Assignment 1
After listening back to my recordings of the pentatonic scale assignment I found that sometimes the mi's were not as confident. I know that when recording it I messed up the most when jumping to mi. I found that my intonation got the better the more takes I did, so it was the best in this recording. Finally larger leaps gave me trouble with intonation while recording but continued to get better the more I did it.
Assignment 2
For this assignment, I really wanted to pay attention to my musicality and intonation. While recording I noticed that my Sols were having issues of staying in tune. I found it easier to spot my intonation issues with this assignment due to singing in round. At some points I would start recording the second part and I would get to a Sol and it would sound completely different, it took me a while to get to where it is. I also noticed that while recording 19 I had trouble staying in tune when comparing the first part to the second (especially for re-sol-do at the end), so I eventually ended up singing the second part first. When listening back to my final product, I think I sang with much more musicality compared to the first assignment and for the most part had matching vowels. I still think that my sol could be matched better whether that being the vowel or intonation. I think this issue might have to do with my range because sol is in my passaggio and D has always been an issue note for me, so it is something I have to keep working on.
Assignment 3: On the Moor
For this assignment, I found it quite difficult to get good vertical alignment. I found that when I switched to the longer sol's I would do them to quickly or slowly and it would through off the harmonies. I also found the octave leap between the high sol and low sol hard to do especially when there was less parts singing. When there was a lot of parts it was easier to tune the jump but near the end when it was just one or two parts it was harder and the intonation was more shaky then it was in the middle of the piece. I think I am getting better at singing musically as my voice was blending better then in the last video.
Assignment 4: Sight Singing
I honestly thought I did a good job of sight singing this excerpt. Once I got the do-la jump and the do-fa-sol, it was really helpful to get the correct pitches. I think I could sing it more musically especially during the beginning it sounded more rigid instead of a single legato line.
Assignment 5: 8 Part Canon
For this assignment I had a very hard time getting vertical alignment and it made all the harmonies sound out of place. I eventually resorted to turning on the metronome so it would stay in time. I think that really helped me because I didn't have to focus as much on keeping a steady tempo but on creating a musical line. I really tried to use dynamics and grow all the notes longer than a half note. I initially had a lot of trouble with to do-la-re and it took me a couple of times to get that correct but once it was in my ear it was much easier. Having this many parts was making it hard to hear what I was currently singing but it really helped with my intonation.
Assignment 6: #86
This canon was really fun to sing! I found that when I came in with the canon the first time, I didn't notice some notes were used as suspensions so I had to redo the first part once I knew where the suspensions were. I also loved the exposed repeated fa. I think my placement of sol has become better than the beginning but there is still some intonation when leaping to either high or low sol. My high la also sounded sounded weak and unsupported during the initial exposed part but I thought it got better as the canon went on. When the learning the canon I questioned how it would be musical because the melody has so many rests but once I heard how the canon parts fit together, it became easier. I also found that at some parts especially in earlier versions my notes would sound sausage-y, like each one would grow and diminish, and there wouldn't be a smooth legato line. I still kind of heard it with the final product but it definitely improved.
Assignment 7: Annie and Bonjour
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I found it quite challenging to switch from the major mode to the minor mode and found that I needed to step away from singing before I did the new mode so I could cleanse my ear. For Annie, I thought that I did a good job with keeping the continuous Ann-ie consistent and I thought it was easier to sing musically than Bonjour. my vertical alignment in the minor mode wasn't my best but it improved in the major mode. For Bonjour, I had troubles singing the second part of the canon when there wasn't a do/la underneath so I added a drone do/la when recording so I could figure out the intonation of the (mi fa sol la sol fa mi or do re mi fa mi re do). I found it more challenging to sing musically on this one, maybe because of the tempo. I also think that overall I can work on my endings so they are not so abrupt or they get in tune right away.
Assignment 8: Canon 38
Listening back to this recording I noticed that my low register which is normally fine was weak and slightly flat. I think that this might have been because I was struggling to have enough breathe to finish a phrase and it caused some notes to become shaky. This might be because I am recorded this in the morning when I normally do it at night so my voice want warmed up. I think I'm getting stronger at la based minor but I still find my self sometimes thinking in do-based and mentally having to switch it. I think if I had my breathe more controlled I could have shaped my phrases more to make it more musical. the so was tricky to learn but I got it eventually!
Assignment #9: Canon 41
When listening back to this canon, I thought that it generally improved the farther along in the canon it is. In the opening, my intonation was a little off and my breathe wasn't fully wanting to work right at the beginning of the fa-mi. I also thought when the first low re came in, it was really loud and abrupt that it kind of stole attention from the rest of the parts. However, I thought the second half of the canon, once all the parts were in and settled, sounded quite grounded and musical. I especially loved the last break in-between the different phrases, it was very clean and and vertically aligned. I found it difficult to get the intonation right on the lower parts of this song but I thought I did my best.
