Graphic Score
September 16, 2019
Body Mapping
September 20, 2019
As a musician, it is essential that I am in touch with my body and understand exactly how it is meant to function. Through understanding Body Mapping, I can improve my playing and also avoid possible injuries.
After reading this article, I realized that I have been mis-mapping multiple parts of my body.  The largest part of my body that I have been mis-mapping is my back, or more specifically, my lower back. Over the years of playing the cello, I have experienced quite a bit of pain in my lower back. I never truly understood what was causing the pain and this paper allowed me to see the issue more clearly. After attempting to apply the methods suggested in the article in my daily life and practice, I noticed an improvement in the amount of pain I experienced after sitting and playing cello for longer periods of time. I also found these methods to be useful when simply sitting at my desk and doing homework. By doing so, I realized that I had been mis-mapping this part of my body, which was causing the pain I was experiencing.  Before applying this method, I focused on sitting up very straight and maintaining ‘good posture’. Now, I realize that by doing this I was placing too much weight on the back half of my spine, ultimately causing my lower back pain. Now, I focus more on my core support instead of my posture and I have noticed a smaller amount of pain in my lower back over the course of this past week.
I really appreciate how the article related the topic of body mapping to music by using words like flat, sharp, and in tune. This helped me to understand what the article was suggesting and allowed me to perform these actions more accurately and grasp the concept with ease.
The concept of Body Mapping is completely new to me and I find it very interesting. Before reading this article, I had never considered the fact that I did not know the real functions of each part of my body. Going forward I plan to keep the methods I learned in mind and apply them to activities I do in every day.
Reflection 3: Ball Toss Improvisation Exercise
September 27, 2019
Exercises and activities are a great way to get students in a class involved, excited to learn, and more comfortable with one another.
The exercise I created for the class is called Ball Toss Improvisation Game. This game is played by gathering the class in a circle, one person starting with a ball in their hands and singing, clapping, or creating a random rhythm that the rest of the class then has to repeat back. After the class repeats the rhythm the person with the ball then tosses the ball to another person in the circle and the process repeats until each person gets a chance to create their own rhythms for the class.
This simple interactive activity forces students to think quickly and practice their improvisation skills. This activity provides students a way to experiment with new ideas in fun way within a safe and friendly environment. The idea of having the class repeat the rhythm back after hearing it once forces each student to remain engaged and focused while simultaneously using memorization skills.
Body Percussion
By: Ariana Fusco, Ottley Whitby, and Lucy Santilly
Refection #5/6: A Tribe Called Red
October 11, 2019
A Tribe Called Red – Stadium Pow Wow
The Members of A Tribe Called Red include DJ NDN from the Nipissing First Nation tribe, Bear Witness from the Mohawk tribe, and 2oolman, also from the Mohawk tribe. For the track, Stadium Pow Wow, the group worked with Black Bear, a traditional Atikamekw drum group from the Manawan community. In an interview, the band explained that it had always been a dream of theirs to collaborate with a drum group and expressed their excitement to have been granted this opportunity to work with Black Bear. The roots of this song are related to the Pow Wow, which is essentially a native gathering ceremony with dancing, singing, and meeting old and new friends. This song combines old traditions and ceremonies with modern music and pop culture.
All of the music videos and album artwork are created by Bear Witness, a member of the group. He explains that each video incorporates pop culture references to the native community and aims to reclaim images of Indigenous peoples. The band strives to create a bridge between North American pop culture and Indigenous culture. This is evident through different aspects of the music video for Stadium Pow Wow. For example, the video includes clips of people wearing ceremonial garments as well as people wearing ‘normal’ everyday clothing. The video also depicts native peoples participating in different activities like skateboarding and boxing. I personally believe this is the group's way of normalizing their community and rejecting stereotypes that exist within society.
Something interesting that I learned through my research of this group was the many awards that exist for Indigenous music. A Tribe Called Red has been nominated for a number of awards at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards including Best Group, Best Producer, and Best Album. Before reading into this topic I had no idea that these awards even existed and found the history of them to be very interesting. The award ceremony takes place at the Manito Ahbee Festival which was started 14 years ago with the mission to share and celebrate Indigenous culture. The festival was named after a sacred site located in the Whiteshell area of Manitoba. This festival welcomes all people, Indigenous or not, and honours Indigenous culture and spirituality.
References
(2016, June 16). Retrieved October 16, 2019, from https://youtu.be/eAEmjW9J3_o.
A Tribe Called Red Drops New Track: Stadium Pow Wow ft. Black Bear. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/a-tribe-called-red-drops-new-track-stadium-pow-wow-ft-black-bear-5xclGLdS3kOreG_E3sBWqQ/.
