End of Semester 1: Blog post

End of Semester 1: Blog Post

In the beginning of the school year, though I had played some over summer break, I was still a little rusty. I had lost much of my intonation, so during the first concert I had started to gain my intonation back, but I still had some ways to go.  Much like intonation, there were many aspects of my playing that had become rusty of summer break, and were still not up to par by the first concert.
Some of the things I wanted to improve on and did were....
1. Better Intonation- during the first concert we played a piece called Break That Third Wall.  Similar to its title this was all about being able to play in third position.  I struggled with being able to transition from, one position to the next, and much of the higher positions were out of tone.  Not saying that this concert my intonation was excellent, but this concert it was a lot better.  I felt a lot more confident in my playing, because of it.  In the future to improve my intonation further, I will practice scales that go into high positions, and play music that challenges me to switch positions frequently.
2.More Dynamics-  My dynamics and the whole orchestra's dynamics in the first concert were not very good.  Many times when we would need to get quiet we would on play mf, instead of p.  Though, in this concert, I felt as though when it said to play p we did, and that made the transition from p to ff or f, seem very emphasized and heard by the audience, adding a musical aspect to the piece. To improve this we practiced many techniques to get a quieter sound, such as turning the bow towards you, or applying less pressure with your index finger.
3.More consistent bowing and playing as one instrument-  These two, though not the same, are linked together, in many aspect.  By having the whole ensemble, or certain sections be in the same area of bow and have the same bow direction, it helped us stay together, and play as one instrument.  Many ways this occurred is that some people cued, also people memorized some if not all of their music and looked up more, finally, we had the same style, which made sure we were all on the same page.
All in all, the concert was much better than the last one.  We improved on our intonation, dynamics, bowing, and were able to play more as one instrument.  Though we improve a lot in this concert I know that I have a lot more to improve on.  I can only hope that next concert I and the whole ensemble will have improved even more!

Sectional on Thursday November 6th, 2014

This is from the sectionals on Thursday November 6th, 2014:
Before sectional: Triplet Part  

 

After sectional: Triplet Part

Fall Concert Reflection

Fall Concert Reflection

Concert Reflection:
I think we did well at the concert, though there were some parts that most definitely could use some help.  For example, some of the times we were not together, most of the time each section was together, but sometimes all of the sections were not together.  Also, in Break That Third Wall there were some points when we were extremely out of tune.  Finally, in Odessa especially, we rushed so much.  I felt like we start out rushing, and then we just kept speeding up from there.  Now, for the good things we did.  Some parts it sound like we were playing as one instrument, especially in Zombie Intruders.  Also, I personally felt like I could hear myself a lot and during the discussion it seemed as though a lot of other people seemed to hear themselves a lot more.  Finally, I loved how at the end of each piece, for example Break That Third Wall, it seemed that the last note really resinated and was really loud.  I loved that sound so much, it just made the piece seem complete and mature.
Goals:

• Better Intonation
• Better Tone
• More Dynamics
• Play as one instrument
• More constant bowings
• Don't rush as much

Points of Improvement:  Highlighted Goals

• Better Intonation:

Me:While at home I could practice scales and when playing a really hard and fast piece of music, with a lot of notes, I could take it slower and practice it with other bowings and tempos.
Orchestra: In class we could practice with the book and we could practice intonation by practicing shifting.

• More Dynamics:

Me: I can practice different techniques of how to be quite and then how to be loud.  So that instead of being able to go from p to mf, I will be able to go from pp to ff, or even better ppp to fff.
Orchestra:  Basically the same thing as above, but in pieces making sure that the whole ensemble is getting quite together and that the whole ensemble gets louder together.

• Don't Rush:

Me: I can use a metronome when I am practicing at home.  I can also try memorizing most, if not all, of my music, so that I can pay attention to the conducting more.
Orchestra: We can use the, big and loud, metronome in class. Also, we can adjust our stands and seat to face the conductor more.

