The MYAF experience

Well, the first day I got here was completely nerve wracking. I spent my whole drive to campus worrying about the memorization tests and everything I was going to miss at school while I was gone. Once I got here and found my room (which was a pain) I met one of my roommates. Her name is Aubrey and she sings alto 1.

After that we went to rehearsal. The first hour or so was spent testing everyone. I was somewhere in the middle thankfully and passed my test. They actually sent some people home today because they failed the retest and its scary to think it could've been me. Then from about 1ish to like 5 we just sang and sang and SANG. It was a very long day.

Today wasnt much different. Except rehearsal was a total of 7 hours. They expect us to go to all these events after rehearsal as well but because of my social anxiety I dont exactly want to go. I feel bad, but i would rather not have an anxiety attack in front of a bunch of people i dont know. It didn't help that my dinner wasnt sitting well tonight. I ended up staying in my dorm for the night because of it. Thankfully we were released earlt from rehearsal.

Tomorrow we were given an extra hour before rehearsal because of how hard we worked and how we need vocal rest. Im still nervous about the concert, but also excited to hear it all come together in front of a crowd. Hopefully I can get some videos of it to post.

Wish me luck for tomorrow. Hopefully I wont need it.

The King Shall Rejoice!- G.F. Handel

Background: This is the last out of the five songs I've been working on. This is the only video I could find of the version I am doing. Most others have a very long intro that was edited out of this version for time purposes. Not to mention it is for a full orchestra and we only have a pianist. Anyways, this is the first movement of three for the Coronation of King George II in 1727 written by Handel.

Progress on the song: This song is very typical for its time period which makes it very formulaic. That means it's so predictable it's not very hard to learn at all. My only problem is trying to remember the runs and what goes where. The lyrics are only "the king shall rejoice, the king shall rejoice in thy strength o Lord". That's it. So trying to remember which "rejoice" has what run is slightly difficult. Other than that, I haven't worked on it much because of how easy it is.

Os Justi Meditabitur- Anton Bruckner

Background: This song was written in Latin and I believe is a piece from the bible. The lyrics themselves are short and are repeated like in most motets. They go like this:

Os justi meditabitur sapientiam,
et lingua ejus loquentur judicium.
Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius
et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus.

Translation:

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks what is just.The law of his God is in his heart;and his steps will not be impeded.Alleluia.

Progress on the song: I'm not that worried about this song because it's very repetitive when you get the hang of the tune. It's more the lyrics that I'm struggling with. I just need to work on what goes where and how long the words are dragged out. Other than that I'm feeling pretty good about the song.

Song of Democracy- Howard Hanson

Background: The lyrics to this song are from a "An Old Man's Thought of School" by Walt Witman. The poem goes like this:

An old man's thought of School;
An old man, gathering youthful memories and blooms, that youth itself
cannot.  
Now only do I know you!
O fair auroral skies! O morning dew upon the grass!
And these I see--these sparkling eyes,
These stores of mystic meaning--these young lives,
Building, equipping, like a fleet of ships--immortal ships!
Soon to sail out over the measureless seas,
On the Soul's voyage.
Only a lot of boys and girls? 10
Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes?
Only a Public School?
Ah more--infinitely more;
(As George Fox rais'd his warning cry, "Is it this pile of brick and
mortar--these dead floors, windows, rails--you call the church?
Why this is not the church at all--the Church is living, ever living
Souls.")
And you, America,
Cast you the real reckoning for your present?
The lights and shadows of your future--good or evil?
To girlhood, boyhood look--the Teacher and the School. 

Progress on the song: This is the only song I don't have to have memorized. (Probably because it is 11 minutes long.) Without the pressure of having it memorized it's not as bad, but the fact that I am still singing 32 pages of music isn't fun. It's hard to sing through the whole song at once because of its length so I am trying my best to go over it once or twice every time I practice. I need to get better at practicing every day, but with work, school, Aladdin rehearsal, and trying to have a social life it isn't very easy. Then again, none of this is and it's not supposed to be. I guess I just need to find motivation and make it happen. 

El Vito- Mack Wilberg

Background: El Vito was arranged by Mack Wilberg, and is in Spanish. The lyrics are:

Con el vito, vito, vito
Con el vito, vito va.

No me mires tu chiquilla 
Que me voy a esmorona
No me mires to chiquilla 
Que me voy a desmaya.

Anda vete que no quiero 
Pasar por ti mas fatigas;
Si te digo que te vayas
Que mas quieres que te diga! 

The translation goes a little like this:

Do not look at me, little sweetheart,
Or I will fall in love.
Do not look at me, little sweetheart,
Or I will faint.

Leave me, for I do not want 
to pass through more pain. 
If I tell you to go
What more do you want me to say!

Progress on the song: This song is one I am very worried about. It is 24 pages long and yet it is done in under 3 minutes... That's a lot to spit out. Especially in Spanish. I can say most of the words since I have at least basic Spanish learned, but it's not the best. Counting this piece is extremely difficult due to the fast tempo. It's very easy to get lost. It is one of my most practiced songs and still one of my weakest. Learning this song is going to be a massive challenge...

 

Song To The Moon (La Luna)- Z. Randall Stroope

Background: The lyrics to this song are a free paraphrase of a small portion of the original written by Jaroslov Kvapil. It was originally in Czech and was later used by Antonin Dvorak for his opera "Rusalka". This song is never meant to be an exact translation of Kvapil's text, but it captures the essence of the original. Kvapil's plot in the text centers around a water nymph that wants to be a human so she can fall in love with a prince that has been coming to her pond. The text used is from the beginning of the story when the nymph is asking the moon to find her lover (the prince) and tell him that she loves him. 