Assignment #10: How Killed Cock Robin
I love this melody especially with the chromatic descant harmony. I think I should have sang it twice through now that I am listening to it again. The one thing that bugs me about this recording is how abruptly it ends instead of bringing it to a nice close with my phrasing.
Assignment #11: Canon 49
I felt like this canon has the most issues with it, but it also is one of the ones I worked on the longest and hardest, something about just never felt musical. I found that my intonation was kind of all over the place, especially when getting in the higher parts of my register and switching between fi is and fa and sol. I also had troubles pitching the "la ti do re do ti" right at the end, which I don't understand cause it should be easy starting on la, but my ear just never heard it well even when in harmony with the "fi si la ti la si". I also noticed at the same "fi si" part in the first part I actually said " la ti do re," which was wrong but I always sang that part thinking about "la ti do" cause that is what it sounds like and it comes more naturally to my ear that way. One part I always liked singing musically was the "fa mi re do.." in the the first and 3rd system, it was the part where I could breathe and be like that sounds so nice and musical to my ear.
Assignment 12: The Christ Childs Lullaby
For this one, I found the solfege to be the hardest part due to it being in mixolydian. Once I figured out the melody and got it in my ear, it wasn't a hard melody to sing but I kept on messing up on the solfege. I think I got all the solfege right in my final take so that's good. I think I could have had better intonation on the low re and maybe played more with the dynamics but this was a breath of fresh air after the canon before.
Assignment 13: Dictation in B-flat
I thought that throughout this melody I had a really good blend between the different parts. The one thing I noticed was in the second bar my ti and re weren't completely vertically aligned and sounded kind of like a flam compared to the rest of the notes, and on the pick up to the second phrase I might have said di instead of mi and I have no idea where that came from. Overall, I thought this was musical.
Assignment 14: We Wish You A merry Christmas
My favourite part of this is when the upper part and melody start the same and then diverge, it just made me happy. I felt when listening to this back to there was some hesitation so the chords didn't have a ring right at the beginning. This is noticeable in the second and third bar. It might have been just lack of vertical alignment or just the pitch slightly sliding into the right pitch. I also noticed that in my low range, especially when I go to 'do' at the end of each phrase, I tend to 'hit' the note more than in my high and middle range so it sounds more abrupt and stands out compared to the rest of my voices. Also the intonation of the first low 'do' sounds off but it might be because of what I was saying earlier.
Assignment 15: The Alphabet
I noticed the sol and fa getting out of chromatic descending base in the bottom part sounded off but was always back in tune for sol-do at the end of line. I felt that the middle sixteenth note section could of been more musical but I think I was so focused on getting the right solfege that the musicality went out the window. However, I do think that my musicality came back during the repeated section of this tune.
Assignment 15: Once in Royal David's City
I thought that since I knew the melody of this carol that it was going to be a walk in the park. However, even though it was easy to learn the melodies and harmonies, I found my tuning was more off. When I first recorded the melody, I went so sharp by the end, I was probably a semitone sharp. So I really had to keep checking my tuning throughout my different recordings. I think my final recording, I thought I improved. There is one chord in this piece that makes me so happy, I'm not sure if there's overtones but the 'a' in the original lyrics "stood A lowly cattle shed" sounded so in tune to my ear. I thought that there was a bit of vertical alignment issues in the final system with the many many eighth note runs. I think there was a bit of an intonation problem in the 5th bar probably because of the fi in the alto part.
Assignment 16: Lo, How a Rose
I recoded this a while ago and forgot to upload it, but registering to it, I thought it sounded beautiful with some exceptions. The first one is definitely the third note, I have no idea where that very sharp do came from but it hurts my ears. I also thought that for parts of the song I had a very blended sound but then suddenly a random part would stick out the texture and ruin the effect. There was also slight vertical alignment issues in the third system but everywhere else the parts aligned quite nicely.
Assignment 17: What Child Is This
I was having a lot of vertical alignment issues recording this video and ended up having to scrap what I originally had and restart. I noticed the first mi-re-do suspension in the tenor part had a really flat mi the first time it happens but it gets fixed by the second time. I also think there is a bit of intonation issues at the pick up of the first two systems. I also noticed that the tuning of the mi in the alto part in bar 7-8 slowly slide into tune instead of being there right away. Musically I thought this was okay and it sounded really nice in the upper parts but I was more worried about pitches for the bass part.
Assignment 18: Away In A Manger
I love the tenor part in this arrangement with the fi! I really wanted to do this up to tempo but found it hard to keep up with the solfege. I think I could have held onto the last note longer to really feel the harmonics and let all the pitches settle to have a stronger ending, especially for the alto part.
