Instrumental Study

1.1 Day to Day Maintenance Requirements of My Instrument

a) What are the maintenance requirements of my instrument?
The most vital maintenance with my instrument is checking and re-checking the valves for problems before they become irreversible. This will stop blockages and vacuums from forming as this can irreversibly break the instrument. Another key stage to maintenance is the cleaning of the valve slides and the mouthpiece receiver.


b) What Can I undertake personally?
To maintain my instrument I need to clean and polish it regularly to stop rust from setting in. Before ever time I play my instrument I check the valves condition, if it is less than satisfactory I then apply valve oil which I carry with me whenever and wherever I play. Just in case.

1.2. Personal Health and Safety Issues 

a) What Health and Safety issues are there that you need to consider when playing your instrument, and when approaching your playing style?

1. The only health and safety issues found in the brass school of instruments are, as follows; dropping it on yourself, others and the floor
2. Putting the valves in the wrong place
3. Hygiene

b) How should you review your own approach to these issues when playing your instrument?

1. When playing don't drop the instrument; always keep both hands on the instrument
2. Only every do maintenance on one valve at a time
3. Wipe down the mouthpiece after every practice

2.1 Reviewing Personal Goals

a) What are the personal goals that you would like to achieving in playing your instrument?

1. To reach the level I need to be at to take grade three by the end of the course
2. To learn how to play every piece I am currently working on by March 2017
3. To be able to read all relevent forms of sheet music by the end of 2017

b) How do you intend to achieve these personal goals?
I intend to put in effort where necessary and practice reading sheet music in my spare time

The agreed plan with my teacher is to:
1. Attend and take part in 1 hour of practical lessons per week, for a minimum of 15 weeks. 
2. Attend and take part in a 20 minute lesson for my instrument, for a minimum of 15 weeks. 
3. Review and reflect upon my lessons and progress each week on my blog, for a minimum of 15 weeks. 
c) Blog of all rehearsals - you must state what you have achieved, and what you plan to do next week. 

Week 1

Today I learnt how to play Counting stars on piano with the rest of my class. It Sounded alright although it could do with some improvement. I have chosen to do Roads Untraveled by Linkin Park (3:50), Stole the Show by Kygo & Parson James (3:43) and Drown by Bring Me the Horizon (3:42) - please note these are subject to change-. I have decided on these pieces as they are very different to each other.

In order to perform these to the best of my ability I will need to practice all of the pieces avidly to increase my understanding of them.
To prepare for the Recording Studio I intend to learn the process of recording and the Equipment needed.
In my Extra-Curricular Music lesson I learnt E minor and major scales and started work on my grade two Tenor Horn exam pieces.
Week 2

Today I practiced Roads Untraveled. I learnt the basic chords and the riff.I found practicing this piece easy as I have been listening to it a lot recently and can isolate the individual parts of the song in order to learn them individually; this has allowed me to work on the keyboard parts individually. I need to learn the the lyrics for next lesson.
This week in my instrumental lessons I learnt how to play skye boat song, a Scottish drinking song, It sounds alright. In order to improve I need to work on my Dm and D scales.
to reiterate, I have chosen to do Roads Untraveled by Linkin Park (3:50), Stole the Show by Kygo & Parson James (3:43) and Drown by Bring Me the Horizon (3:42) - Please note these are subject to change. I have Decided to pick these pieces as they are within my skill set, I own all of them and I know all of them well. In order to play these pieces I need to work on the lyrics and the riffs. To be prepared for the music studio I will need to learn how to operate the equipment in the recording studio.

(note i was ill so i  missed week 3)

Week 4

Today I learnt how to play the basic piano chords to Roads Untraveled. This wasn't difficult as they were easy to remember and play. Next week I intend to learn the chorus' chords to allow me to play all of it on piano. This week in my Extra-Curricular music lesson I worked on the Chromatic Scale.
Week 5

Today I practiced On Melancholy Hill on Piano. I found it slightly difficult as I had to work hard to remember the exact riff. To improve, I need to work on my speed of playing as I am playing too fast. This week my instrumental lessons went OK as I managed to learn the C minor scale after practicing the chromatic scale and learning the pattern of notes. To improve I need to practice often and work to gain my grade two.

