The Music World

So it's been a long time since I've updated this blog! I am finally done with my finals so I should have more time to post. Today was the day! It was an absolutely stressful day.

Well let me start with the choir class. All our performances are counted as tests or finals. I performed in all of them.

One of my favorite days was the choral festival held at Sierra College. All the choirs in Northern California performed before a judge. It was an all day event starting at 8:00 a.m. and going till 4:00 p.m. Our choir was first to sing....we did alright. I really liked the American River College Choir the best though. They sang a absolutely beautiful arrangement of "How Can I Keep From Singing". It was awesome.

All the other choirs did very well.

At the end of the day, all the choirs congregated in the front of the audience to sing "He, Watching Over Israel" a marvelous piece by Felix Mendelssohn. There were so many people singing that we all couldn't fit on stage so the conductor (the judge) stood on stage and conducted 200+ people in the audience. The volume was so intense at climax points in the song that my music was vibrating. That piece was the best of the whole day. If any of you readers want to hear it you can look it up on YouTube.

In Music Theory we haven't been doing much. Since we finished the book like 3 or 4 weeks ago all we did was come to class, ask questions about our finals, and then listened to music (and read it). I really liked doing that.

Well the I performed my final today in Music Theory. I had to write a song with at least 3 modulations and other requirements. I thought for sure I would get a C or less on it. I was totally unprepared. First off, I left my copy of the piece at home....so I started hand copying it between classes. Luckily I didn't have choir class today so I had a good 3 1/2 hour wait. So I copy most of my final out and go to a nearby piano to make sure it's right so far. I get to the third measure I realize that I skipped a measure! So all that work for nothing. I would have to erase the 50 measures I've written after it and I only have 1 hour left.

Then a fellow student comes in and wants to practice his finals with me. (I was supposed to do a bass guitar and piano duet with him). So I said, "I guess". Anyway, we practice for awhile and he finds out that he didn't write the bass part out right. So he goes and starts over. Meanwhile, I try to memorize my piece since I only have 40 minutes until class starts.

About twenty minutes later Ben comes back in to practice. Well, he figures out that he is not ready to play it at all. So he asks me if I could just play the piano piece by myself. "I know I'll be called up today since my last name starts with 'A'". So I said well, with all these complicated rhythms I can't guarantee that you'll get an "A" for my performance. I suggested he ask Natalie, an awesome pianist and sight reader, to play his final for him.

He finally finds her and she says sure! She looks at the piece and says....um with all these complicated rhythms...I doubt you will get a good grade if I perform it.

Meanwhile, class is starting and I go sit down. Ben comes in a few minutes later and says...you're on. I guess you'll have to perform my finals and hope for the best. I was getting nervous and was hoping that I wouldn't be called up today....I thought....last semester I was called up on the last day since my name started with "V". I'm almost positive I'll be safe.

Then they call Ben up....and he introduces my as his performer. I play his piece... very complicated. I don't know what grade he got...but I don't think it was very good. I felt sorry for him.

Then a few more people perform their finals. I was starting to feel relieved. Thinking "we only have 30 minutes left and we still haven't gotten to the letter B on the list....my last name starts with V surely he won't call me."

And then it happens.... He says "OK lets go from the bottom up now. SHANE!" I started panicking. I walked over to give him the score and try to explain that I tried to memorize it and that I left my other copy at home. He says, "Didn't you use the copier down the hall?" Then one of the students calls out...."it doesn't work". He says...."Well, I can look over you shoulder to make sure you're playing right....we can share the same copy.....or will that make you more nervous?"

Finally a solutions comes! "I'll tell you what, why don't I call someone else up and while they are performing you go to the next building over and see if you can't get a copy." I thanked him and hurried off to the next building. I found an office and got a copy.

As I walked back into the classroom, the performer was just finishing. The teacher calls out "Shane, are you ready?" I said "Yes". I give him the original and walk down to perform my piece. I didn't do very well. I made quite a few mistakes but used my "cover up" skills taught by my piano teacher Betty. I didn't think I could fool this Doctor though.

After finishing I walked up to get my grade. People complimented on it. My teacher says "That was beautiful!" He gives me my graded final back.... I hesitated to look at it.... it said I got an 'A' for the quality of the piece, and 'A' for performance, and an 'A' for the whole semester! I was like no way! I guess I did cover up my numerous mistakes well. I guess my analysis was right.

After a few more performances the class ended and the teacher announced that we will have class Wednesday to finish all those who still need to perform. I was relieved....