Revision of Odessa measures 136-154

Revision of Odessa measures 136-154

Wednesday September 17th, 2014

Link:http://youtu.be/wqdJCgsXRek

I think that I got more notes this time, also I felt as though I was just more confident when I was playing.  Along with the confidence I feel as though my tone improved too.  I think that my style was better, I tried to accent the slurs.  Finally my intonation was better I played low second and first finger more and more in tune.  Also, this was the part that the second violins practice in sectionals today, so that helped a lot too.

Measures 136-154 in Odessa

Monday September 15th, 2014

Measures 136-154 in Odessa

Link: http://youtu.be/5fwryjo7Bw0
My intonation wasn't very good so I am going to practice scales and circle all of the accidentals in the piece.  My style was also really bad, so I am going to make the crescendos and decrescendos more evident and use staccato more.  Lastly, my tone was bad, so I am going to play louder and use more of my bow.

Second Post of Zombie Intruders measures 17 to 33

Thursday September 4th, 2014

Second Post of Zombie Intruders measures 17 to 33
http://youtu.be/WjMv2vfGuKg
Fixed:
-  I used more vibrato and separated my notes more to make it more musical.
-  I used flat 1st finger and 4th finger for open A and D, in an attempt to make my intonation better.
-  I counted in my head more, so that the notes would be in time more.

First blog post for the 2014-2015 school year

September 2nd, 2014

Piece and measures:
Zombie Intruders 17-39
Link:
http://youtu.be/P1xXTIYTMv0
Problems:
-The rhythm is really bad, the 1 1/2 notes are really bad and not held for the right amount of time.
-  My intonation is really bad, especially playing flat 1st finger and fourth finger A.
-  The feeling of the music is off, it doesn't really sound spooky or scary, like zombies are intruding.
Solutions:
-  For the rhythm I  am going to write in the beats and practice clapping and plucking the rhythm.
-  I am going to practice with scales using flat 1st finger and use 4th finger all the time while playing.
- I am going to add style to the piece and try to portray the story musically.
Conclusion:
The song isn't very good right now, but I hope to improve and master these measures, by using the solutions above to fix the problems above.

Final Blog Post of the 2013- 2014 year

Personally, I believe that I have improved a lot over the past year.  For the final concert, I believe that I did fairly well.  When I first heard us play American Idiot, I thought that we were never going to be able to play the song well enough so that we didn't hurt our ears and the audience's ears.  We did more than that; our intonation was not horrible, though we could improve, and we played fairly together with a lot of passion and good musical choices. For example, in the beginning we could have not played that whole part really loudly, also as a whole ensemble we could have maintained good bow position on the string to ensure a good quality of sound and the proper sound wanted.  I liked how we got to choose the pieces we got to play, because it allowed us to be more invested in the pieces and made me feel like this concert reflected the ensemble more on their values and their musical opinions.  In the beginning of the year, I had really bad intonation and I wasn't really invested into my instrument. In 8th grade I thought it would be my last year and I would go to art or take another class, though after being in this orchestra for a year I plan on taking private lessons and hopefully at the end of the summer auditioning for symphony and , I hope, getting in.  Along with my outlook on orchestra changing and developing, I learned a lot musically.  In the beginning of the year I only could do an one octave scale, though know I feel a lot more mature because I am able to be told to play a two octave or maybe even a three octave scale easily and fairly in tune.  Also, I am really happy that I learned playing the violin isn't always about being in tune and having good tone, but it is also about being able to make good musical decisions and insuring that you make though decision as a team.
 The concert on Wednesday just showed the amount of progress we made as an ensemble.  The first concert we sounded pretty shaky, though every concert we kept improving, getting 1's at festival and then finishing the year with a great concert.  Can't wait for next year, it will be great.

