Hello again! For the last time!
Last night I finished my bio to go inside the CD insert, so that's all ready to go.
In addition, tonight I redid bars 28-end because I didn't really like how some of it sounded. After I listened to it to make sure I was happy with the the finished product, I exported it as an mp3, renamed it, and burned it onto a CD. Basically, it all adds up to... a completed CD recording!! FINALLY!
The only changes I made to the song were: a) I slowed down the tempo by -1o because I found it slightly too fast, and b)I lowered the volume of the piano track because with my microphone (aka web cam) I had to set the mic volume to the lowest setting because it was so sensitive, so you couldn't hear my playing very well.
The only thing I may have done differently was use a super-high quality microphone, because with the "microphone" I used, if you set the mic volume setting any higher than the lowest, it would make my sax sound like it was almost buzzing/ringing or something. Basically it sounded BAD. So I had to settle with it being quiet (and the dynamics much less noticeable) and make the piano track volume lower. Oh well, I can't blame everything on the equipment!
Hopefully I do well on my project, It took a long time but was worth it in the end!
This marks my last post EVER!
R.I.P. Sonatina - The Making Of
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Day 10 - Looking Back, and Possibly Editing
Hello again!
Wow, that certainly is turning out to be my catchphrase!
Tonight I practised my band pieces (Dimensions of 7 and Clash of the Ironclads) and I have to say, they are definitely easier to play than my solo (however, I guess I have been playing Dimensions for almost 3 months, compared to not quite a month with the solo...hmmm that may be why).
Regardless, the solo has been harder to perfect than most, but I think the reason is not having heard it played correctly before playing it. I had to rely on my ability to read music - notes, rhythms, dynamics and more. That makes me feel proud however, because I did this all on my own. :D
Tonight I will write my bio to go inside the CD cover. I think it looks much more professional compared to last year's (I'm referring to the jazz CD cover of last year).
I may redo the last bar of the song, I'm not sure if it sounds just right.
I hope all goes well!
Wow, that certainly is turning out to be my catchphrase!
Tonight I practised my band pieces (Dimensions of 7 and Clash of the Ironclads) and I have to say, they are definitely easier to play than my solo (however, I guess I have been playing Dimensions for almost 3 months, compared to not quite a month with the solo...hmmm that may be why).
Regardless, the solo has been harder to perfect than most, but I think the reason is not having heard it played correctly before playing it. I had to rely on my ability to read music - notes, rhythms, dynamics and more. That makes me feel proud however, because I did this all on my own. :D
Tonight I will write my bio to go inside the CD cover. I think it looks much more professional compared to last year's (I'm referring to the jazz CD cover of last year).
I may redo the last bar of the song, I'm not sure if it sounds just right.
I hope all goes well!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Day 9 - Prepping for Exam And....
Hello again!
Yesterday I forgot to do my blog! :(
But I have a good reason - I was practising my other pieces for my music playing exam! I feel pretty prepared now, even though I just found out about one of the pieces (allegro) TODAY! I practised it a lot though, so I think I'm good at it now. Except for bar 7!
My other good news is right after my post on Tuesday afternoon, I finished my recording! Yay! Woohoo! I took a LOOOOOONG time because I used a webcam as the microphone because it's much more sensitive than our other microphone. However, this asset turned out to be it's downfall - I had to try numerous volume setting changes (I even ended up covering the microphone with T-shirts and blankets to muffle the sound!) because it was just so sensitive, my playing would be too loud if I played at a forte. I hope you can still hear the dynamic contrast, because I feel it sounded less prominent on the track than how I was actually playing unfortunately.
The only complaint I have now is I might want to redo bars 6 and 31 (same rhythm and notes) because it sounded off tempo with the piano.
I am proud of my work, even though it doesn't sound exactly like a crisp, high-quality recording, it still is pretty cool to hear myself on my very own CD! Hey, now I can truthfully say I'm a recording artist! Well, sort of.
I will continue to make posts despite the fact that I'm done, just telling if I redo things, what I liked about the project, etc. Though I became frustrated many times, it was a fun and cool project that not many students get a chance to do!
Yesterday I forgot to do my blog! :(
But I have a good reason - I was practising my other pieces for my music playing exam! I feel pretty prepared now, even though I just found out about one of the pieces (allegro) TODAY! I practised it a lot though, so I think I'm good at it now. Except for bar 7!
My other good news is right after my post on Tuesday afternoon, I finished my recording! Yay! Woohoo! I took a LOOOOOONG time because I used a webcam as the microphone because it's much more sensitive than our other microphone. However, this asset turned out to be it's downfall - I had to try numerous volume setting changes (I even ended up covering the microphone with T-shirts and blankets to muffle the sound!) because it was just so sensitive, my playing would be too loud if I played at a forte. I hope you can still hear the dynamic contrast, because I feel it sounded less prominent on the track than how I was actually playing unfortunately.
