Artefact 6: Student Narrative

I am James and I am 14 years old. I love sports, art and particularly music
at school. I play trumpet in 3 of the ensembles including the concert band,
jazz band and the symphony orchestra. I also have private lesson on piano
after school on Thursdays which this year I am sitting my grade 5 trinity
exam.
The following is a narrative overview of my experience in music with
Gadgetry and Musicality.
Phase 1
The first four weeks I found a little bit boring because it was all based on
music theory of which I have pretty good understanding from my
involvement in music however many other students didnt know some of
this stuff and this time allowed them to catch up. The online programs
that we used were very efficient in catching other students up and were
definitely appropriate to our level. Once everyone was up to date with
required theoretical knowledge the teacher then demonstrated how to
notate twinkle, twinkle little star. This was relatively well received and we
all understood what was being explained. From here the teacher then
used a completely different form of musical notation, graphic notation, to
write out the same melody. This however was foreign. The teacher took
time to explain how the notation worked with the aligning melody and
after a little while we understood how the system worked.
Phase 2a
The teacher introduced us to multiple other methods of musical notation
from different countries including Kepatihan which is used in Gamelan
music from Indonesia, Svara which is used in Indian Raga, and Surakarta
from Japan. The teacher didnt spend time explaining to us how to use
these other methods to notate music. We were then given opportunities to
research how the notation method works and how it applies to a particular
genre.
Phase 2b
We were to pick a piece from a different notation method and translate it
into the musical notation we are used to. I chose a traditional Indian
lullaby that was played on a traditional flute of the area. I found it
particularly difficult because I recognised that there were parts of the song
that were not easy to translate into popular musical notation. There were
pitches that were in between the pitches that are recognised in normal
notation as well as weird rhythms and sounds. It was very tricky to make
recognisable on Sibelius play back.
Phase 3
Because I had already analysed an Indian lullaby I chose to use Svara
notation from Indian Raga music to analyse the melody that the teacher
has given. We were given Twinkle, Twinkle little star. Initially we were to
translate Twinkle, Twinkle little star into our chosen music notation
method onto a single page document. From here we then used a program
called Prezi to analyse our use of our chosen notation. Once spending a bit
of time using Prezi I got the hang of it and was able use it effectively to
provide information about my notation. My Prezi presentation allowed a
clear walkthrough of my notation with a certain flow that is required to
join all aspects of the notation together.