Joselyn's Theory/AP Blog

Yay! We are back!

2008-01-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

So here we are again... *sigh* Well I got to come home early today so I sat down at my piano and went over some of the Burkowitz examples and drove my family crazy... but I did that for an hour or so, figuring out the key signatures, trying to find and identify all the cadences, and attempt to do it without writing out the solfegge over the notes... but I found the most challenging thing for me was trying to figure out the minor keys, because I think in major keys. Minor keys make me sad.... anyways. I just had a hard time interpreting the intervals with the minor keys. But there is my blogged practice for the first time in this wonderful second semester! I am pretty excited for this semester. Not gonna lie. :-)

Practicing

2007-11-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

So... here we are again... I just decided that I should blog some practicing. So lately I have been practicing chords, just to get used to things. Since it is all incorporated with piano class, I will play all the chords and their inversions and things, and then to rack my brain a bit, I try by giving myself some note, and then building certain chords off of that. Like if I give myself a B flat, I say build a diminished chord off that, without hearing it. Thats whats hard for me is to name the notes in a chord without being able to hear them. Anyway. I have to go work on memorizing a piece for the jury thing. ttfn!

just another blog

2007-11-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

So this week I worked mostly on triads, because that is what we all have been doing mostly in all of our classes. I would play a root and the 5th, and find the 3rd note in a major and minor chord, then I would play the root and the 3rd, and find the 5th. After I did that I would play a triad in a major key, change the 3rd to make it minor, then I would play the diminished and augmented versions of that chord. I also did inversions. Then I decided to work on the counterpoint that we are doing in pairs soon, and I would play (or attempt to play, more like... it was rather challenging!) the cantus firmus from the sightreading that we got from professor Williams, and sang the counterpoint. It felt good when it turned out! It is hard to play something and sing something completely different at the same time! Well... to me anyway. I am not that good at multitasking yet. Well, that was pretty much it... Have a happy Thursday!

Species Counterpoint?!?!

2007-10-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

So... this whole counterpoint thing is really confusing... I am sure that everyone else agrees. But I have been trying to get the hang of everything by playing out things on the piano, just to see if I am getting good sounding intervals, but then its like: Surprise! You cant use that interval because the rules of that Species says so! "tap, tap, tap... Yes, Johann?..." So yeah. Well, I think I can get the hang of things. And I am here for blogging my practicing. So here it is. The one thing that I have been having trouble with in class is singing the solfegge syllables with fixed Do, like with Dorian: re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do, re: re-fa-la-fa-re... I dont really have the brain power to sing that... and think about the lowered 3rd and 7th, which signifies the D minor scale... which I am singing with the regular C major solfegge.... it just confuses my brain. So what I did was I practiced all the modes on fixed do, just so I could possibly get through the class without having to write all the syllables out over each of the notes on the staff, including underlining which ones sound lowered if you are thinking in a major scale way... So I think I am getting the hang of things. Just one less thing to be worried about in counterpoint! That is always a good thing!

Assignment 3.8

2007-10-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

I looked at the assignment in the book and at first I didnt know what it meant... but then I sat down at the piano and just started playing scales and it started to click. I started at middle C, which I am sure is everyones favorite... I like it because I dont have to warm up for my voice to sing it correctly... and then I played intervals within that octave, and played the inversions of them. It is fascinating every time I hear it or see it, when I play just any wierd interval and know that I can find the inversion by adding that opposite interval to the one I just played to make 9. And along with the inversions, it was easy to find the opposite of a minor, because the inversion was major, Augmented became diminished, and vice versa. Like the inversion of a minor 6th is a major 3rd. The inversion of a diminished 5th is an augmented 4th. It is just cool! Well I should probably go to sleep now.... see most of you bright and early in fundamentals!

Practicing more...

2007-10-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

I sat at my piano for about an hour this morning... I have been basing my practices on Theory homework. I discovered a lot of new ways to determine the intervals the easiest way possible, I am sure it isn't uncommon, because we did it in class the other day. Like finding a minor 7th interval by singing in my mind : "There's a Place for us" in West Side Story, or a major 7th with "Maria" from that same musical. I the perfect 5th is always easiest with "Twinkle Twinkle". Perfect 4th with "Here comes the Bride". A lot of the intervals I couldnt think of anything for I just thought of the solfegge songs that they sang in Sound of Music, like "do- mi- mi, mi- sol- sol, re- fa- fa, la- ti- ti..." Another thing I did this morning was I sang all the scales in C and D, because they are easiest for my range, and I sang them in major, natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor, and I tested myself with trying to find the intervals from the tonic to the note, and I seemed to have trouble with a minor 6th in a natural minor... but I will get it. Anyway. ttfn!

wah-wah-wah-wah!

2007-09-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

I am still pretty proud of myself for remembering the 4 half steps down thing to find the relative minor to a major scale... there were so many times during the test today that I sang that to myself in my head... well, it worked, I hope... So today I heard way after I got home that I was supposed to go to opera and sing the choral parts at the beginning and the end, but instead I sat at the piano for 45 or so minutes and sang major scales, coverted them to natural minor, then harmonic minor, then melodic minor. I pretty much did it until I ran out of range of my voice. It was sort of fun, and really challenging. I even pulled out the sight reading AP book that Spencer left with me to guard with my life... and I converted some of those little tunes in there from major to minor, like we did in class on Tuesday. Then I worked on Magnificat, to all of you who are in Chamber choir... it is a really HARD piece!!! Especially with how fast Dr. Funk goes sometimes!!! And now I have rehearsal for another choir, so I better go. See you all in AP tomorrow!

I finally figured it out!!!

2007-09-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

Yay! Blog is up and running! Its about time I figured it out. In this era, it is the saddest thing truly, I am so computer iliterate it isnt funny.... but anyway. Now that I have figured this whole thing out, I think I should do something worth while... something musical or something....