Order of Songs in the Summer Orchestra Concert

Aniela Crayton

Mr. Wolf

9th Grade String Orchestra

May 30th, 2014

Order of Songs:
1. Odyssey
2. Evil Eye
3.River Flows in You
4.Willy Wonka
5.American Idiot
I chose Odyssey first because it was very strong and grabbed the attention of the audience.  Then I chose Evil Eye because when we played in class the transition between the songs sounded good, next I chose Rivers Flows in You because it was like the middle of a story/movie, the calm in the middle of the storm.  Penultimate Willy Wonka because it flowed easily from River Flows in You and because both Willy Wonka and American Idiot are songs that have more than 1 part and are known by many.  American Idiot last because it is my favorite and is up beat and a great happy ending to a story/movie.

Orchestra Festival Reflection

Aniela Crayton

Mr. Wolf

9th Grade String Orchestra  

March 20th, 2014

Orchestra Festival Reflection

• Over all grade- Excellent (-A)

The musicality of all three pieces was great, I feel we as a group moved together.  The intonation was lacking for violins on the high notes and for violas and 2nd violins C's were out of tune.  The tone got better as we moved through all three pieces, though overall I think tone was good.  The rhythm was good in most areas, though there were some trouble spots.  Interpretation was great in all pieces, though lacked a little in Bells.  Finally, technique was only lacking in Rondo Energico.

Tone- Excellent (A)
Intonation-Good (B)
Rhythm-Excellent (-A)
Technique- Good (+B)
Interpretation- Excellent (+A)

1. Rondo Energico- Over all- Excellent (-A)

Some good things we did were I could really hear the contrasting parts and they sound really good together.  Then the plucking at that the bottom of the first page were well together compared to what they had been, also we counted the long notes and we all came in at about the same time, though it wasn't perfect.  Lastly, we used vibrato at good times, had good style at the end, and had a strong ending in general.  Some things we could have worked on were making sure the 16th notes were together, because they sounded muddy.  Also, though the plucking was fairly together it was out of tune and so were a lot of the high notes, especially the violins.

• Tone- Excellent (A)
• Intonation- Good (B)
• Rhythm- Excellent (A)
• Technique- Good (+B)
• Interpretation-Excellent (A)

  2. Faraway Place- Over all- Excellent (-A)

Some good things we did were we had good musical techniques at the top of the 2nd page, also we used vibrato to warm up the piece.  Then, we had great dynamics and a great ending.  Lastly, our intonation got better over time.  On the other note, the 8th notes were rushed and they were played with different styles. Next, we were really out of tune, especially the high notes and all of the different parts didn't fit together at some points in the song.  Lastly, some parts of the song were muddy.

• Tone- Excellent (A)
• Intonation- Good (B)
• Rhythm- Good (+B)
• Technique- Excellent (A)
• Interpretation- Excellent (A)

  3. Bells- Over all- Excellent (-A)

Some good things we did were had a good style in the beginning and we sounded very confident through out the song.  Also, the high notes were very in tune and there was good contrast between instruments.  Some things we had difficulty with was we didn't count long notes and the violins rushed.  Then, the dynamics from f to mf were not as good as they could be.  Next, 1st violins were muddy sounding at 54 and the transition at 29 for the 2nd ending was weak.  Lastly, in the process of speeding up all the instruments were not together.

• Tone- Excellent (A)
• Intonation- Good (+B)
• Rhythm- Excellent (A)
• Technique- Good (B)
• Interpretation- Excellent (A)

Plan-

• Practice with a metronome to make sure that long notes are held the same amount by everyone.
• Practice scales, which will improve intonation.
• Focus on dynamics more.
• Memorize certain parts of the song, so that during places in a song with difficult rhythms we can pay attention to the conductor.
• Make sure that all instruments are together to make sure that no parts sound muddy.
• Practice getting bow closer to the bridge so that even during quite moments the tone remains good.
• Subdivide, so that long notes are held the correct amount of beats.
• PRACTICE MORE!!!!