When you think about the technicalities of music theory and four mallets, it's easy to get lost in it and forget the magic of music and how beautiful it truly is. Music is the way many people speak their minds and for some, unleash their heart, soul, and deepest emotions. Music has the power to make you feel things you have never felt before. Music can make you feel the tremors of triumph without even lifting your lefts to leave your seat and can jerk tears with a single crescendo. Music can tell stories without words that say more in one chord than some novels can in thousands of words. The power of music is often underestimated and is not truly brought to to light until you experience it yourself. Here I will tell of some pieces that will always have a place in my heart because they have helped me experience various emotions in different ways and have told different stories that I would have never heard if put in actual words. The first form of music that I was exposed to was a musical. The Phantom of the Opera was first preformed in 1986, and the music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who also wrote the music for musicals such as The Wizard of Oz, Cats, and School of Rock. I recall my father playing some of the songs from this musical for me when I was two years old. Today he still talks about When he saw the production of it in Toronto and got to see Colm Wilkinson play the role of the Phantom, and he is still awestruck today by such a powerful performance that night. Other stars such as Micheal Crawford, who is known for his singing of famous Christmas songs such as O Holy Night, have also been privileged with playing such a role. Here is the performance of one of the more well known songs, titled The Phantom of the Opera. My dad always talks about the talent that so many people have on Broadway. At the age of two, I was not able to fully understand what he meant, but after experiencing the show myself in Durham last March, I understood completely. I was exposed to agonizingly sad music for the first time at the High School All-District Band concert in November. One of the last pieces played that evening was titled Into the Silent Land, written by Steve Danyew. The piece debuted in 2018 once the composer had completely finished it. Danyew wrote the piece as his own personal response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Sandy Hook Elementary School was where he attended when he was young. The entire piece is full of anger and heartbreak and sadness from the tragedy that took place in 2012. After hearing of all of the shootings and bombings in recent years, this piece took its toll on me, and I was left in shock with tears streaming down my face at the end. My band director Andrew Jimeson was sitting in the crowd as well, and also admits to being emotionally affected by the music. The rows of people were completely silent after the conductor put his hands down, which usually means that the crowd should start applauding. I will admit that the recordings do not do this powerful piece justice. In order to fully experience the piece, you would need to be in the crowd listening to it live (bonus points if a friend or loved one is preforming it on the stage!). Aurora Awakes by John Mackey was performed by the Davie High School Wind Ensemble at MPA last year. The piece is on the Masterworks list, which means that the piece considered to be at the college/professional level. Though it is a beautiful piece, many disliked playing it, but some enjoyed the overall experience that came with performing it. This piece was one of the first that I listened to as a freshman that made me think "hey, I want to play something like that, I was to be a part of something like that." As cheesy as it sounds, Aurora Awakes was one of the last driving forces that I needed in order to truly set my sights on being in Wind Ensemble. Sometimes it is important to take a step back and think about the power of music, what it can do, where it takes you , and the impact it has on not only your life, but others lives. Music is interpreted differently by every person. No two people will be impacted by a piece of music the exact same way, just like how no two zebras have the same stripes. Different people prefer various types of music as well, as all music impacts people in a variety of ways. I highly encourage you to not only find music that you enjoy to listen to, but to find music that impacts you in ways only you can understand. Music that tells a story, music that conveys emotion, and music that makes you question are all things that I believe that every person should experience, even if you only experience it once. All it takes is one experience of moving music that can potentially change your life forever.
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Looking back at mu past when it comes to music, I've realized how far I've come from where I used to be. When I was starting piano lessons, I couldn't tell you what notes were or what they meant. Heck, I couldn't even tell you what a whole note was. All I knew was that "this not was here and short" or "this note was here and here and long" and "there three notes are supposed to play at the same time but I'm eight years old and my tiny hands can't reach that far."
