Term 4 Week 8 Videos

• G major scale 3 octaves

As usual, I've started practicing playing my violin by first exercising with the g major scale 3 octaves. 

• Indonesia Pusaka

This song is the second song that we've decided to play for the grade 12 graduation ceremony, even though we didn't decide to play it for our assessment. Since this song is a little bit harder than the medley of Indonesian traditional song (even if the tempo is slower), I mainly practiced on this song for this week

Term 4 Week 7 Videos

• G major scale 3 octaves

Since G major scale 3 octaves is my regular exercise before playing any songs, I've started practicing with the g major scale 3 octaves exercise.

• Medley of Indonesian Songs

This song is the medley of indonesian songs including Suwe Ora Jamu and Janger Bali. It is quite fast and catchy melody, and this song will be performed both for my final assessment and in grade 12 graduation ceremony, so I practiced this song instead of the Suzuki book.

Term 4 Week 8: May 28th-30th 2013

• Theory Class:

- Tuesday: Today was the first rehearsal day for the grade 12 graduation ceremony, so we were quite busy on practicing the medley of Indonesian traditional songs. We've spent both sessions on practicing this medley perfectly, and I think we are much better in playing this song compared to the Indonesia Pusaka song. I felt more comfortable in playing this song because all of us were able to play it without much mistakes or difficulties in finding the right pitch or tempo. However I think we need to practice more on our pizzicato because when we play the pizzicato part, most of us didn't play at the same time, so the sound was not synchronising. Also, sometimes the pitch for the pizzicato part was not correct for some of us, so if we concentrate on this part, I think there will be no more problems in this song.

- Wednesday: Since the graduation is in two days, we only had time for practicing for both songs. It turned out that we also had to play the Indonesia Pusaka song for the graduation, because it would be boring if we only play the medley all over again for about 30 minutes when all graduating students come out from the back stage. I was a little bit worried because we are not as good as we are than the medley song when we play the Indonesia Pusaka. So we concentrated more on this song today, because it turned out that we had a slight different variation in the song than the one we originally practiced. However for me, I think the new variation is much easier than the original one for all of us, so if we practice a lot for this song, I think we can make a nice harmony. 

- Thursday: I thought that today we were going to have another rehearsal in the 8th floor after school, but it turned out that today's rehearsal was without the students, so we only had time to practice during the music time. Today we finalised our preparation on the two songs: the medley of Indonesian traditional song and the Indonesia Pusaka song. I think we've advanced in the second song because we've mainly concentrated in this song yesterday. So I think we are well prepared for our performance during the graduation ceremony. Also, today was our last assessment day of playing the medley of Indonesian tradition song with violin. Grade 10 students supported us by playing flute and Angklung, so we were able to do our assessment successfully with good harmony, and I felt relieved because grade 10 students will also play during the graduation ceremony. 

• Instrument Class:

SIMILAR TO LAST WEEK, WE DIDN'T HAVE INSTRUMENT CLASS AT ALL THIS WEEK, BECAUSE WE'VE SPENT ALL OUR TIME PREPARING FOR THE GRADE 12 GRADUATION CEREMONY PERFORMANCE AND OUR ASSESSMENT ON PLAYING VIOLIN IN AN ORCHESTRA. SO WE'VE SPENT ALL OF OUR INSTRUMENT CLASS STAYING IN OUR MUSIC THEORY ROOM, PRACTICING ON OUR ASSESSMENT AND THE GRADUATION CEREMONY. HOWEVER WE ALSO SPENT SOME OF OUR TIME WRITING OUR REFLECTIONS IN OUR MDW BOOKLET. 

Term 4 Week 7: May 21st-23rd 2013

• Theory Class:

- Tuesday: Today we received our real music sheet for the medley of Janger Bali and Suwe Ora Jamu. The combination of these songs will be assessed for our final assessment, which is performing a song by playing with violin. I think our class is going to perform all together as a small orchestra even for our  assessment because we also have to practice for the grade 12 graduation ceremony which will be held next Friday. I think the combination of these songs are quite easy for me, but then the melody is very nice, and these are not the songs that I usually practice on my violin, so it was more fun for me to play something different from what I usually play with my violin. Also, I enjoyed helping Pinka and Rilya on figuring out how to play the medley because it's the first time for them to actually play a formal song with violin. I think Pinka and Rilya had hard time in understanding and feeling comfortable with violin, but I tried my best to help them improve their skills in playing violin.