The only complaint I have now is I might want to redo bars 6 and 31 (same rhythm and notes) because it sounded off tempo with the piano.
I am proud of my work, even though it doesn't sound exactly like a crisp, high-quality recording, it still is pretty cool to hear myself on my very own CD! Hey, now I can truthfully say I'm a recording artist! Well, sort of.
I will continue to make posts despite the fact that I'm done, just telling if I redo things, what I liked about the project, etc. Though I became frustrated many times, it was a fun and cool project that not many students get a chance to do!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Day 7 - Starting From Scratch, And I Mean Scratch
Hello again!
Sorry I couldn't make a post yesterday, but my usual computer was infected with 29 different viruses! I don't know how or by what, but all of a sudden while working on both my Spanish Power Point and music Audacity (recording part), there was a huge RARRRR noise, and about 6 different boxes popped up, reading things like "Critical Error!" and "Buy this software NOW to protect your PC!". Yet another reason I dislike Microsoft.
So now I am forced to start over recording on our laptop instead, which means I had to reinstall EVERYTHING (audacity, and re-upload the mp3 clip to audacity). Luckily, the microphone I used to record wasn't very sensitive anyways, so tonight I think I will pick up a new one to record with. Even though I have to start from scratch, I didn't really have any usable material before so it was not too much of a setback.
I am very happy because I feel that today was a good day as far as practising goes, as well as I used a different instrument today that I like better than my own. I have decided to use it for the recording, and possibly the playing exam. I feel confident that I can play the correct rhythms now, and I have also worked in the dynamics (as of yesterday, in fact). That means I can play all those fortes and pianos! The only thing I may have to work on is the timing with the piano track and the ritardando at the very end (I often forget to slow down). I am happy with how this project is coming along - last night I bought special picture paper to print my CD insert on, so as soon as I have the viruses under control I can print it, and I am pretty happy with my playing.
I guess now we will seeing how my recording goes tonight. Wish me luck!
Sorry I couldn't make a post yesterday, but my usual computer was infected with 29 different viruses! I don't know how or by what, but all of a sudden while working on both my Spanish Power Point and music Audacity (recording part), there was a huge RARRRR noise, and about 6 different boxes popped up, reading things like "Critical Error!" and "Buy this software NOW to protect your PC!". Yet another reason I dislike Microsoft.
So now I am forced to start over recording on our laptop instead, which means I had to reinstall EVERYTHING (audacity, and re-upload the mp3 clip to audacity). Luckily, the microphone I used to record wasn't very sensitive anyways, so tonight I think I will pick up a new one to record with. Even though I have to start from scratch, I didn't really have any usable material before so it was not too much of a setback.
I am very happy because I feel that today was a good day as far as practising goes, as well as I used a different instrument today that I like better than my own. I have decided to use it for the recording, and possibly the playing exam. I feel confident that I can play the correct rhythms now, and I have also worked in the dynamics (as of yesterday, in fact). That means I can play all those fortes and pianos! The only thing I may have to work on is the timing with the piano track and the ritardando at the very end (I often forget to slow down). I am happy with how this project is coming along - last night I bought special picture paper to print my CD insert on, so as soon as I have the viruses under control I can print it, and I am pretty happy with my playing.
I guess now we will seeing how my recording goes tonight. Wish me luck!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Day 5 - Squeaking Issues!
Hello again!
Sorry I didn't make get another post published yesterday, I was so busy with my ISP projects (practising Sonatina/exam pieces & designing the CD cover, as well as my Spanish ISP). But I'm back! Yesterday was a good practice day - I have officially perfected Hornpipe from Water Music (the ending sometimes is a little off, however) and the Minuet, as well as the scales (as long as there is no low C natural!), and of course Sonatina is coming right along.
The only problem is today I was HORRIBLE! I kept squeaking and squawking ALL THE TIME! I hope I was just having an off day, because I feel that today, as far as Sonatina goes, I am almost back where I started (I messed up on easy notes too!)!!!
I am probably stressing myself out, and this is just "One of Those Days" but I think tomorrow I will ask to practise together with our sections. Oh wait, you won't see this post until after our projects are finished. I better write myself a reminder to ask!
On the plus side my timing is fairly good now, and I can play the correct tempo (in correlation with the piano track anyways). The one area where I may have to work on tempo still is bars 36, 37 and 38 (the last 3, for clarification). I'm pretty sure I'm not playing the sixteenth notes quick enough. Today I also attempted to find an audio recording of my part, just to hear what it sounds like, but no luck. I suppose this Sonatina was not one of Mozart's more popular ones.