When I went to the middle school band "tryouts" that helped you decide what instrument to play, I was sure I wanted to play percussion, because by then I knew that the piano was a percussion instrument. I was required to choose three instruments to "audition" on. Obviously, I wrote percussion down as my primary choice. My secondary choice was the trumpet, and tertiary the flute. I was able to tell note names and clap out rhythms pretty well by then so percussion was definitely an option. I was able to get a sound to come out of both the trumpet and trombone mouthpiece, so those were options as well. I couldn't get as much as a whistle out of the head joint of the flute. I later found out that this was due to the shape of my upper lip, and my air would now flow from one area, but would fork into two. When I started percussion, I was eager to learn and try new things. Flutes and percussion were placed in the same class, so for the first two weeks, I studied my pass-off books and learned the note names while the flutes learned how to take apart and put their instrument back together. By the time the flutes were playing their first note, I had learned the first few pass-off lines from my red beginners book. Soon after I began learning my first scales and long solos as well. Once I had passed off half of the lines in the mallet half of the red book, it had been brought to my attention that I needed to learn to play the snare drum as well. Before long I bought my first pair of drum stick and learned how to hold match grip and play paradiddles and eventually double stroke rolls and buzz rolls. Once I got the hang of that, I began passing off the snare lines along with the mallet lines. By the beginning of eighth grade I had passed off all of my lines in the red book and moved to the blue book. The blue book had the same type of material inside, but slightly more difficult to read and play if you didn't practice it properly. Luckily, I was at school early and late most days (perks of being a teacher's kid!) and basically lived in the band room for most of middle school. Now that I think about it, band was almost like my escape from reality. I left everything at the door and did what I showed up for: to get better. The band room was the first place I stepped into where I felt like I belonged. The start of my freshman year was a completely different environment. I already knew some people since I was friends with some people who were a year above me that I knew from middle school and from drum line. It was super nerve-wracking at first but once I grew more comfortable with my surroundings I was able to practice without worrying about what other people thought of me or how I sounded compared to the seniors. I feel like the peer pressure I experienced freshman year really helped me grow as a musician more than anything else. Looking back at how far I've come helps me appreciate where I am today. If I can grow this much since when I started, what is stopping me from growing more? Sometimes you just have to look at where you and and where you started to appreciate the journey a little more. I thought the video posted but it did not which makes me vvvvvvv upsetti because it showed my growth as a musician as I've started learning minor chords and how to balance dissonance so that will be up whenever iMovie decides to stop being such a pain in the behind :) Music Can Be Like a Drug, and This is What Got Me Hooked I remember when I was about 5 years old and my dad playing his numerous Elton John CDs and jammed along while I listened in my booster seat, listening to the rhythm and the instruments. I would ask him what certain instruments were, what different words and phrases of the lyrics meant, and usual "how/why" questions that kids my age usually annoyed adults with. My dad never showed any sort of irritation when I asked these things. I would always ask about one specific instrument and my dad would go on and on about what it was and how well Sir Elton John could play it. At the time, we had an old, out-of-tune lump in the corner of our living room that was supposed to be called a piano. Until then, mini me never payed that lump any attention unless I was looking to make noise in the house, which was all that rickety piece of excrement could do. As I listened to the CDs, I yearned more and more for the sound of the piano. Fast forward to when I was about seven years old, and my dad surprised my sister and I with floor tickets to see Elton John live in concert. He had gone dozens of times, but he wanted to share this music with my sister and I. The whole family attended. My sister insisted to go to the restroom once we were inside, but I remember sitting with my dad when the lights shut off and the stage illuminated as Sir Elton John opened the concert with The Bitch Is Back. I recall my dad singing along, as I joined in with the lyrics I remember struggling to see