CAS Reflection

Introduction: My guitar practices consist of playing and memorizing songs I've learnt from a teacher that comes once a week. I belive that daily practice* will develop my skills of memorization quickly. Reflection for my practices will be reported up here to keep myself in track of my goals and set myself targets to improve

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Duration: 1 hour per guitar class every Saturday; self-practice daily 30 minutes.

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*My guitar teacher comes every Saturday to teach me a new section of the piece, but I practice everyday in preparation for her next visit.

 

L.O.'s:

• LO1 - Strengths and weaknesses are acknowledged and reflected on to be able to improve my skills in the most efficient way. I am open to growth opportunities as I perform in recitals. I propose certain teaching methods that would enable me to learn and memories the pieces effectively and request songs of my interest so that I enjoy practicing during my own free time as well.

• LO4 - Guitar lessons are weekly, moreover I practice my pieces almost everyday, thus showing commitment to improve my own skills overtime. I challenge myself to play different genres sometimes to try and adapt these changes and learn to know how to develop in different areas of music.

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Saturday, September 5, 2015

In today’s guitar lesson, I requested to play the theme song of the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”. My teacher was able to teach me the first part of the song, calling it ‘Part A’. She wrote down the chord of the song to help me remember, which goes:

Dm – Bb – C – Dm

Bb – F – C – Dm

Dm – Bb – Gm – Dm

Bb – Dm – A – A

Goals for next week: To be able to play ‘Part A’ slowly, but continuously, without the need to stop between chords. LO1

 

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Guitar today was really fun as I was finally able to play the song slowly but continuously. I was able to play it with my guitar teacher together. I would say that playing the song doesn’t really sound perfect yet, as there is still a half-second pause before I can play the next chord, but overall, I’m satisfied with being able to improve from last week.

 

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Today’s lesson was awesome because I’ve started learning a new piece, which is the Jurassic Park theme song. I’m really excited in learning this as the recent movie ‘Jurassic World’ is my favorite movie and I’ve wanted to learn how to play the theme song for a long time now. My guitar teacher taught me how to play the melody and find harmonies to play at the same time so that it sounds more ‘full’ or I’d say as more ‘professional’. She also gave me the idea that we should start soft and then slowly get louder with more harmonies as the song goes on. I think it was a brilliant idea so I told her that the beginning, I should only play two harmonies, and as the song goes on, I’ll be adding more harmonies and playing it louder. After all this planning, my teacher taught me how to play the first part of the song, and told me to memorize it on the spot. I surprised myself, as I was able to memorize it just after playing a couple times (even though it was just a short part). My goal for next week is to still memorize the part and maybe even guessing how to play the next part myself. LO1, LO4

 

Saturday, September 26, 2015

We were finally able to finish my guitar piece, ‘Jurassic Park’ theme song today. I was able to memorize the entire piece, and so I’m looking forward to being able to play it faster and more flowingly by next week. We reviewed on the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ theme song so that I don’t forget it overtime. Because we were able to finish our class a little before the end of the lesson, we brainstormed on what other pieces I would want to play next. Because it’s near December, I requested to learn how to play a Christmas songs, as I know it would take me some time to learn a few and I want to be prepared to play it during the Christmas party held at my house every Christmas. LO1, LO4

 

Saturday, October 3, 2015

I was able to learn the complete theme song of “Pirates of the Caribbean” in Guitar today with my teacher. We also revised the Jurassic Park theme song so that I wouldn’t forget about it. Furthermore, we discussed how next session; we will start looking into Christmas pieces for me to play. LO1

 

Saturday, October 10, 2015

My guitar lesson was cancelled today because I attended the whole-day conference of MUN locals 2015.

 

Saturday, October 24, 2015

I was able to finally finish learning the whole piece of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song on guitar and I’m really excited because this means that I’ll be able to play this piece fully soon. For homework for myself, I will be practicing the last section of the piece that I’ve just learnt a few times a day so that hopefully I will be able to play the fully song faster next lesson. Furthermore, I've started learning the Christmas piece "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". LO1

 

 

TERM 2

 

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Guitar today:

• Learnt the chords of the chorus of “Can Do”

• Revised the solo intro of the song

• Planning to learn the solo of the bridge for next lesson

• My intro needs working on as they aren’t as fast as the original piece 

LO1, LO4

 

TERM 3

 

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Today, I learned how to play ‘Love Yourself’ by Justin Bieber since I wanted this lesson to be more ‘chill’ instead of learning riffs or electric guitar solos from rock pieces. I just learned a chord pattern that repeats and at the end of the lesson, was able to play along with the actual piece. Next week, I hope to have it memorized so I can play this to my tutor as next lesson’s warm up. LO1

 

Saturday, May 7, 2016

In guitar today, I revisited the ‘Jurassic World’ theme song. My guitar tutor and I played through the entire song again to ensure that the piece would not be forgotten. I will practice playing the parts I’m still not perfect on, such as the ending of the song, so that by next lesson, I can play the full thing in a flow just like before. Next week, we will be revisiting another old song, the ‘Totoro’ theme song. LO1

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July 30, 2016

During guitar lessons today, I learned how to play “You’ve Got A Friend in Me” and was able to reach up to the chorus part. I have to practice playing the piece more in a flow, especially during the verses, where I have to switch fingerings from chord to chord pretty quickly. Next lesson I’ll be learning how to play the bridge, so I have to make sure the intro, verse and chorus can be played properly by next lesson. LO1, LO4

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August 27, 2016

• Revised ‘You’ve got a friend in me’

• Learned how to play the intro to ‘someday beyond the sea’

• Improvement for next time: practice the chorus part of 'you've got a friend in me' to be able to switch from chord to chord smoothly

LO1

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September 24, 2016

• practiced ‘you’ve got a friend in me’ as warm up

• learned a new section of ‘Someday beyond the sea’

• Strength: I was able to play ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ smoothly and with the entire piece memorized

• Improvement: Just keep practicing the new section learnt from 'Someday beyond the sea' so that my fingers will get used to the new chords learnt.

LO1, LO4

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November 5, 2016

• Started reminding myself how to play the Christmas song 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' since it's almost December. Revised previous pieces 'You've Got a Friend in Me' and 'Someday Beyond the Sea'.

• ​Strength: Able to remember memorized pieces of 'You've Got a Friend in Me'.

• Weakness: Difficulty shifting from chord to chord when playing new piece 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and forgotten how to play the ending of 'Someday Beyond the Sea'.

• How to improve: Continue practicing old pieces regularly to be able to memorize both pieces fluently. For new piece, practice shifting one chord to the next chord 5 times continuously before moving to the next chord shift.

LO1, LO4