Assignment 19: A Sun Is A Risin'
I really loved singing this song and I think I can use it when I am working at summer camp this year. I absolutely love how the parts come together is the last bars, it's just simple three part harmony but it works so well in this instance. I noticed I slide in tune for some of the pitches like 'day' in the line but this was always slightly due to the style of this song.
Assignment 20: Bach Cantata
I had to record this on Monday and realized I forgot most of it over the weekend so had to kind of relearn it. You might of noticed that in the middle I switched where the do was to make it a=do instead of the d=do, I found with this I would get the intervals much easier, my tuning would be better, and the runs were easier to say because I realized that we were signing the exact same thing as the beginning just a fifth up. I still noticed that in the runs my tuning was still a bit shaky, with the 'mi' sounding flat. I think I could have played with the suspensions a bit and crescendoed into the dissonance more to get a greater sense of musicality. I also could have made it easier for me by singing it in a lower key but I thought the f# sounded pretty good.
Assignment 21: Rhythm three parts
When recording this, I primarily focused on having a steady tempo and making sure everything is rhythmically aligned. When listening back you can tell when something is off because the is a 't' sound on every eighth note and there should be a steady eighth note keeping the time throughout. So I would listen back and would hear when the eighth notes were off and I would try and rerecord. This caused by rhythm to be aligned, however because I was focusing on this so much my intonation went a bit wonky with be pushing flat throughout and a lack of musicality. One thing went right and then the rest got out of sync.
Assignment 21: Rhythm two Part
I initially started recording this at a slower pace and I felt myself spending up and rushing the sixteenths so I decided to record it at a faster tempo. I noticed that I still sped through the quarter note at the end of the first system jumping to the beginning of the next phrase. I think. I could have been more original on the timbre and what I decided to hit but I really liked how overtones can be heard even when it wasn't playing the higher harmonic .
Assignment 22: Bach Menuet
I found this piece really hard to do well. To start out after finishing I realized I sad the wrong solfege at bar eight saying re-do instead of mi-re while still singing the right thing. I found that when modulating it was hard to keep good intonation because you have to start thinking in a new key and that takes a second. I thought the first part was more musical and I could use the bass part to grow the phrases but the second part was mostly focused on getting the right notes and you can hear the different musically.
Assignment 23: Augmented 6th Chords
I really enjoyed singing these in the chord progressions, you can really put emphasis on the dissonance and it sounds pretty. The vertical chords on the other hand were so challenging to do. I couldn't do them in time and had to jump around the chord in order to figure out the next chord notes. I found I had to kind of think of the ri as a ti to feel that tension in order to get that not. I found the Fr43 the hardest to jump from ti to mi. So this wasn't the smoothest but eventually I got used to it and it became easier to hear the ri the more I practised.
Assignment 24: Bartok
Parts of this song really jumped out at me of sounding special and very in tune. Measures 1-8 and the Agitato (which I didn't sing agitato) were definitely my favourite to sing and you can tell with the musicality in those sections. I really loved when the fi's came because it gave the piece a new colour. I also loved the semitone dissonance on measure 29 because it sounds like it shouldn't work but it does. Upon listening again I am not very happy with the last section of this piece. I felt their was some intonation and vertical alignment issues that took away from the beauty of the piece. The last part was hard to sing because it was similar to the beginning but slightly different. I found it hard to un-train my ear to the sound of the first melody which probably caused some of the intonation issues.
Assignment 25: Siyahamba
I have known the melody to Siyahamba since I was nine because we sang it to go to final campfire every single year at my old camp. I added the other song in the middle because it was what we used to leave final campfire and it brought back memories. Now for my singing, I thought that my first pick-up was a bit flat in the lowest part but it got better after. For the solfege part, my musicality wasn't as present, especially in the lower parts. I found that once I found out the solfege, I was able to sing the words more in tune and I went back and recorded most of the parts again. The trickiest part was just remembering the solfege (especially on the lowest part) and that's why my tempo fluctuates so much during this part.
Assignment 26: Knowing Me, Knowing You, ABBA
I had a lot of fun recording this! At first it was hard to figure out the solfege but with the help of the piano and the recording I could figure out the melody. I thought adding the percussion added to the mood of the song and gave the different parts of song a greater connection. In the final recording, I thought the introduction had a bit of balance issues. I know I was having difficult keeping the low notes from going sharp while recording, and I think they are pretty in tune, except a few sols, in the final. I absolutely love the build up into the chorus with the crescendo on the ti to la. Because I knew this song so well I found it easier to sing it musically.
Assignment 27: Clapping Music
Doing this was more challenging than I thought. There were some parts I thought I was one the beat and wasn't and others when I thought I was wrong and I was right. I think the hardest part was not getting stuck into simple or compound time because every time the pattern changed it felt a bit different. I still hear I few times in the recording where my clap was a fraction of a second late but I was able to get back on the beat quickly.