due to the drunken human giraffes obscuring my view of the stage. As the Concert went on, he started the song "Funeral for a Friend". The song is not just a somber melody of grief but a vibrant celebration of life. It was/is one of my dad's favorite songs by him. Here is a recording of the song for those who are not familiar with it: I recall quite clearly in that moment turning to my dad and yelling "I want to learn that... I want to learn the piano," and so I began teaching myself things on a small keyboard that My dad had purchased for me to practice on. It was only fit that the first song I learned was not "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" but the opening to "Funeral For a Friend". after a few months, I began taking lessons. Here I am, almost eight years later, constantly growing as a musician on the piano, my driving motivation to be as good as the famous Sir Elton John. Okay, Get Back On Topic for a Second A piano is set up exactly like any mallet instrument. White keys and black keys are set up in the same order and play the same notes. Playing them is similar as well, if you think about it. In relation to my Genius Hour project, I am essentially playing a big piano with four fingers instead of ten (thumbs count in this scenario). One may believe that If you use less "fingers" to play it, it must be faster/easier to learn/play, right? WRONG. While both has the same overall concept, they each require different techniques and skills to play. In order to play piano you must have full control over what your hands and finders are doing while allowing them to flow effortlessly over the keys. In a way, you do the same thing with mallets except you must familiarize yourself with a method that is most comfortable to use to grip the mallets and find a way to do the same thing with only four "fingers" instead of ten. The solo I have chosen comes from a book that has written piano parts to play with them, and I found I may get the most out of learning such an ambitious piece by learning it as well. Here is a video of the first have of the piano part, along with me messing around and playing an excerpt from The End of All Things: Based on last week, you can tell I had a bit of a setback with the recording, but I am officially back on track! The more I practice the Opening Theme of Concerto in Bb Minor, the more I fall in love with it. One of my favorite parts of learning songs on piano and marimba is watching myself grow with a piece of music. It is an out-of-body experience and gives you a feeling like no other when you grow not only as a musician but as a person, and all it takes is the right song. As far as the solo is concerned, I have learned the first 3 lines of the four mallet marimba part. The chords are quite tricky, especially since I am just starting to learn the grip. Choosing my first solo to be Concerto in Bb Minor was quite ambitious, I will admit that, but with a little practice and a drive for success, anything is possible. On top of learning the Marimba solo, I have taken the liberty of learning the piano part that goes along with it since it was included in the book I ordered to learn four mallets. So far I have learned half a page of the piano accompaniment for Concerto in Bb Minor. The piano part has come along more easily than the four mallet part because I have been playing piano since I was around 7/8 years old. I've always felt a connection to it different from any other instrument. Piano was what awoke my love for music, and I will never stop loving to play it. I believe warm ups, scales, and music theory are not only essential to the music making process but help define the discipline and commitment of the musician. How a musician warms up before playing shows how seriously they take learning and growing through their instrument. If you practice, your warm ups will flow smoothly and change according to what you need to work on the most. If your warm up stays the same for too long, you could fall into a rut and lose motivation. This is my starting warm up. As the semester goes on, I guarantee it will change according to what I need to work on most when holding the mallets and when deciphering the sticking in my solo. At the beginning of Genius Hour, I approached the project with an open mind and my heart set on one project alone; learning to play Four Mallets. While this has not changed, I have encountered my first setback. Not on the music itself but with the LOVELY website known as YouTube.com and its inability to upload my first Warm Up/Solo video. As it turns out, the file I saved the video on was corrupt and I lost the edited copy of the video footage. I prefer quality work over the quantity, and I am not satisfied with the raw, unedited footage of my Warm Ups, so that has yet to be uploaded. I assure you, the video WILL be out this week and will be featured on the next blog post along with the second video.
