October 2, 2014:
New Info: The goal of my MYP project is to write 5 songs designed for the piano, presented in a book format and accompanied by a listening section. The steps I will take to achieve that goal are learn about composing for three more weeks and finish on October 23rd. Sit down at the piano and just improvise, record myself improvising. Play back songs to get inspiration then begin writing on staff paper. My goal is to finish rough drafts of songs in early 2015 (January 8). Gather all other components of project that I haven’t progressed through along the way in the next week or two. Polish songs and pieces of writing in the final week and submit my songs and process journal to supervisor for January 22. Write detailed report for February 19 and hand in report for March 5.
Comments/reflection: I think this goal is a reasonable goal that I will be able to achieve in the amount of time given. I think I have a very good starting plan and I can only wait and see how this project will unfold but I’m excited to get started on it.
Questions: I wonder if I will be able to accomplish this plan I have laid out for myself and I also wonder if my goal will be altered and how much?
October 9, 2014:
New Info: Reading and writing about the history of music, early music through history. There were signs of music before ancient Mesopotamia but nothing was documented until the Mesopotamian time period. There is evidence to support this because instruments have survived until today. Music in the earliest time period, known as Bourque period, was written as basic notes and the performers were left to their imagination to create scales, chords or other notes that fit the basic skeleton that the composers had written.
Comments/Reflections: I’m going to decide to do one of the four styles of music and base my composing off of that particular style. I’m probably going to decide to do modern because it’s a freer period with more room for creativity. I will write a small blurb about the period I decide to do.
Questions: Am I going to include what I write and learn from history on my final project and if I do will I use a poster board or just have a report for everyone to read through.
October 16, 2014:
New Info: Harpsichord and the clavichord were the instruments that the idea for the piano came from. The piano was invented around 1700 by a man named Cristoforni and basically combined the harpsichord and clavichord. The clavichord let the pianist have more control playing the keys but it wasn’t loud enough for performances, like the harpsichord. Higher class citizens in society at the time were complaining that where the two instruments were both good each had a fault and they wanted something that combined both the clavichord and the harpsichord.
Comments/reflections: It was interesting to see that the piano was invented in the 1700s and that Cristonforni invented it but it wasn’t clear when exactly he did invent it and two instruments were looked at and studied to create one instrument known as the piano.
Questions: I wonder who invented the harpsichord and clavichord and when it was invented. I’m also curious to know what was the first instrument invented, if that information is even known.
October 23, 2014:
New Info: Read through the first 3 pages of a piano composing book called “Learn to compose and notate music at the keyboard beginning level” by Lee Evans and Martha Baker. I learned about basic composing, ending on tonic note. In the book they had started songs that I needed to complete. Just starting using quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes. Each of the three pieces I finished writing only allowed me to use 2-5 notes.
Comments/reflections: I tend to end the piece weirdly so it doesn’t sound complete because I want the piece to go on longer. I have difficulty because it’s very limited notes I’m allowed to play and I don’t like being conformed to a few notes.
Questions: I wonder what I am going to learn about next in the book “Learn to compose and notate music at the keyboard beginning level?” I also wonder, when I begin composing my final pieces to present how long they will be? I’ve started sitting down at the keyboard and just playing with ideas in my head and I wonder if those ideas will become 1 or multiple songs that I compose for this project?
October 30, 2014
New Info: Read pages 3-6 in the piano composing book called “Learn to compose and notate music at the keyboard beginning level” by Lee Evans and Martha Baker. I learned about repetition and sequence. Repetition means to repeat a musical theme exactly, same pitch and exactly same notes. A sequence is similar because you still repeat the same musical theme only you start on a higher or lower note. I composed a few songs using what I had just learned from repetition and sequence. Also for the first time I composed my very own piece called “Time.”
Comments/Reflections: I enjoy repetition and sequence because the piece of music becomes easier to compose when you are repeating or repeating but changing slightly what you have already composed. When I am sitting down at the piano and playing I have a tendency not to use repetition or sequence because it’s improvising and I have no way of looking back and seeing what I did. Improvising is where you just sit down at the piano and play whatever feels or sounds right to you. I wonder if the pieces will slowly get longer as I progress throughout the book?
