MUSC1981 Essay 2020 PDF

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MUSC1981 Music Ensemble 1 Assignment Cover Sheet

Name:

AISHAH WAHEEDY

Student ID#

22494035

Unit Code

MUSC1981 Music Ensemble 1 - Reflective Practice Report

Lecturer Name

Professor Alan Lourens

Due Date

The Friday of last study week of semester in which the unit is taken. See the submission link for the date and time for the due date. All later submissions will be docked 5% per day; no assignments submitted after 7 days have elapsed will be marked, unless Special Consideration is granted. To apply for Special Consideration, speak to the student office of the faculty in which you are earning your named degree.

What you are submitting:

This cover sheet is for the Reflective Practice report of MUSC1981. This should contain an essay (1500 words, ±100 words) and your Reflective Journal, in a single file. The file should be in word (.doc) or PDF format. If your reflective journal is handwritten, you may hand it in to the office of the school of music (first floor, school of music building) within 1 working day of the date of submission of tis assignment.

By submitting your assignment, you are agreeing to the following: I declare that: 1.

The assignment submitted is my own work, and all ideas and materials derived from a secondary source has been fully and accurately documented: 2. I have read the university policy of plagiarism (found here: http://www.student.uwa.edu.au/learning/studysmarter/getsmart/plagiarism ) 3. I have a photocopy or computer back up of this work.

If you have problems submitting your assignment, contact me at [email protected]. DO NOT e-mail the assignment to me.

Personal and Academic growth through Self-reflective practices that targets Discipline and Punctuality, Music literacy and Collaborative learning in an Ensemble setting Journal Essay MUSC1981 Aishah Waheedy 22494035 The University of Western Australia

Introduction As an ex-student in the MUSC1981 unit, I feel extremely grateful to have taken this unit as part of my summer school journey at UWA. Through several friend recommendations it was hard not to have that spark of interest in broadening my music-deprived degree with a percussion-based ensemble. Within my journals, I embraced The Five R’s ("A guide to reflective practice", 2002) self-reflective model by Bain, et al. as that facilitated my progress and growth throughout the intensive semester. The person I was before and after completing this unit and through constant self-reflective practices, I have surely enhanced my self-discipline & punctuality as a student, I can also say that I have become a more arts literate individual and finally I now have a positive attitude towards group work and collaborative learning, which is vital in an ensemble-based environment and is alongside the other themes that will be discussed in this reflective essay. To add on, I have willfully approached every class of this unit with the ‘eight studio habits of mind’ (Project Zero SHOM, 2003) which is a side technique that many artists from other arts domains such as drama and dance including music of course, utilize as a thinking cap when they are performing and engaging with their different pieces.

Discipline and Punctuality Enhancement Learning music is praxis-based (Dinham, 2016). It is through experiences which are lived, are in the moment and are embraced at the time it is occurring. When an individual takes part in something that is praxis-based, they must put in their absolute personal investment into that. This is exactly the type of individual I became after taking this unit and constantly reflecting upon my experiences. “I became disciplined”. I went to each workshop, came home and immediately noted down any piece of information that I remembered from that very day onto my journal. I invested time and energy in making music, writing a journal and then enacting on that the next time I had a class. According to Connelly & Clandinin 2000, “the knowing comes from the doing”, this really spoke to me as musicmaking does not occur via proxy, I had to do it, I learnt by doing it and through repetition I became disciplined to do it better each time. As the semester progressed, I made it a habit to implement “practise time at home” for the pieces I was able to and I was shocked by how much of a difference it makes when going to each upcoming class having known you did your homework. I felt like a prepared and dedicated student despite having any mishaps because we learn from our mistakes and it is okay to make them. The one quote that Jackson my tutor emphasised on, was “if you make a mistake, or if you get stuck and don’t know what to do, look around your other performers and just keep going” those words “just keep going” is what kept me going and that is also another indirect form of discipline, to never give up. It was so true that at times when I played the marimba and felt like I was out sync I would look at my peer alto (because I was also an alto) in front of me and used

her as a guide to perform my part on the marimba and honestly it helped and gave me confidence. Failure and post-failure growth were the most important things I learnt during music-making that I slowly became too comfortable with making silly mistakes, but I guess I excelled in the end, maybe? Therefore, it was not chemistry or physics that had taught a biomed student like me to be on time, to concentrate and to not give up, surely it was music making and that I cannot stress enough.