A second setback that I encountered involves my dependence on other people's schedules. I am scheduled to record the progress in my solo on Fridays after school to give myself time to practice as much as I can while showing progress in not only the solo but in my musicality and accuracy while playing. It really isn't a lie; practice makes perfect, and it doesn't make sense to record as much as I possibly can if the footage does not display progress each week. And just my luck, the band room was closed after school on Friday because Mr. Jimeson had to leave. In the future, I will have to be prepared to be more flexible with my schedule for this project in order to acquire the footage I need for weekly updates and videos. So far I have learned the first couple of lines of the marimba part in my solo, which is the Opening Theme of Concerto in Bb Minor by T. I. Tchaikovsky. I expected the solo to be in Bb Minor, and it certainly looked like it, considering there was enough accidentals for minor chords to make it seem like such, but the beginning seems to be more in the Key of G Major, which is also the key signature, despite the title and the accidentals that come later in the piece. Regardless, the chords flow nicely, it was just not what I expected it to be, despite analyzing the piece for an entire week before officially beginning to learn it. Something that I do with all of the pieces I learn is research the composer and analyze key points in the piece. I feel that this is important in order to truly connect with a piece of music.
Let's start with an overview of the composer. P.I. Tschaikowsky was a Russian composer from the 1800s, which makes this arrangement quite old. This is something that I must keep in mind when practicing the chord balance and dynamics throughout the solo. Tschaikowsky also wrote pieces such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and 1812 Overture, which is a piece on the Masterworks list that the Wind Ensemble almost played this year for MPA. Now, onto the solo itself. The key signature is in B flat Minor, which is the same key as G Major. The piece is also taken at the tempo Moderato e sostenuto, which means to play at a moderate tempo while occasionally slacking for emotional emphasis. Concerto in B flat Minor is also written in cut time, which means that notes are played with half the value of what is written on the staff. Notes have been made for accidentals, which means to play a note sharper or flatter than what is written on the staff. The Opening Theme is 68 measures long, so I will practice 1-2 lines per week instead of the intended 4 measures a day in order to learn the entire piece in time. The entirety of the arrangement looks complex when observed by the untrained eye but after deep analysis, certain parts and chords are repeated multiple times, making it overall simpler to learn. After listening to different recordings of the piece, I noticed that the piano is prominent in the majority of them, so I will be learning the accompaniment on the side along with the solo itself. Once the entirety of the solo is learned, I will post an edited video of the parts played together. Overall, I am incredibly excited to learn this, as ambitious as it may be. Videos will be coming soon and hopefully more solos will be learned by the end of the semester! I decided to learn four mallets for my Genius Hour project because it is something that has interested me for a long time. By learning this technique, I will enhance my skills on mallet instruments and expand my knowledge on music theory, sight reading, and overall musicality. In order to learn this, I have composed my own warm ups that will train my hands to get used to the grip and to function effortlessly while playing. Here are the steps to my warm up: 1. First, I warm up my hands on two mallets and practice scales. 2. Then I place two mallets into my right hand and play separate notes, stretching from a half step to an octave and back down. I will do the same with the opposite hand. 3. After that, I will play notes together with one hand, and then the other. Once my hands are warmed up I practice chord progressions and small bits of songs that I learned from ear (the first few seconds of Wait For It, various songs from the radio, more show tunes things, etc.) Unfortunately, the mallet instruments were unavailable when I planned on recording (I will generally be recording my warm ups/solo on Fridays after school to give myself time to practice each week) since we have our MPA Preview performance this Tuesday and the mallets were moved to the auditorium in advance. I have, however, selected my first solo, which will be the Opening Theme from Concerto in B Minor by P. I. Tschaikowsky. In the next few weeks, I will post small videos of my warm ups and What I have learned of the piece so far. There is music for a piano accompaniment as well so I may play that with the entirety of the piece one I perfect the marimba solo. Until then, here is a YouTube link for one of my favorite marimba pieces titled Impressions. This is a solo I have always liked but could not find the sheet music for it at a reasonable price. https://youtu.be/HjjhR2B_zTI |
AuthorMadelyn Kenney is a 10th grade student at Davie High School and is in Mr. Barker's Honors English II (STEM) class. ArchivesCategories |
Photo used under Creative Commons from CulturayDeportesGT