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Christmas time
Impressions & Reflections
Christmas Concert Music
Rejoice the Season-
The snare drum part is definitely going to be hard so most likely taking it home. The thing with most of our Christmas concerts is that just about all the songs pick up and drop down in tempo within a single instant at some point. This is especially present in this song; if the others share the tempo change, I'll have to take those home to practice too. I enjoy the challenge of learning the snare to this song though. Also, I would like to point out that this song sounds somewhat like one that bands march to, specifically on Christmas day at a parade or something. There are a lot of eighth and sixteenth notes and just about no quarter notes. That means I'll have to play at a fast pace. Also there is a rhythm that occurs a lot in the song that goes "One-and-a-two-and." Good thing is I've played this rhythm multiple times in other songs so I can easily play it in this one.
City of David-
I'm playing bells for this song, and from first sight, keeping up with the notes looks virtually impossible even if I were to take the music home to learn. However, at the tempo we are playing, I can more than handle this song and land the notes. Though, it still will require practice on my bell kit at home despite the tempo. Looking more closely, the eighth note parts are simple- just memorize it and repeat whenever the other measures that call for it come up. The only absolute main problem is the sixteenth note part, which lasts around ten measures altogether. Sixteenth notes are relatively easy on a drum head, but on bells, which produce a melody rather than a beat, the difficulty goes way up. Also, the transition from the eighth and quarter notes straight to the sixteenth notes is hard to cope with. It sort of panics me as a result, so I need to have the image of how fast or slow I should play the part prematurely so I can have an idea of what to do instead of forget the exact tempo. To do this, I can just take the tempo of the eighth notes and fit sixteenths at the same speed.
Grinch-
On this song, I play timpani, most likely my favorite section of percussion tied with snare. The tempo is absolutely manageable; what I am most concerned for is timing of the main part of the song. During the melody, I meanwhile go from drum to drum, playing a sort of swinging supporting tune that adds to the main melody. The center focal point of this one will have to be counting and timing in general, being sure to keep parallel with the lows. The most notable aspect of this song for me will be the notion that I must rest a total of more than fifty measures, which tells me my part is a more supportive one rather than the head lead. Although, this is to be expected because timpani is scarcely the lead role in any song, maybe only for jungle-ish swinging songs. This is a swinging song but not on a level that everyone can absolutely tell from listening. Therefore, I'm more off to the side, yet still important which I am more than okay with.
Christmas Eve/Sarajevo-
As for this song, we haven't fully played it nearly as much as the other three songs; however, when we got the music earlier, we did a run-through. Overall, I can notice that it is on the drum set in a riff style. I get excited for the moments when I get to play the drum set so I can fill all spaces I would otherwise be counting the time in silence on other songs. Playing the drum set helps you to get engaged in whatever song you're playing, especially with the power you feel when you can play a riff. There are rarely measures where you rest, save for maybe a flute solo or something. Anyway, I get to use the medium tom drum and ride cymbal, keeping time. This doesn't sound complex. This song is more freestyle than written music. The music I was given really only set the instruments I was going to play- the actual tune uses both of the toms, not just one. However, using one tom gives a constant, steady beat and using two toms makes the beat scrambled. The question I have is whether or not I should do any fills to somewhat give a different taste from the normal beat, which plays on and on. This could get repetitive and annoying, so I feel a fill or two could improve the drum set part.
Rejoice the Season-
The snare drum part is definitely going to be hard so most likely taking it home. The thing with most of our Christmas concerts is that just about all the songs pick up and drop down in tempo within a single instant at some point. This is especially present in this song; if the others share the tempo change, I'll have to take those home to practice too. I enjoy the challenge of learning the snare to this song though. Also, I would like to point out that this song sounds somewhat like one that bands march to, specifically on Christmas day at a parade or something. There are a lot of eighth and sixteenth notes and just about no quarter notes. That means I'll have to play at a fast pace. Also there is a rhythm that occurs a lot in the song that goes "One-and-a-two-and." Good thing is I've played this rhythm multiple times in other songs so I can easily play it in this one.