Week 6

Today I practiced On Melancholy Hill on Piano. I found the initial practice easy and my group will soon have a recording to put up for the world to see... To improve my playing I need to work on keeping in time with the backing and the others in my group.
In this week in my instrumental lessons I learnt how to play Flashback - a fast paced piece - to some degree of professionalism. To improve I need to work on my other piece Basse-Dance to complete its fully.
Week 7

Today I practiced Roads Untraveled. I worked on the piano and vocals; in the final version I will use a backing to make it sound more complete. I found the overall practice slow but good as it let me learn the chords to the whole song. To improve, I need to work on speeding up the piece as I am too slow for the backing track.
In this week's instrumental lessons I practiced Basse-Dance and Flashback to the extent that they now sound good so I can move on to other pieces.i was ill week 8)

Week 9

Today I practiced pieces for my Tenor horn as I need to include at least one piece on it. I have decided to do Skye Boat Song - a traditional scottish song. I chose to do this because I had already gone over it in my extra-curricular music lessons. In my extra-curricular lessons I went over Basse-Dance again and finished learning Flashback. Now, Flashback sounds quite nice but I don't think I can play it without a backing so i cannot use it for my Music Practitioners.
Week 10

Today I practiced Skye Boat Song and Morning (by Grieg) they both went very well. I intend to revisit these pieces tomorrow and cement them to memory. If I do this I will hopefully manage to play them perfectly. Practicing these pieces was good as I was able to work on them alone and without others hearing, this made this week more productive. In my instrumental lesson this week I worked on a new piece, it was called Play (by Bartók). I enjoyed this as it had a 2/4 time signature, I rarely get to play with 2 beats per bar so it was a refreshing change.
Week 11

Today I practiced Skye Boat Song and Morning (by Grieg) they both went incredibly well, So well in fact I have finished with Morning (by Grieg) and will be playing a new piece next Tuesday. Practicing these pieces this week went well as my initial ineptitude to play them vanished and I can, finally, play these pieces right although Skye Boat Song needs a little more work. In my instrumental lesson I continued working on Play (by Bartók). I think it went well as it allowed me to go over higher notes, notes that that I don't always play.
Week 12

Today I practiced Skye Boat Song again and started work on Play (By Bartók). They went very well even though I made a few mistakes with the higher notes. I have decide to finish work on Morning (By Grieg) as I have worked on for a while and I think I have perfected it to the best of my ability. In my instrumental lessons I continued working on Play (by Bartók) and the chromatic scale. It went well.

Evaluation of Recording

This is my first recording it is of Skye Boat Song. overall I think it went well considering that I was ill at the time of recording. To improve I need to work on hitting notes first try, but I don't need to do that much as when my illness clears I ought to be able to play the higher notes better and with a higher degree of competency.
Week 13

Today I practiced a composition I'm working on in my spare time. Hopefully I will be able to upload it to the Internet soon. In my instrumental lessons I worked on some Christmas carols; including but not limited too, Silent Night, Good King Wenceslas and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. They all went well. This is my last lesson of this year.

(I missed week 14 due to illness)

Week 15

Today I practiced the composition that I was working on before the Christmas holidays. It's going well. In my instrumental lessons this week I worked on a couple of grade three pieces as that is the next grade I need to take. This is the first lesson of this year.
Week 16

Today I practiced pieces on my Tenor Horn. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact pieces. They went well. In my instrumental lessons I started learning grade three pieces (At this time I cannot remember what they are called). They went well.
Week 17

Today I practiced pieces on my Tenor Horn. Those pieces were Andulko and Aria from The Marriage of Figaro. I also did these pieces in my instrumental lessons. These pieces were my first attempt at grade three standard pieces so, for my first attempt, I think it went quite well all things considered.
Week 18

Today I practiced and recorded Theme from the Ninth Symphony by  Beethoven. This piece went well and I managed to finish it in one lesson (the recording will be uploaded soon). I missed my Instrumental lesson this week due to illness and a migraine.

