Assignment #1
This activity Helped me to understand how to use solfège to find out the melody of a piece of music. In my case I did one of my favourite songs from childhood I want it that way by the Backstreet Boys. Using solfège I was able to recognize different intervals in the melody and figure out how to place those notes on the scale. I know I can sing the melody however I felt I had a hard time figuring out what the actual solfège names were. I also second guessed myself on the first part of the song because im still not quite sure if im using the correct solfège characters. Overall I feel like I need a little more work on my solfège.
Assignment #1
After a second glance at the project I was able to figure out a different much easier song. Because twinkle twinkle little star is in a major key it was far easier to figure out. I'm finding this type of sight singing is far easier than the course I did last year and I am able to grasp it quicker. In this example I was able to identify the different pitches in the music by comparing them to the scale I sang at the beginning of the video. I now feel more confident about my sight-singing
Assignment #2
Assignment #3
This assignment was really good at teaching me how to multi-task! I taught me about how to really narrow in and match the tones in the chords so that i could eventually do it without thinking and focus on the dance. It bassically helped me to trust my ears more and just sing what sounds best. It deffintley got easier after a few chord changes although then I started to run out of breath! This excersice has shown me that I need to trust my ears more when I'm singing becasue I tend to overthink before I sing and then i inevitably end up singing the wrong note. However when I trust my self and just sing I tend to find the correct tones a lot quicker and with far less frustration.
This week I was listening to a lot of music, but I couldn't find any ovbious chord changes because I feel like alot of the music I listen to tends to be very tonally complex, so I decided to go back to some of the basics. I can very easily hear the chord changes in Let It Be by the beatles, the chords are I, V, IV, VI. I tried stoping after each chord and singing the triad and I could do that. Then later during the week i was listening to Ed Sheeran, and I was humming along and thought maybe I could do the same. I had a little more trouble identifying the chords but I can deffinetley hear the triads and can sing up and down them.
|
For this assignment I decided to try and figure out Somewhere Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of OZ. This piece starts of fairly easy with a clearly identifyable octave. But near the end I started to struggle I think becasue the melody wanders below Do. In the end im not quite sure if its right but i know this was challenging for me.
Assignment #4
When doing this assignment I found it quite tricky at first to find what the solfege was for the baseline. But then I tried to sing the chord on top of it so I could find where Do was. Once I did that I was able to realize that both of the four note patters in the bass line end of Do. From there I was able to easily I identify the rest of the notes were just the steps above and below Do in the scale. I did fine it a little tricky to Identify the chords in the bridge but I think it was just a I and V chord. Then when the key change comes later in the music I could hear it move up a step and I changed my solfege accordingly.
When trying to figure out "you are may sunshine" by Jimme Davis. I had a lot of trouble figuring out where Do was because it doesn't start on Do. This was a big challenge for me. In the video you will notice that when I got to the end I realized I wasn't ending on Do and I was pretty sure I need to end on Do. So I went back to the beginning and attempted to start over so that I would end on Do. I'm still not 100% this one is right but I wanted to challenge my self this week with something a little trickier.
Assignment #5
This assignment gave me a lot of trouble. First off I had a lot of difficulties coming up with harmonies I wanted to use. Once I settled on the harmonies I set a metronome in my recording software so that I wouldn't have trouble lining up the tracks. Once I started recording I found it very difficult to stay in tune so I recorded a piano part to sing along with. However the tuning still wasn't coming out clear I decided to apply a choir effect (which is where you layer multiple tracks of the same melody over each other, this blends the melodies together and makes the notes sound more in tune. Once I was finally happy with my recording I exported it and found that for some reason the piece was transposed up just a little bit and now it sounds out of tune??? I tried googling to fix the solution but couldn't figure it out. In the end this assignment posed a lot of problems for me and I'm not super happy with it. I hope we have another assignment like this before the end of the course so I can give it another shot.
Assignment #6
This assignment felt very simple to me, which is good! I practiced singing the solfege in my car everyday to and from school. This is because I was finding it difficult at first to just sing in my head so I needed a space where I was comfortable singing. Unfortunately, I hate singing infant of people so that didn't leave me with a lot of options. So, everyday to and from school for the last couple of weeks I've been singing these patterns in my car. When I sat down to do the assignment I did it in only 2 takes. I feel very proud of my progress with solfege right now :)
Assignment #7
This assignment feels really natural to me. Though I still struggle to concentrate on the solfege syllables. I liked the part of the assignment where we were just supposed to improvise on Loo. I find it easier to hear the notes that match with the chord when im not thinking about it. I liked this assignment it shows me how far I've come this semester.
Assignment #8
This assignment was SOOOO much fun! I had a blast trying to compose. I pulled material specifically from around the (0:40-1:05) range in my recording. Specifically the offbeat stuff surrounding "Fa". I called my composition "Fa Cathy" because when people ask why I'm writing it I always say "fa Cathy". I had a blast writing this and I feel proud of the music I wrote especially because I rarely use Do. I feel really a-tuned to my solfege skills and I am really looking forward to the next assignment where we get to compose!
Assignment #9
This weeks homework helped to get me back in gear after the holidays. I found those solfege patterns very difficult they me quite a few times to get right. I heard the base line of your beautiful right away! it made me really proud of myself. Also I felt like once I figured out that the first jump in the chorus was a 5th I could instantly sing all three notes and realized it was a major arpeggio. I feel very accomplished this week!
Assignment #10
This Assignment really helped me to hear where the semitones are in both the major and minor modes. I was able to compare 7 different patterns side by side and had to transpose them into the minor mode. Some exercises were especially tricky but I was able to find the intervals by singing up and down the scale and also buy outlining the one chord La do mi.
Assignment #11
This assignment was super fun! I took me a while to figure out how to line everything up but I think it sounds pretty good. I realized after that I probably could've done it in a different key that suits my voice better but I had already practiced it so much with this key it was difficult to change to another. Overall I think it sounds really good and it was interesting to see how to sing a canon like that.
Assignment #12
Wow! singing in the dorian scale is really hard. I have a lot of trouble trying to outline different chords right now. Like I can sing the one chord which is re, fa, la, but I couldn't sing the La chord when I tried. I don't know if we go into that in class or not but it would be interesting to learn.
Assignment #13
This assignment was really challenging I found it really hard to tune the low "fa". I also just in general had a hard time recording this one at a fast tempo. I kept messing up the syllables! I also tried to play around with a few different keys to see I they fit my range a bit better. I learned a lot about my singing skills with this assignment. I really want to try and record the beginning of "for the longest time" by Billy Joel now. Especially after we sang it in class today!
Assignment #14
|
|
|