Progress on the song: This was one of the first songs I started learning and it isn't too terrible. There are some interesting rhythms that can throw me off if I'm not keeping the beat and there are double flats which are never fun when you're trying to learn a piece. I really like it overall. It is a very calming piece and it's very easy to get lost in a song like this which will make the performance that much better.

Spring Break

Over the next week or so I'm going to try to post videos of the songs that I am learning with a brief history and how well it is going on my end when it comes to learning it.

Since it's Spring Break and I took the week off from work I will have pleanty of time to practice. Hopfully this week will help me feel more comfortable about my music so I'm not panicing for the next month.

Wish me luck!

Topic Change!

So there is going to be a slight change in the theme of my blog.

Instead of learning music theory I will be learning my music for the Michigan Youth Arts Festival (MYAF) and tracking my progress. I already changed my title and description (as you can see), but I thought I would at least give you a bit of a reason. The song titles are:

Song To The Moon- Z. Randall Stroope
El Vito- Mack Wilberg
Os Justi meditabitur sapientiam- Anton Bruckner
The King Shall Rejoice!- G.F. Handel
Song of Democracy- Howard Hanson

These all have to be memorized by May 8th. Wish me luck!

Music Therapist Visit

Today in choir we had a music therapist named Jamie visit and she gave a presentation on what kind of work she does.

You might be wondering if this has anything to do with music theory and the answer is yes! To be a music therapist you have to take several semesters of music theory to get your degree. Since this is the field I want to get my degree in, I really enjoyed the presentation as a whole.

I am hoping that I could possibly volunteer at her practice to get a feel for the actual work that goes into being a music therapist. Part of me knows that this is going to be difficult since the field is still growing, but I really want to use my musical talents to help others. Hopefully the education I get from U of M and the master's I plan to get from Western will prepare me enough to handle this kind of work.

If you'd like to take a look at Jamie's website and get some more information on her practice click here.

Music Theory Website

I was looking around on the internet and I stumbled upon this website that is all about music theory. They have lessons, practice exercises, and even tools like a note calculator.

It's pretty cool... so I thought I'd share.

Audition results

I got my results back from my audition from University of Michigan- Flint this past week. I was very please to learn that I was accepted into their music program there and I actually tested out of Music Theory 1.

I personally thought that I would not get that far because the actual test was pencil and paper which I wasn't expecting. I was stressing about it the whole time and it made taking the actual test more difficult. The singing portion of the audition went fairly smoothly.

The whole experience altogether was fairly pleasing and I can't wait to start school in the fall.

Part I: Elements of Rhythm; 2-1

I was finally able to get past the first portion of Part I and get to the elements of rhythm. The beginning portion of the section is mostly review. It asked how many eighth notes where in a half note, how many half resets are in a whole rest, etc. That may not mean much to most people but it is pretty much musical math. 

The amount in each note or rest counts for a certain number of beats in a measure. The cool part about musical math is when it creates syncopation in the music. The off beat rhythms add so much to the music and creates a cool effect. It's half the fun of singing sometimes; trying to feel the off beat and interpreting it into the song. Music wouldn't be as fun if it was always on beat, you have to mix it up sometimes. 

Part I: Elements of Pitch; 1-5

The whole point of 1-5 is aural training. It tests the ear's ability to detect different intervals in music. Thankfully I have been exposed to this since freshman year thanks to choir.

It helped me a lot on the theory testing at western and should really help me at my audition for u of m flint.

If you want to try some music and ear training games click here

Western Audition

The whole reason I've been so worried about the music theory is so I will do well on the entrance exam at my college auditions coming up. Well my first one is coming up on Friday and I'm slightly nervous. I still have not been able to finish chapter one and I only have a few days. I'm still going to try to get through as much as I can, but I'm not exactly sure how much that's going to help.

I guess I have to go in and do my best, but I am very uneasy about it.

VIA Strengths Survey

So I took the VIA Strengths Survey and it said that my top 5 strenghts are:

1.Caution, Prudence, and Discretion

2.Fairness, Equity, and Justice

3.Industry, Diligence, and Perserverance

4.Judgement, Critical Thinking, and Open-Mindedness

5.Capacity to Love and Be Loved

I'm not exactly sure how this is going to help me with music theory, but I can see how it will help me in life. I want to go into psychology and music therapy as a career so I will need to be fair, diligent, and open-minded to make some sort of connection with the people I work with and having that kind of connection will help with treatment. Caution is just an overall good thing to have and the capacity to love and be loved, well, I feel like every person has this in them. The fact that it's a strength I guess means that I am more easily loved or love more? Maybe...

Part I: Elements of Pitch;1-4

I have been trying my hardest to keep up with all of my music theory on top of all the things I'm supposed to being doing for school, but it has turned out to be a bit harder than I expected. The last lesson has taken up a large amount of time because it was ear training basically. That is where they give you an interval and you're supposed to say if it is major or minor. I'm actually pretty good at telling which one is which along with the P4, P5, and octaves (just other types of intervals that are known as "perfect" intervals) because we have done them in choir since my freshman year. When I hear the notes, I can almost automatically tell which one it is, but only looking at the notes is a different story. I can't just look at a note and hear it in my head. I am very nervous about all of this because I have my first college audition coming up in a week and I have to take a music theory enterance exam as part of the audition. I'm also going to lose a few days that I can do this because of Honors Choir this week.

This whole process is a lot more stressful than I thought it would be.