Becoming more Music Literate As a part-time musician I learnt during my own knowledge-building time that music is composed via the varying elements of rhythm, beat, tempo, pitch and dynamics to craft a musical piece that expresses different ideas. By the end of each workshop, I was able to physically and mentally act out the music components that I started learning. Each piece that I played with, I made meaning out of it. With the poles I associated a story with it, “a story about fighting, trading, about anger” and this helped me communicate with the piece and remember each part of the grooves easily. Due to slight bruising when I first hit on the Djembe, Jackson saw the potential in me and allocated me to play the Dundun instead, consisting of a drum bell and drumsticks. Honestly the way I engaged with this instrument was like none other, I felt as though I was in Africa which somewhat made me more culturally aware than what I already was The Mexican marimbas and my allocation as an alto (other parts involved bass, baritone, tenor and sopranos) made the Ekwanongoma performance beautiful when we played together.

I still cannot believe I know this much information in terms of arts literature, but it did not stop here. I became more arts literate when I was able to group the instruments that I rehearsed with into their own categories such as the Poles which belonged to body percussion & untuned instrument types, the Djembe and Dundun which are also untuned instruments and the Marimba which is a sweet sounding melodic instrument. Knowing this information, I immediately felt like a genius. Reiterating from Jacksons words from the very first workshop, “we can make sounds with our bodies “which accounts for body percussion and this involved me “stomping my foot” on the ground for the various fills occurring throughout the pole’s performance. A little research goes a long way and having known that I learnt to play with almost four different musical instruments in such a short span of time, I feel empowered to participate in future music events and share my knowledge with the wider arts society (Conway, 2015). Becoming arts literate was impossible for me without having my eight studio habits of mind (Project Zero SHOM, 2003) thinking cap on. It involves some of the following which could be applied to music making too; Develop craft: learning to use instruments, Engaging and persisting: embracing the music to develop focus,

Reflect: judgement of my working progress and journal entries, Express: an idea or feeling being expressed via music, these were just the very few that stood out and were important to me in becoming more musically aware.

Playing the Djembe for one day taught me a thing or two in regard to drum notes. I recall when “Jackson mentioned of quavers, semiquavers, crotchet and minims” and came home immediately to do some more research on these fairly luxury sounding terminologies. This helped me once again increase my arts literacy, it almost felt like learning the musical periodic table which was of immense help as each workshop became more challenging. It was crucial for a student like me to know these so that when Jackson said “okay this goes on for 4 beats” I knew exactly what he meant and was able to follow his prompt directions. Thus, I can proudly say that I am more musically literate and have the self-confidence to participate in more advanced levels of music.

Collaborative learning In terms of performance-based experience, public speaking in front of an entire audience on my own is the closest I have ever gotten in representing my skills of confidence and independent exposure. I was instantly glad that the MUSC1981 unit incorporated aspects of teamwork, which at first, I felt disbelief towards, due to prior negative experiences of collaborative learning, but instantly felt attracted to the techniques Jackson implemented in regard to teamwork. During sessions in which I practised certain pieces especially in my trio group, I learnt that peer learning and teaching overtime, will overcome any feelings of anxiety or embarrassment. This is true in terms of how I wasn’t confident in some aspects of the poles piece i.e. fight scene, but my colleague Maree was also overcoming the same weaknesses, hence we helped each other and accepted repetitive practice to make it on point.

