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! |
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