Hopefully tomorrow goes better than today, and that the exam and recording the track go better (I haven't really recorded yet, because our microphone doesn't pick up sound very well. I couldn't really hear myself at all). I'm crossing my fingers, and also practising Sonatina lots!!
Sorry I didn't make get another post published yesterday, I was so busy with my ISP projects (practising Sonatina/exam pieces & designing the CD cover, as well as my Spanish ISP). But I'm back! Yesterday was a good practice day - I have officially perfected Hornpipe from Water Music (the ending sometimes is a little off, however) and the Minuet, as well as the scales (as long as there is no low C natural!), and of course Sonatina is coming right along.
The only problem is today I was HORRIBLE! I kept squeaking and squawking ALL THE TIME! I hope I was just having an off day, because I feel that today, as far as Sonatina goes, I am almost back where I started (I messed up on easy notes too!)!!!
I am probably stressing myself out, and this is just "One of Those Days" but I think tomorrow I will ask to practise together with our sections. Oh wait, you won't see this post until after our projects are finished. I better write myself a reminder to ask!
On the plus side my timing is fairly good now, and I can play the correct tempo (in correlation with the piano track anyways). The one area where I may have to work on tempo still is bars 36, 37 and 38 (the last 3, for clarification). I'm pretty sure I'm not playing the sixteenth notes quick enough. Today I also attempted to find an audio recording of my part, just to hear what it sounds like, but no luck. I suppose this Sonatina was not one of Mozart's more popular ones.
Hopefully tomorrow goes better than today, and that the exam and recording the track go better (I haven't really recorded yet, because our microphone doesn't pick up sound very well. I couldn't really hear myself at all). I'm crossing my fingers, and also practising Sonatina lots!!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Day 3 - Working on Dynamics
Hello again!
Today I worked mostly on dynamics, concentrating on the change between forte and piano. This change is extremely noticeable in the piano track, which actually helps me a lot because I know relatively how much to drop or raise my volume, as well as if I'm at the right tempo.
I also worked some more on piecing the sonatina together with the piano. It definitely is faster than how I play it, so my goal for this weekend is to start recording by tomorrow, not as the final copy but just to see how they go along together and also to slow down the tempo at first so I get a better feel for the piece. It's sometimes hard to know exactly how to play a piece - sometimes you get into a habit of playing a certain part a certain way, just because you played it that way once. That's what happened to me with bars 15-17 - originally I didn't notice there was no eighth rest between the G natural staccato eighth note in bar 15 and the F natural staccato eighth note in the 16 bar. That is definitely a very bad habit to get into, so I must work on ridding myself of that tendency. At least now I've got those bars down.
Now that I can play the right rhythms (I think I have bars 11 and 12 down now - yay!) basically all I have to work on now is tempo and dynamics, which are just as important as the rhythms and notes, really. They're what gives the piece emotion and depth, instead of just robotically reading notes and rhythms off a page. So wish me luck!
I'm nervous to try out the piece on Audacity - whenever I play alone, I tend to get excessively nervous and mess up more than usual. Oh well, we shall see.
Today I worked mostly on dynamics, concentrating on the change between forte and piano. This change is extremely noticeable in the piano track, which actually helps me a lot because I know relatively how much to drop or raise my volume, as well as if I'm at the right tempo.
I also worked some more on piecing the sonatina together with the piano. It definitely is faster than how I play it, so my goal for this weekend is to start recording by tomorrow, not as the final copy but just to see how they go along together and also to slow down the tempo at first so I get a better feel for the piece. It's sometimes hard to know exactly how to play a piece - sometimes you get into a habit of playing a certain part a certain way, just because you played it that way once. That's what happened to me with bars 15-17 - originally I didn't notice there was no eighth rest between the G natural staccato eighth note in bar 15 and the F natural staccato eighth note in the 16 bar. That is definitely a very bad habit to get into, so I must work on ridding myself of that tendency. At least now I've got those bars down.
Now that I can play the right rhythms (I think I have bars 11 and 12 down now - yay!) basically all I have to work on now is tempo and dynamics, which are just as important as the rhythms and notes, really. They're what gives the piece emotion and depth, instead of just robotically reading notes and rhythms off a page. So wish me luck!
I'm nervous to try out the piece on Audacity - whenever I play alone, I tend to get excessively nervous and mess up more than usual. Oh well, we shall see.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Day 2 - Anaylyzing and Practising With My Piano Track....Wow, Is This Ever a Long Title
Hello again!
Today instead of just commenting on my progress, I am going to analyze the Sonatina from "Divertimento #2".