Piaget, Vygotsky and Pestalozzi also agree to the notion that “when an individual struggles to collate what they know, but teach it to others, their own understanding of the phenomena is hence widely expanded” (Johnson, 2015), this accurately defines what I felt during the peer-teaching-andlearning times during ensemble rehearsals. “We learn almost 90% of what we teach to others” according to Audrey Gartner, 1998, where encouragement from beyond thyself accounts for better contribution in ensemble-based settings (Johnson, 2015). I have built so many relationships and social skills whilst working in an ensemble and that is also thanks to Jacksons implementation of the ‘Laissez Faire’ approach in between the pieces. I got the chance to get my creative juices flowing and work in pairs or trios to show what me and my peers can come up with, when we worked collaboratively. The idea of the Laissez Faire technique is to eliminate certain restrictions

and do what made me comfortable when performing with the ensemble, making my own beats and sounds. Collaborative learning has never been such an exciting and positive experience for me. The one thing I can note down is that when I did perform within my percussion ensemble, it was easy to identify the small sounds or beats that were out of sync, which enabled me to follow and get just in time with the rest of the cohort, by viewing and listening to what was going on.

Conclusion and emotional farewells to MUSC1981 After completing this wonderful unit, I really wanted to reiterate how much I enjoyed and appreciate the different dimensions and ways this unit works. It was a compilation of every learning technique that is not so always successfully implemented in other units that I have done before. I learnt by participating, by attending and by reflecting. I learnt through assessment and by moving out of my introverted derived self to making decisions out of my comfort zone. This unit had a bit of every masala needed to perfect the final banquet (ensemble in this case). Self-reflection being the main focus of my time with this unit, taught me how to plan my time effectively, to recall events and write why and how certain things occurred the way they did. I found myself to be questioning every little thing, “am I meant to hit on e-c or e-a on the marimba”, it was a cycle of selfcontemplation, but I got there in the end. For the future, I plan to maintain the punctuality that grew onto me whilst banging on some Dunduns and hitting the graceful poles. I believe that punctuality slowly leaves a person once they finish high school and laziness takes over and it has been a long time since I’ve attended every single workshop in a unit, I feel proud of myself. Lastly, it saddens me that this unit only lasted for 8 days, literally counting on fingers, I regret that I did not choose it during the longer semesters as it would have not finished so quick. To making friends, to becoming musically literate and to having a wonderful tutor like Jackson, I bid my farewell to MUSC1981.

AISHAH WAHEEDY 22494035 SUMMER SCHOOL UWA 2020 TUTOR: JACKSON VICKERY

MUSC1981 JOURNAL

DAY 1: MONDAY 6TH JANUARY

Dear journal, Today’s class was kind of cute. I introduced myself to my tutor Jackson, who was very chill and easy to get along with and to my fellow colleagues which I will be working together in this music ensemble. At first I didn’t even realize I was enrolled in the percussion sector of the unit, until Jackson told us to start clapping our names to one another and then adding that we can use our bodies to create various sounds, that’s when I lost it and embraced the rest of the day. How lucky could one get to choose percussion? That was one the smartest decisions I have made without even confidently knowing where I was enrolled in at the first place, ukulele or percussion? Funny. Moving on Jackson then gave a brief overview about creating beats and that’s when we started stomping our foots on the ground and slapping our hands against our thighs, it made sense and was a pretty good workout, but yes one thing that I learnt from that, was creation of rhythm. Now that I got the gist of what I’m putting myself through, it was time for instruments. Jackson introduced us to a wooden pole and drumstick type of instrument which was going to be part of our first piece in the entire three-piece ensemble. I started with the wooden pole in my left hand and the drumstick in my right hand. Hence, through Jacksons clear instructions and demonstrations, I followed what he wanted me and the rest of the cohort to do, hitting the sticks against the pole just under where we held them. We were then divided into player 1 and player 2 which meant we had different roles and grooves when performing with the pole and stick. I was allocated as a player 1, but I didn’t start off the ensemble as that was player 2’s role and then me and my player 1 team did our beats after the 8th beat following player 2’s rhythm. No, we were not hitting them simultaneously together, we hit them at different pulses to give two different sounds. By the end of the class, I was excited, full of energy and could not wait to learn what was going to be taught next for the ‘stick around’ poles piece. I was very confident in terms of my decision to be in the percussion group, but I can also sense things will become slightly difficult as we learn new grooves. This is why I need to concentrate in the upcoming classes. It was then time to go and have some practice time at home and hit some wooden spoon against the mop at home, my mum was weirded out by it but anything to broaden my degree, I do not regret one bit of choosing this unit. Let’s hope I have it in my non-music background and introverted self to be able excel in the upcoming classes. Thanks to Jackson, we all recorded him redo each of the players parts so we can go home and memorize, practice as well as inspire our families for what’s yet to come.