Then all of the sudden a man came up to me. I had never met him before....we was not in Music Theory.... he had come in to watch the performances and to perform one for someone else. Anyway, he came up to me and said "I just wanted to tell you that your piece was awesome. He said it sounded like something Chopin would write. Do you play Chopin at all?" I told him that he was one of my favorite composers and that yes, I do play Chopin all the time. He said "I could tell. I think his style is brushing off on you."

I was absolutely shocked. I'm thinking "Here I thought I was gonna fail my final....and not only do I get an "A" but it sounds like Chopin!?"

Well my work is not over... although the hardest part is. On Wednesday I have to perform someone else's final....a much easier one than Ben's. I will be playing with a cello and a violin....these two sisters, Natalie and Loni, are absolutely awesome musicians. It will be a privilege to be able to perform with them.

I will write about it when I can.

My Obsession...

Sorry of the delay of posting. I'm too obsessed with music to have time to post sometimes. Anyday I would choose playing the piano over sitting on the computer. The only reason I'm here right now is because my parents are sleeping and won't allow me to bang away.

Music has literally become my obession. Even my organ teacher said the other day "Shane, you're obessed. " She told me that if I were to get married, my wife would have to put up with my obession. I told her that I have no plans to get married so I think I've got that covered.

Even my piano student (from college) Marianna, said "Shane, I can't practice very much because I will play for five minutes and then my husband tells me to go do the laundry or something. I think what he is trying to say is 'can you quit playing'". She warned "If you get married, make sure you get someone that can stand you playing for a few hours every day."

Usually before playing I make a list of all the songs I want to practice and then just go down the list. Sometimes my mom tells me to get off the piano. I'm like "But Mom, I've only been playing for 3 hours and I barely got finished with my warmups. I still have to play my list of songs." Well too bad. I had to quit.

I think once I have my own house I'll be playing 5-6 hours a day. That would be awesome! I wouldn't care if it was 2:00 a.m.

To relieve some of my obession I've been going to bed on music. All of last month I would go to sleep on Bach. This month it is Mozart.

I've also been working on my perfect pitch. I really want perfect pitch. For the past three weeks I've checked myself several times everyday and have only been off twice! The two times I was off, I was off by 1/2 step or less!

My obession is not just any old music. I have been extremely obessed with classical music. There is something about classical music that no other type of music has. It seems as though all other types of music are empty. Yes, I know I have been training in jazz and contemporary christian music and I love playing those types of music. But classical has a fuller meaning. It is hard to explain.

I have observed that my fellow students who have been taught classical fly right through both Music Theory and Ear Training. The other rock and roll people and other contemporary music students are always having a hard time.

I really like my choir class. I thought it would be boring singing bass but it actually isn't. I thought that bass was just jumping 4ths and 5ths all the time and tenor would be more interesting. But even though I still think tenor would be more interesting I have come to love singing bass. I thought that soprano, alto and tenor sounded good because they sound "close and warm" and bass was just the guy on the outside singing random notes. But as I've been in choir I have observed that choirs really sound empty without a strong bass.

In Ear Training we've been getting quizes more regularly. About once every 2 weeks I'm guessing. So far I've gotten 100% on all my quizes. I hope to stay a 4.0 student. We've been working on mostly major/minor 2nds, major/minor 3rds, perfect/augmented 4ths, and perfect/diminished 5ths.

In Music Theory I've also gotton nothing less than an A on all my tests. I hope it stays that way. I've made it a goal to not except any grade but a 4.0. We've been working on four part choral writing, dominate seventh chords, major/minor seventh chords, fully diminished/half diminished chords and other things as well.

So that's what I've been up to lately: music, music, and...... MUSIC!

The Music World

Well it seems like when I've got all the music I can handle, I get a load more. These past few weeks have been great. I have fell in love with music, especially these past two weeks.

For like the last couple of weeks I've spent 2-3 hours at the piano every day! It seems as though I'm addicted to the piano now.

I've still been working on "Sheep May Safely Graze" for the organ. It is coming along very nicely. I think I will be able to play it through with no mistakes by the end of next month. It is hard getting a lot of practice on the organ.

After my organ lesson last Tuesday, I went to Northridge Music in search of more organ music and found out that they don't carry it anymore! I guess organ playing is becoming a lost art.

I did get some music at Northridge though. I got my regular Peter's book for writing our my arrangements. I also got the music for Debussy's "Claire de Lune". I have become a big fan of Debussy.