Questions: I wonder if when I start composing that writing down the notes will slow down my artistic flow of music. I also wonder if I will use repetition and sequencing naturally or if it will be added after revising the piece of music.
November 6, 2014
New Info: I learned how to create proper bibliographies in social studies class and I have been sighting all my sources. I realize that I only have a limited number but I’m not going to try and obtain more sources until I am finished receiving information out of my already existing sources. I also answered all the questions for each source.
Comments/Reflections: I labeled my piano teacher as a source and I creating her as an interview citation type because I wasn’t sure what else to put and interview was the closest. Bibliographies aren’t as difficult as I thought them to be but the questions I’m asked to answer are difficult questions because one question asks how do you know that your sources are reliable and you really can’t be sure that they are reliable.
Questions: I wonder why under citation types they don’t have an other or a teacher collum? I wonder how I will be sure that my sources are reliable?
November 13, 2014
New Info: I met with my piano teacher last night and glossed through several different theory composing books. I learned that the 20th century period moved away from the tonal centre of music and played with very different sounding scales and notes. The tonal centre sounds nice to the ear and lets you know when the piece is finished but non tonal centre sounds wonky and off almost so you have no idea when the piece is finished. Some of the lesson was review about key signatures and dimished chords but I learned a lot of new information. I learned about chromatic and octmented scales and how they sound almost dark sounding.
Comments/reflections: Over all I believe the lesson was a success and learned a lot but I do not yet believe I am ready to compose yet. I am scheduling another lesson and hope that after the two I will be prepared to being composing. If I am not ready then I’ll schedule more time.
Questions: Is composing very different from improvising? Will I be ready to compose on November 20th after my next piano session?
November 20, 2014
New Info: Read through the first chapter of elementary rudiments of music and learned/reviewed notation. I reviewed that the 7 notes on a keyboard are letters A-G and that middle C is the note that can be sang by every voice. I reviewed the word clef used to determine whether the right or left hand plays. The treble clef I learned was shaped from a fancy capital G and the right hand plays in the treble clef. The bass clef is shaped from a fancy capital F and the left hand plays in the base clef. The base clef also has to dots one above and below line 4 on the staff. Clef the word comes from the french word clé (key). There are two other types of clefs less commonly used known as the alto and the tenor clef. The alto clef is used usually in viola and alto trombone while as the tenor clef is used in music written for the tenor trombone and sometimes cello.
Comments/reflections: After reading through the different kinds of clefs I didn’t realize that there were as many as there were and I didn’t appreciate how much work has gone into making the clefs. They are incredibly useful because writing music is universal language and I can understand music written in China or Egypt.
Questions: I wonder when the clef was invented? Who it was invented by? When was it brought into music, right after invention or later on?
November 27, 2014
New Info: Chromatic scales are one of the types of scales on a piano. The chromatic scale is made up of both white and black keys (tones and semitones). The total number of keys in a chromatic scale is 12. A diatonic scale is another type of scale but different from the chromatic scale only consists of 7 keys instead of 12. The diatonic scale only uses white keys whether that be tones or semitones. In any scale you have the beginning notes (the tonic) and the ending note (leading note). As an example C major scale the tonic is C. The C scale is a diatonic scale and the notes of the scale are C D E F G A B C. The second note D is the supertonic and the third note E is the mediant. Following the mediant is the subdominant F and dominant G. Following the dominant is the submediant, A, and finally the leading note, B. The subsequent note from B is C and then the scale begins over again. For any scale, that is given a name after a note on the keyboard, there is always a natural, harmonic and melodic minor. To find the natural minor of any scale you simply lower the 3rd, 6th, and 7th degree by one. In the harmonic minor the 3rd and 6th notes are lowered one degree (a degree is one semitone on the piano). The melodic minor is the most complex of all minors, the hardest to learn and the hardest to remember. For C melodic minor when ascending the keyboard you only lower the 3rd degree but descending you lower both the 3rd, 6th and 7th. Usually melodic minors are the harmonic minor going one way and the natural minor the other way. When you have any key there is always a relative major and minor and to find that relative major you ascend the keyboard three semitones. To find the relative minor you descend the keyboard three semitones.