MUSC1981 JOURNAL

DAY 2: TUESDAY 7TH JANUARY

Dear journal, Introducing two new instruments today the Djembe (which is an African drum) and the Marimba which is the Mexican version of the typical xylophone. First, we all sat in one big circle on our chairs, with our Djembes just tugged in between our knees, prepared for some noisemaking. Jackson sat in the middle because he was our conductor and we followed him as we started banging and making beats on the Djembe. Jackson mentioned of three type of tones when playing on the Djembe, Open tone (SLAP), Closed tone and Bass. I found the slap hardest to achieve, however, Jackson said that it is usually hard even for experienced drummers till today to produce an effective SLAP noise on the Djembe. I kept observing Jacksons hand movements and tried to coincide with his noises, not realizing that I was hitting the Djembe way too hard. I bruised my finger badly. It lowkey kind of hurt and worsened in colour, till I told Jackson and he was nice enough to understand and allocated me to a Dundun. Yay! I was so happy because now I can use drumsticks to do my thing and a cowbell? That’s a lovely combination and not gonna lie they sounded very nice when they were played together. After a whole lot of bruising in the first part of the class, it was marimba time and oh my god, such massive instruments with wheels at the bottom, I vibed with them instantly. I think I probably got allocated the easiest role in the marimba piece. Jackson immediately knew I was an alto because why not? I’ll be an alto any day. From the top of my head, I was told to hit something like E-C 4 times then B-D twice then E-C 4 times and then F-D twice and keep going for 4 bars, or 2 bars, I am trying to recall and really all I could say was it made such a lovely sound hitting the allocated altos notes. The piece started with the bass people doing their thing and then the baritones, then the tenors, then it was me and my other fellow altos and finally the super sopranos. We all played simultaneously after each buildup, it sounded beautiful as we kept revising and repeating our parts. I was obviously stuck at the beginning and while Jackson gave us the opportunity to go and practice the poles, I stayed inside and tried to get the gist of the marimba. I started experimenting with different noises just to get a little creative, asked Jackson for some help and guidance, so hopefully I will be more familiar with-it next week Monday. I don’t know, I felt intrigued when I saw the marimbas and then trying to remember the Dundun part, I guess discipline is the one thing this unit will engrain in me, yikes, but we move. Time to hit some bowls at home.

MUSC1981 JOURNAL

DAY 3: MONDAY 13TH JANUARY

Dear journal, The class today was focused on the poles and the Djembe instruments. My tutor added some grooves and fills to the poles piece and it was here where I knew I had to refocus and invest plenty of class-time and learning. Jackson added some more fills and grooves to player 1s and player 2s parts. Oh god, I don’t even know if I can keep up? How did I even manage to remember last week’s parts and he already introduced new sounds for us to create, new beats, new rhythms. Stress levels are on the midrise, I’m too young for this kind of stress. I think perhaps maybe because we are learning collectively and not focused as a one-on-one learner, it helped me remember what we did last week. Easy! Because everyone had the same part, well for all player 1s yes, we had the same part all along. It’s funny because my bestie is in the player 2 group but even then, our grooves were not that different, so we did relate to one another to some extent. The first portion of the class was poles focused then the second portion was just the Djembe, and lol, I play the Dundun. So easy, and the cowbell just adding that extra twinkle to the music. Thanks, Jackson, for giving me this part. He really saved me from another bruised finger. All I could make out was “dun DUN DUN dun dun DUN, DUN DUN, dun dun noise in my head as I was hitting the cowbell. This does not make sense right now but in my head and when I sing it, it does. Its only...