This piece is written in 4/4 time (common for classical era pieces) and is written in the key signature of C major. It has an allegro tempo, and has many dynamic changes. It begins at forte, however it suddenly changes to piano at the last quarter note of bar 11. It then has a change back to forte at bar 14, then to piano again at the last eighth note of bar 15, back to, you guessed it, forte at measure 18, back to piano at the last eighth of bar 19, back to forte at the last quarter note of measure 21.... you may have begun to see a pattern here. Yes, forte and piano are the only 2 dynamic contrasts in the piece. There are no crescendos or decrescendos either. It has one tempo change - at the last bar it slows to ritardando. It has 38 bars in total, not including repeats. I begin to play at bar 3.
As for my practice, today I downloaded the Sonatina off the Oakridge Music homepage. It definitely has that "classical" feel. The only thing is the first time I heard it, I noticed it sounded way different than my sax part! I wasn't expecting it to be as easy as the sax part (after all, you can play triads on a piano, something you obviously can't do on a sax) but it was very different! I'm getting used to it now because as long as I count the 4/4 timing properly. I've been using my metronome as well, even though it's v. annoying to hear that insistent ticking, piano, and myself at the same time, it still helps. I am pleased to say that the bars 15-17 I was struggling with before are shaping up nicely. I still need a bit of practice with the other "problem" bars however (11-14). They are coming along though, better than before anyways.
Speaking of practising, I better get on that!
Hasta luego!
Today instead of just commenting on my progress, I am going to analyze the Sonatina from "Divertimento #2".
This piece is written in 4/4 time (common for classical era pieces) and is written in the key signature of C major. It has an allegro tempo, and has many dynamic changes. It begins at forte, however it suddenly changes to piano at the last quarter note of bar 11. It then has a change back to forte at bar 14, then to piano again at the last eighth note of bar 15, back to, you guessed it, forte at measure 18, back to piano at the last eighth of bar 19, back to forte at the last quarter note of measure 21.... you may have begun to see a pattern here. Yes, forte and piano are the only 2 dynamic contrasts in the piece. There are no crescendos or decrescendos either. It has one tempo change - at the last bar it slows to ritardando. It has 38 bars in total, not including repeats. I begin to play at bar 3.
As for my practice, today I downloaded the Sonatina off the Oakridge Music homepage. It definitely has that "classical" feel. The only thing is the first time I heard it, I noticed it sounded way different than my sax part! I wasn't expecting it to be as easy as the sax part (after all, you can play triads on a piano, something you obviously can't do on a sax) but it was very different! I'm getting used to it now because as long as I count the 4/4 timing properly. I've been using my metronome as well, even though it's v. annoying to hear that insistent ticking, piano, and myself at the same time, it still helps. I am pleased to say that the bars 15-17 I was struggling with before are shaping up nicely. I still need a bit of practice with the other "problem" bars however (11-14). They are coming along though, better than before anyways.
Speaking of practising, I better get on that!
Hasta luego!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Day 1 - Practising That Piece
Hello!
Today marks the third day of learning "Sonatina from Divertimento #2", and the first of my blog posts following my progress!
Upon first glance, this piece looks tougher than it actually is, thanks to Mozart's use of scales, arpeggios, etc. Most of it is not difficult - however with bars 11 and 12 I find the rhythm a bit confusing, considering there are half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes and even sixteenth notes, all in 2 bars!
The only other difficulty I have found is the timing between some of the staccato notes in bars 15 to 17. I find I often do not play the eighth rest between the second G natural and first F natural. It's not intentional - but I can't seem to break the habit yet!
My favourite part is from bars 24 to 28, and also from bars 4 to 7. Both have lots of eighth notes so they are really fun to play, and the rhythms are actually quite simple.
I'm eager to hear the piano track to see how it fits with my part. It will be interesting to hear the two together...I'm definately expecting recording to be the hardest part.
Well, back to practising!
Today marks the third day of learning "Sonatina from Divertimento #2", and the first of my blog posts following my progress!
Upon first glance, this piece looks tougher than it actually is, thanks to Mozart's use of scales, arpeggios, etc. Most of it is not difficult - however with bars 11 and 12 I find the rhythm a bit confusing, considering there are half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes and even sixteenth notes, all in 2 bars!
The only other difficulty I have found is the timing between some of the staccato notes in bars 15 to 17. I find I often do not play the eighth rest between the second G natural and first F natural. It's not intentional - but I can't seem to break the habit yet!
My favourite part is from bars 24 to 28, and also from bars 4 to 7. Both have lots of eighth notes so they are really fun to play, and the rhythms are actually quite simple.
I'm eager to hear the piano track to see how it fits with my part. It will be interesting to hear the two together...I'm definately expecting recording to be the hardest part.
Well, back to practising!
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