I looked for music by John Field but didn't find any. However, I was able to order a book of his Nocturnes so hopefully that will be in soon. I also got Schubert's "Ave Maria".

Another piece I got at Northridge was Mozart's "Rondo Alla Turca". I am having fun with this piece. I love it.

I am ready to go back though. I want to get some more music.

I met a girl at college that I have started teaching piano. Her name is Marianna and she is Ukrainian. She is an awesome sight reader but has a hard time playing by ear which is what I am focusing on teaching her. We may work on some duets to play for fun. We decided to make a deal: I will teach her piano and she will teach my Russian. It works out great too because we both have a hour and a half wait between classes so we have plenty of time to work with.

I have a great desire to learn the violin. It is one of my goals for this year: start violin lessons!

My college classes are going great. I am doing well and learning a lot. I really like the choir class too. It sounds amazing when we all sing together.

So that's what's been going on. Have a great weekend!

The Begining of A New Semester

Well I started school again... This time I am taking three classes at Sierra College: Ear Training 2, Music Theory 2, and Concert Choir.

In Ear Training we have about the same amount of students as last semester. There are a few new ones and some of the old ones dropped out. We are now working on singing chromatic scales using solfege and will soon be learning to sing them in songs. We are also working on whole step and half step recognition which is really not very hard.

Music Theory on the other hand has experienced a dramatic drop in the size of our class. There were about 45 students last semester, but this semester there are only about 20-25. Dr. Carmody said that by the 4th semester the class will probably only be 15 students at most. I plan to be one of those 15 left.

In Music Theory we are working on species counterpoint. I guess we are not going to be tested on it... we just have to do some homework and then we can move to the next chapter which is writing for four parts.

The first day of choir we all had to be auditioned. All we had to do was go into a room with the teacher and sing either the tenor or bass line of "Silent Night". For the girls they had to sing either the soprano or alto line. I am singing bass.

The second day of class we went over breathing techniques and posture and all that stuff and with the remaining time worked on one of the songs we will be performing called "Gloria". It sounded awesome when everyone got their parts and we all sang together.

The class has around 50 students. A lot of them are Russians so the teacher decided that we would sing a Russian song in Russian! I thought that was pretty exciting. The Russian song we are singing is called "Svetit mesiats" or "Shines the Moon".

We have to do 3 performances this semester. We may do another but that is still pending.

I now spend 6 hours on campus twice a week (8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.). I do have a hour-and-a-half wait between Ear Training and Choir but I usually spend that in the piano rooms practicing the piano. I know have lots of time to practice the piano!

I had my piano lesson last Wednesday. We did not work on anything new except my new homework and new finger exercises. She told me to pick out a hymn and a Chopin piece to start working on next time. I think I am going to work on Chopin's "Grande Valse brillante" again and try to get the whole thing memorized. I still have not picked out a hymn.

So that's what I've been up to with my music life. It's been getting busier but I like it that way.

"The Messiah" and Christmas

Well.... Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I know I did. At least musically.

The Saturday before Christmas me, Felecia, and Chelsea went along with Brittni and Kelly to the performance by the American Bach Soloists called "The Messiah". It was awesome! I loved it. The whole piece was about 2 1/2 hours long and it was all scripture. It was written by Handel.

There were four soloists, a soprano, an alto (which was a guy), a tenor, and a bass. They all sang very well. The man singing alto could sing very high. It was amazing.

The choir consisted of four part harmony. It was interesting to see some guys singing the alto part. I guess some guys just have a naturally high voice.

There was a orchestra that played along with them as well. Included in the orchestra was an organist, and a fellow who played the harpsichord. I thought the harpsichord was a beautiful instrument. I wish I could get one but they are very expensive and rare. Of course there was your usual violins, and cellos that also performed.

So that's what we did before Christmas.

On Christmas I received 3 CD's as a gift. One was Josh Groban's Christmas CD called "Noel". Josh Groban is an excellent singer. I usually don't care for guy singers but Groban is an exception.

Also I got a CD of Claude Debussy. I instantly fell in love with his music after hearing just the first song on the CD. I have never heard much of his music. It is very interesting. A lot of his songs are not played in any key. It is very hard to understand... even for musicians but the music is very beautiful. The reason the songs are not in any key is because the scale on which the songs are based upon are never ending. What I mean by never ending is that there are no half steps in the scale. Only whole steps. So there is no leading tone. This gives the song a open feeling. Almost like you were out in the middle of the ocean going nowhere. They have a "drifting" sound.