- Wednesday: Today we also took our whole session playing violin with the medley of Janger Bali and Suwe Ora Jamu, but in different variations. I think we did a much better job than yesterday because everyone had lesser mistakes, and I think Pinka, Rilya and others who played violin for the first time are also getting the melody of this song, and starting to catch up the original speed of the song. I was so happy that we could actually make a harmony out of playing only with one instrument. Now I also want to try playing other songs with my friends that can make different variations out of one song and one instrument because I feel so proud about everyone of us actually making a good orchestra.

- Thursday: Today we received another music sheet, which is the Indonesia Pusaka song. I was very excited that we got to play another song during the graduation, because if we only repeat one song over and over again, I thought it would be quite boring for the listeners. However I think this song is harder for those who are not violin students because in this song, we also have to use the "D" string in addition to "A" and "E" strings. It was quite hard to explain well to my friends on how we have to play for all the notes and whether the note they have plucked or played is in the right pitch or not. Hopefully we will get better starting from next week, because the assessment date is coming soon, and also the graduation ceremony is right after the assessment, so I think I need to help my friends more on playing this song with violin.

• Instrument Class:

WE DIDN'T HAVE INSTRUMENT CLASS AT ALL FOR THE WHOLE WEEK BECAUSE WE PRACTICED PLAYING VIOLIN FOR OUR ASSESSMENT AND GRADUATION CEREMONY WHENEVER WE HAD MUSIC CLASS. HOWEVER WE ALSO DID MDW IN OUR THEORY CLASS BEFORE OR AFTER WE ARE DONE PRACTICING THE VIOLIN FOR ALMOST TWO SESSIONS.

Term 4 Week 6 Videos

• G major scale three octaves

Since last week's exercise for g major scale three octaves was in two beats, this week I've played the four beats exercise for the scale, because I've already practiced for the right pitch last week. This week, I've not only concentrated on the pitch, but I also concentrated on the speed so that the sound will become perfect. 

• Suwe Ora Jamu

Since our class started practicing violin as an ensemble of a class with the song Suwe Ora Jamu both for violin students and for other students who first tried playing violin, this video is me practicing the song twice, first with pizzicato and second with argo. Since we learned what pizzicato is, I revised what we've learned in class in my video, and when I played in argo, I also considered which note I have to move the bow up and which note I have to move the bow down. 

Term 4 Week 5 Videos

• G major scale three octaves

For today, I went back to the original g major scale in three octaves with two beats for each note, because when I played with four and three beats, the pitch and the speed when I play the song is not even, and sometimes I also play the wrong note because my speed got faster. So I went back to the original beat and concentrated in playing slowly while considering the pitch.

• Concert in g minor - A. Vivaldi.

When I played until the second part for last week, my pitch was quite better, but the speed has increased towards the end of the song, and for one or two notes, I played the wrong note because of the fast speed. I didn't notice the next note because I was concentrating in playing the song faster. So this time I decreased the speed and tried to maintain it, while trying to get the right note for the entire two parts of the song with the right pitch.

Term 4 Week 4 Videos

• G major scale three octaves

As usual, I started practicing my violin by first exercising with g major scale in three octaves. This time, I practiced the exercise by playing three times for each note, because this exercise helps me to feel the rhythm of a song, and it also makes me to concentrate on the pitch for each note. So this time I exercised with three beats and tried to make better pitch.

• Concert in g minor - A. Vivaldi

I practiced this song until the 2nd part again, because when I first recorded in my previous video, the first part of the song was nice, but the second part of the song was very bad. The pitch was often out of tune, and the speed was also changing towards the end of the song. So this time I tried concentrating on the speed with the right pitch.