light.
2. Comment on the varying tempitempo of the 7 minutes).
The tempo varied through out the piece. The piece started with a rushing fast pace and had varying tempo in the piece. There were many ritarandos and accelerations. The tempo was playful in most parts and sometimes the rhythm slowed down focusing on the theme.
3. Comment on ComposorsComposers who may Holst. 
John Williams, composer of "Star Wars" movie soundtrack, was deeply inspired by this piece. The "Star Wars" theme had identical tempo changes but the melody is not entirely based on "Holst's Jupiter".
4. Comment on Dynamics
5.The piece is very dynamic. The French horns gave loud punches while the flutes floated lightly. Through out the whole song, the dynamics always changes. There's no section that is monotonous.
5. Comment French in the musicmusic.
The French horns played most of the themes in Holst's Jupiter. They sound extremely solid and powerful and they are the "leaders" of the orchestra.
6. Comment on the 1st movement of the piece.
7. Comment on the 2nd movement
8. Comment on the 3rd movement of the piece.
robust and full

1. Comment on the texture of the Orchestration.
2. Comment on the varying tempi of the piece of music (yes this one piece goes for 7 minutes).
3. Comment on Composors who may have taken ideas melodic themes from Holst. 
4. Comment on Dynamics
5. Comment French horn's role in the music
6. Comment on the 1st movement of the piece.
7. Comment on the 2nd movement
8. Comment on the 3rd movement of the piece.