The other CD I got was of John Field's music. John Field was a composer in the late 1700's early 1800's who greatly influenced Frederic Chopin. I love Chopin's music so I thought I must love John Fields music and I sure did. You can really hear "Chopin" in John Field's compositions. Or rather you can really hear "John Field" in Chopin's compositions. I had never heard any of John Field's compositions before I got this CD. I really like it.

So that's all the music I've been up to. I was supposed to have my piano lesson today but I forgot that the time was a 12:00 p.m. and not 1:00 p.m. So we ended up having to cancel it due to my forgetfulness.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year! Until next year, Keep singing!

The Christmas Program

Well I think all my musical performances for Christmas are over! It was quite stressful....these last couple of weeks.

I played several songs for the Christmas program at church. Starting with congregational singing...I was supposed to play the organ but no piano player showed up at the piano so the song leader asked me to play the piano instead.

I was supposed to do the sound effects (chimes) in a certain part during the play. Well when I walked up to the organ to play them, I found the organ wasn't turned on. I found out quickly that it wasn't plugged in. So I plugged it in and flipped to switch it on. It wouldn't turn on! So I get a friend to help me. Finally he starts wiggling the chord and I was able to play the chimes just in time! We got it working about 2 seconds before I was supposed to play them.

Then I sang in the choir. I usually sing tenor. My biggest problem is breathing. I seem to run out of breath very fast especially when I have to hit those high notes. We sang "Thank God I am Free" and "I have found it Lord in Thee".

I played the piano for one song the choir sang: "Still, Still, Still".

Just before the play ended I had to play the organ for a soloist. I played "Softly and Tenderly". Everything went well with the exception of me almost forgetting about the key change.

So that was all the music I did for the Christmas program. I thought it was pretty stressful until I heard what my teacher had to do. She played the harp in 11, 2-hour, performances! So that was 22 hours of playing the harp in the past two weeks!

On Wednesday our family and the G. family went to two rest homes and sang Christmas Carols. I did have to play a few solos which didn't turn out to bad. We also went to a hospital later that afternoon to sing to the patients. Most of the time we were singing, we were accompanied by a harpist.

This last Sunday was my last performance night. I was putting together an arrangement for "O Holy Night". We had one person playing the flute, a harpist, a pianist, two singers, and me playing the organ. For only having practiced a few times it didn't turn out too bad.

I also played a piano-trumpet duet that night. We played "O Come All Ye Faithful". That actually turned out pretty good.

So that was my busy schedule. I guess it wasn't that busy compared to others.

Well, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Last Day of Colllege for the Semester

Yes one last, embarrassing, interesting day. At least for this year... I will be going back in January.

Today was quite an interesting day... I went from falling in front of the classroom and spraining my ankle to being called a new "Beethoven".

Let me tell you a bit of what I've been up to in last two months though....before getting into the whole story about today.

So much has happened that I doubt that I will be able to recall everything. I quit updating my blog for awhile because of everything I had to get done...but now I'm done with U.S. History for the semester and college so I have a lot of time left now....well almost.

I've been working on a few things with the play at church. I will be playing the piano for the children's choir, singing in the "Young People's Choir", and possibly playing the organ for a soloist.

Also I am working on putting an arrangement together for "O Holy Night" that is played by two flutes, one harp, a piano, an organ, and possibly clarinet. I've only written the music out for one flute so I have a long way to go still. But hopefully I will be able to get it done in time. Rumor has it that this song is supposed to be ready in two weeks! Yikes....well I guess Christmas is not far away either.

A week ago, our family went to the Sierra Choir Concerts. There were two different choirs that performed. Some of the members were from our class. The soloists were amazing!

I registered for next semester already. I will be in Music Theory 2, Ear Training 2, and the Sierra College Concert Choir. So I will have a full schedule again. I better take advantage of time while I can.

Well on Monday we started our finals. Some of the songs were astonishing... others were OK. I will talk about some of the ones I especially liked.

Emma's song called "The Music Box" or something like that was awesome. Emma plays in the Auburn Symphony and is a friend of the well known violinist Amanda L. Emma is an awesome violinist and pianist. For her song she played the piano while Fantee played the flute. It was awesome. The piece sounded like a piece written by a professional composer.

Fantee also did an awesome job on her piece. I believe she is Japanese or Chinese. Anyway she did a piano concert for Sierra College and she just barely turned 15! She is an awesome pianist and plays the flute very well too. For her composition she played a waltz on the piano while Emma played the violin.