Comments/Reflections: Some of the information I read today out of elementary rudiments of music I already had learned or heard of previously but some of the information was new. I am starting to realize that playing any instrument or learning to play any instrument is easy the hard part is learning about all the rules that accompany the instrument. It’s easy to learn notes off a page and play them in order the challenging part is remembering all the rules. When you are composing it’s especially hard because you need to know what key you are in, what timing of music you are playing and various other things. Composing isn’t sitting down and trying to play a bunch of notes that sound good, it’s much more than that.
Questions: I wonder when I am composing if writing down the key signature will be difficult for me? I wonder what I will do first whether it be pick a time signature and key then start composing or start composing and worry about the timing and key later? I wonder if I will use more major or minor keys when composing? I wonder if I will know when I have entered a different key during my composing? I also wonder if I will use relative majors and minors in composition? I predict I will.
December 4, 2014
New Info: In social studies class we learned how to properly use an annotated bibliography. We received a hand out showing what a good and bad annotation looked like. We also learned that in the back of our green MYP workbook is a layout for a proper annotation. In a previous class we answered questions on each of our sources for brainstorming and now itès time to do the formal annotation.
Comments/Reflections: I have five sources and the most useful one has been my piano teacher, teaching me about composing. The annotated bibliography is a fair amount of work but now that I know how to do the format properly it should be easier.
Questions: Will I have all my bibliographies the same or will I change the format I use for each one? Will I use the information I gathered from the questions or will I start over?
December 11, 2014
New Info: I have started composing pieces of music all about one page long and it is more difficult and time consuming than I thought it would be. It is hard because when you write the notes down on paper the natural flow of improvising stops and it is hard to pick up again. Also writing all the treble clefs, base clefs and other things on the staff is difficult. Also the timing is hard to get exactly right. When the time changes you need to write it on the staff. I’m studying pieces of music that I liked in the past, finding out what I like about them and copying that on to my own composition.
Comments/Reflections: I think my pieces are turning out well and I’m learning that composition and improvising are different. Improvising can be absolutely anything, any timing where as composition cannot, there are more rules. Timing has to be clearly labeled and if it changes then that needs to be noted. Also there is a rule where you can’t have two fifths next to each other, parellel fifths they are called. I don’t understand why and it is a debatable rule but generally in piano music parellel fifths don’t sit next to each other. I’m also learning that you can make some really weird and pretty sounds on the piano.
Questions: I wonder how many pieces I will end up composing? I wonder if the first five I compose I will use? I wonder if most of my pieces will be in major key or minor keys? I wonder if I will continue to use to pedal for every piece? I wonder if one piece will have lots of staticadonotes?
December 18, 2014
New Info: Composed 4 more pieces called jelly beans, backwards canon, blooming flower and migration. They were all better then my first attempts at composing but maybe as I continue progressing more I will compose even better pieces. Composing has gotten easier over time and I have improved at it. I don’t think I will want to compose as a living but it’s a nice hobby and I enjoy doing it.
Comments/Reflections: At this moment I feel like my four pieces I have now composed are well done. I believe I might be able to compose better overtime but these pieces are quite good and reflect my abilities well.
Questions: Will I continue to compose even into adulthood? Will these pieces be my final compositions that I finalize and present?
December 25, 2014
New Info: Played the pieces on electric piano connected to garageband on a mac computer. The recording is going to be used for the listening portion of my project and the notes that I played have been written out on a staff so that I am able to visually see what I have composed in proper composition formate. Before purchasing this piano to help enable me to play on garageband I researched M-audio and yamaha pianos on different online sources and chose the best piano suited to my needs. The piano I chose was a M-audio Keystation61. The piano does not play without being connected to a computer program of some kind. Music you create through that piano onto the computer can be modified to play back through the speakers of the Keystation61.
Comments/Reflections: The downsides of having this piano is that the harder you press on the keys the louder the note. Throughout the duration of one piece it is difficult to maintain the same force for each note that I press. Another downside is I am not fully sure how to use garageband yet and hopefully as I learn this piece of technology more transferring the pieces from paper to electronic won’t be as difficult.
Questions: I wonder if I will be able to print the score off of garageband because although it does appear on the screen it appears in one long line. I wonder if garageband was the easiest piece of software to use?