City of David-
I'm playing bells for this song, and from first sight, keeping up with the notes looks virtually impossible even if I were to take the music home to learn. However, at the tempo we are playing, I can more than handle this song and land the notes. Though, it still will require practice on my bell kit at home despite the tempo. Looking more closely, the eighth note parts are simple- just memorize it and repeat whenever the other measures that call for it come up. The only absolute main problem is the sixteenth note part, which lasts around ten measures altogether. Sixteenth notes are relatively easy on a drum head, but on bells, which produce a melody rather than a beat, the difficulty goes way up. Also, the transition from the eighth and quarter notes straight to the sixteenth notes is hard to cope with. It sort of panics me as a result, so I need to have the image of how fast or slow I should play the part prematurely so I can have an idea of what to do instead of forget the exact tempo. To do this, I can just take the tempo of the eighth notes and fit sixteenths at the same speed.
Grinch-
On this song, I play timpani, most likely my favorite section of percussion tied with snare. The tempo is absolutely manageable; what I am most concerned for is timing of the main part of the song. During the melody, I meanwhile go from drum to drum, playing a sort of swinging supporting tune that adds to the main melody. The center focal point of this one will have to be counting and timing in general, being sure to keep parallel with the lows. The most notable aspect of this song for me will be the notion that I must rest a total of more than fifty measures, which tells me my part is a more supportive one rather than the head lead. Although, this is to be expected because timpani is scarcely the lead role in any song, maybe only for jungle-ish swinging songs. This is a swinging song but not on a level that everyone can absolutely tell from listening. Therefore, I'm more off to the side, yet still important which I am more than okay with.
Christmas Eve/Sarajevo-
As for this song, we haven't fully played it nearly as much as the other three songs; however, when we got the music earlier, we did a run-through. Overall, I can notice that it is on the drum set in a riff style. I get excited for the moments when I get to play the drum set so I can fill all spaces I would otherwise be counting the time in silence on other songs. Playing the drum set helps you to get engaged in whatever song you're playing, especially with the power you feel when you can play a riff. There are rarely measures where you rest, save for maybe a flute solo or something. Anyway, I get to use the medium tom drum and ride cymbal, keeping time. This doesn't sound complex. This song is more freestyle than written music. The music I was given really only set the instruments I was going to play- the actual tune uses both of the toms, not just one. However, using one tom gives a constant, steady beat and using two toms makes the beat scrambled. The question I have is whether or not I should do any fills to somewhat give a different taste from the normal beat, which plays on and on. This could get repetitive and annoying, so I feel a fill or two could improve the drum set part.
Smart Music Scales Summary
Altogether, we did six scales- F Major/D Minor, Bb Major/G Minor, and Eb Major/C Minor. Really, I thought there were gonna be more scales to play. Nevertheless, the app told me for the scales, I did it 100% correct (I checked powerschool, and it said 100% too). This is my understanding, save for two of the scales, one of which was Bb Major, where the app told you to play chords (I just did the regular notes) so it didn't score me right on the spot. Overall, I am completely confident in my ability to perform all scales containing flats, now the focus for me is to learn the scales that have sharps. The main thing I need to remember is the trick to figuring out what the name/tonic of a scale is based on what the key signature is. I remember for the flat scales, knowing the second to last flat on the key signature gives you the scale name. However, for sharps, it is different. Occasionally, I'll forget this from time to time, but to understand the which scale is which for sharps, go to the final sharp on the key signature and raise to the next half-step up. What I mean by this is the fact that sharps as well as flats are a half-step from a natural whereas a natural is just a normal step up to the next natural. Therefore, the distance between a sharp and a natural is also a half-step. Crazy thing is I barely knew two scales last year in eighth grade. I struggled to grip onto the meaning of what a scale was at all. Now, I know just about all the scales, and the ones I don't know straight from memory I can use these relatively simple tricks to figure it out for myself. I just need to practice this and memorize the scales- then I'll be set, but in summary, if I were to be asked at any point to play the flat major and minor scales, I could do it without looking.