Week 20

Today I worked on Men of Harlech (a duet) [note: I did this on my own]. Overall, I think it went quite well as I can now play the first part (higher part) well. I only worked on one piece today. This week in my instrumental lesson I worked on and finished Andulko (Czech) and Aria from The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart). They went well because of  practicing them in my music practitioners classes.

Week 21

This week I worked on Andulko and Aria from The Marriage of Figaro again. Overall I think it went well, all things considered. In my instrumental lessons this week I worked on a load of grade three pieces in order to find out the level I need to play at for grade three. I thought that it went mostly well. Every so often I would experience a slight problem in my instrument when I played high D which caused me to suspect I needed to check my instruments condition. After I checked my instrument I realised it needed valve oil as the valves had seized up at the base of the housing. After application it was fine.
Week 22

This week I worked on Pomp and Circumstance by Edward Elgar and Moscow Nights. Overall I thought it went very well, this is because I played the notes right. In my instrumental lessons this week I practiced a load of grade three pieces, they went okay but I need to practice them more as I missed the high notes slightly.
Week 23

This week I worked on Pomp and Circumstance by Edward Elgar and Moscow Nights. Overall I thought it went really well, as I was able to hit all the notes and make it sound okay. I will have a recording of it next week. In my instrumental lessons this week I practiced Pomp and Circumstance by Edward Elgar. I worked on this to bring it to a high standard in the second and third sections.
Week 24

This week I worked on recording all of the pieces I have worked on recently. They are here! Tad Dah!
Rustic Dance by Andrew and Martin Hurrell - Overall I thought it went well, with good notes overall. I need to work on hitting the apex of notes and breathing more often.
Andulko (Czech) - I think that this one went well as well as it sounds like its meant too. I can improve by practicing the piece more.
Week 25

This week I worked on Pomp and Circumstance by Edward Elgar and Moscow Nights. It went very well as I learnt how to play the second major section in the piece perfectly. In my instrumental lessons this week I practiced more grade three pieces.

3.1 Review of your progress

a) What comments has your tutor made about your progress?
My Tutor made me realise that I was taking too long to do anything, so I did more stuff. And they said I should work on my pieces more before uploading them.
b) What are their reports on your:

i) technical ability
That I have pretty good technical ability but I need to practice and review my work more. Over the Course of me taking music practitioners my technical ability has increased; I also started doing an orchestra after school to learn new skills.
ii) dexterity
My tutor said that my overall dexterity in switching notes was pretty good and that it really didn't need too much work to improve. To improve I need to work on shifting notes faster as at the moment I an pretty good at playing the actual notes.
iii) stamina
Overall my stamina is not the best but if I work on improving control of a note over a longer period of time then I should be able to improve. over time my stamina has improved by a large amount allowing me to play upwards of 7 bars in one breath
iv) control of the instrument
Overall my control of the instrument is alright, but I needed to work on my accuracy with sharps and flats, and controlling pitch. whilst working at the orchestra I have been slowly learning how to play different sharps and flats accurately and, soon, I will be able to play most of the major sharps and flats.
3.2 Final Evaluation

a) What are your achievements, in relation to the personal goals you chose at the beginning of the course?
My first goal has been met slightly as I could take grade three now, however I am not totally confidant I will pass. Maybe a 90% chance of passing. This is because of the scales and arpeggios being a bit shaky because of my lack of memory abilities.
My second goal has been met as I can now play all pieces that I decided to learn well (The quality of the audio is not perfect, it sounded better in person), this is because I have learned the specific little details of each piece.
My third goal has been accomplished as I can now read almost all notes and name most features of music. I have also realised that not all types of sheet music are relevant to my instrument
b) What are the strengths in your progress?
My progress in a range of pieces has been large and I believe I have progressed over the course of this unit. This is because I have learnt how to play upwards of 10 pieces (not all were uploaded)

c) What do you need to continue to work on as a performer?
As a performer I need to work on including a wider range of pieces as most of my pieces are classical.