Probably my most favorite piece that was played was Natalie's song that she named "Fantasia for Piano and Violin." Natalie plays cello in the Auburn Symphony. She had her sister come and play the violin with her as she played the piano. It was amazing. It sounded like something written by Mozart or another great composer.

So on Monday I wasn't called up to perform my piece. My last name starts with "V" so I was at the bottom of the list.

So today is when I did my finals. One interesting day it was....

First off I didn't sleep very well last night. I was dreaming about performing my final....I don't exactly remember what all happened in the dream. I kept waking up and falling back to sleep. Then I finally woke up around 5:00 a.m. and looked at my alarm clock. I thought "it's five o'clock now I might as well stay up because my alarm is going to go off at 5:30 a.m. so I went to turn my alarm off and found out I hadn't set it at all! I was very thankful I woke up when I did!

So I got up and made a fire, fed the horse and the chickens, ate breakfast and headed out the door around 7:10.

I got to class and we started our Ear Training final. It was another easy test. All we had to do was tell what intervals he played, identify chords whether they were major, minor, diminished, or augmented, and then we had to write a tune that he played on the piano. It was "Ode to Joy" with a twist.

Anyway... after playing the piece twice he told us to write it down and when we were done turn it in and we could leave. So when I was done I stood up to take my test in. But I soon found out that I couldn't move my right leg at all. It was numb. I should have sat down but I decided to tough it out and just limb on it until it would work. I took one step down the stairs and then I took a tumble. I landed flat on the ground with my books scattered everywhere. It was so embarrassing! Luckily most of the students had already finished the test and left the room. There were only a few left in the room who saw what happened.

Well the teacher helped me up and asked if I was OK. I said I was and thanked him. Then he took my test looked at it and said "You did a great job. I will see you next semester". When I stood up I felt dizzy and my foot ached with pain. So I hobbled out of the classroom.

When I got out into the hall I checked my watch and saw that we were only in class for 20 minutes. I have to wait a whole hour before the next class starts. So I walked down the hall to see if there were any piano's available to practice my final. I found that they were all taken so I walked back down the hall to find a seat. As I was walking back, one of my fellow students (Jason) came up and started talking to me. He asked how I did on the final. I said I thought I did well. Then I went to shift feet and found that my leg was dead again. So when I shifted feet I started to fall again when my friend (and the wall) helped me regain my balance again. After talking some more I sat down and waited the rest of the hour for the next class to begin.

The time went by slowly....once in awhile I would get up and check to see if any pianos were open and they would always be taken. Finally the time went by and I went to my next class which was just down the hall. My foot still ached with pain.

We started our finals... he started calling out the names. There were various songs played. One song played by a fellow student was played with bongo drums and a cymbal (actually a trash can lid on a music stand)

Well....I was the very last person to be called. I limped over to my teacher and gave him a copy of the music then walked up to the piano, introduced myself, told them the name of my song and then performed it.

That was followed by an applause. As I walked back to my seat, several people stopped me to make comments. It started with the first row...Mikaela said "That was really good! What's the name of that song again?".

Then I went on and people kept making comments. Natalie said "I think you are going to be the next Beethoven". Another said "That was my favorite one!"

I was thinking "it was that good huh?" I thought it sounded like "Mary had a little lamb" or something. In fact, in my opinion it was one of the worst ones played.

I walked over to the teacher to get my grade. He said the first grade is for the quality of the composition, the second grade for the quality of your performance, and the grade in the box is the grade for the whole class.

I walked to my desk and checked my grades with a beating heart. It said A, A, A. I got A's on everything! I was so glad.

Well, I stayed afterward to listen to the next class (Music Theory 3) perform. It was awesome. I wish I could have stayed for the whole performance but I promised my mom I would be ready to leave a 12:00 so I had to leave early.

But all the songs I did get to hear were awesome. One fellow Ear Training student Evan played his recording (you could either perform or play a recording as long as you have written the piece and teacher has the original). It was of him singing. He had an awesome voice... it sounded just like Josh Groban. It was fully orchestrated too.

Another girl played her piece on the piano which was also astonishing. It sounded like Chopin. She was very expressive too. She would make frowny faces when it got to a sad section of the song and then smile and bounce when it got to a lively part. It was an awesome piece.

I could go on and on about all the other wonderful performances but I think I have written enough.

So now you know about the interesting day I had.