Lizard, V. (n.d.). Manito Ahbee. Retrieved from https://www.manitoahbee.com/about-us/history.
Reflection #7
October 30, 2019
I usually struggle and feel most frustrated with my playing right before I have to perform. This happened recently when I was scheduled to play in master class last week. I had spent hours practicing and preparing so that I would feel ready to play in front of my studio. However, I still found myself frustrated the night before the class. I remember being in a practice room and trying to play through my piece but found myself making mistakes that I had never made before. I found this very frustrating and could not understand why this was happening. At first, I tried practicing the piece slower but still struggled to play it to the end. After repeatedly playing only the first few lines before making a mistake and getting frustrated, I decided to take a break and relax for a few minutes before trying again. I find myself feeling like this quite often so I have learned a few tips to help deal with these feelings of frustration. Most of the time this happens because I feel nervous before each performance. The best way to avoid the panicking feeling and frustration is to not stress over the small details the night before a performance. Trying to cram your practice in like this will only bring up more negative feelings and more nervousness when it is time to play.
The article talks about the ‘unnecessary fear’ that exists within many musicians. This fear is said to hold back musicians from reaching their full potential and stops them from being able to express the music to the best of their abilities. I believe this relates to the feelings I described and that the main cause of them is self-doubt. I find myself obsessing over small details, like individual notes or intonation, and end up forgetting about more important things like expression and phrasing. This limits me as a musician and hinders my ability to execute a good performance.
Reflection #8
November 11, 2019
As human beings, learning is something that occurs naturally and when done properly, it can also be a fun experience. There is not one right way to learn but, there are many factors and methods that allow learning to be more enjoyable and beneficial. An example of a method of learning would be the target practice approach. This particular method can be applied to virtually any physical activity that requires a skill and practice. For example, if this method was applied to gymnastics it would look something like this:
Gymnastics
Intention: A possible goal for the learner would be to do the splits.
Do: First, test out your flexibility and learn the limits of your body. Practice different gymnastic skills that you are more familiar with alongside the new skills you are aiming to learn, in this case it would be doing the splits. Research and learn different stretches and practice them each day until eventually, you are able to do the splits.
Assess: After attempting and practicing this new skill, ask yourself questions like, ‘how close was I to achieving my goal?’, ‘what can I do better next time?’, and ‘what did I learn from this experience?’.
This method in particular is very beneficial because it allows the individual to apply skills that are familiar to them already and help them learn a new skill. This makes the new skill seem less foreign and any failed attempts to be less discouraging. Another very important aspect of this method is the self-reflection step as it encourages the learner to discover what works best for them and what does not.
Reflection 9: Practice Journal
November 15, 2019
Reflection #1: today in the practice room I decided to experiment with placing wooden blocks under the back legs of my chair. Something I have been working on with my studio teacher is proper posture and bow hold. The idea of using the wood blocks came from some colleagues and I decided I would experiment with this idea. I’m not sure if the blocks helped me with my bow hold but it definitely made me more aware of my posture. I was able to focus more on how I was sitting, and the new angle of the chair allowed me to discover a better and more proper way of sitting when playing the cello.
Reflection #2: today in rehearsal I experimented with the placement of my music stand. One thing that I notice I struggle with sometimes is being to see the conductor when playing. I decided to try moving my stand around to different places to see if it would help me see the conductor while looking at my music. I first tried moving it closer towards me but found that it would get in the way of my playing. I tried moving the stand further back but found it harder to read my music. In the end, I discovered the best placement for my stand is to my right side. This way the music is close enough to read but does not block my view of the conductor.
Reflection #3: today in the practice room I experimented with open strings. My teacher asked me to practice open strings each day to focus on tone and right-hand technique. I experimented with different elbow heights first. I discovered that the closer to the tip of the bow the higher my elbow needs to be. I also experimented with how the flatness of the bow hair affects the sound I make. I found that the amount of bow hair that I used affects the volume and purity of my sound. The more hair I used, the louder I could play while maintaining a pure and full sound.
Reflection #10
November 25, 2019
As a cellist, I found the first article by Dr Nick Drengenberg very interesting because sitting is a large part of playing my instrument. The ideas presented related to posture sparked my interest as I had not thought about posture in this way prior to reading this article. The author talks about how posture is linked to our mind and our environment. It makes sense that when in a more casual and laid-back setting, we are not constantly thinking about our posture and reminding ourselves to sit up straight for example. The article also connects our awareness to our posture which I find very fascinating. Awareness is a pretty broad statement, but the article focuses specifically on the difference between looking and staring in order to explain and further breakdown awareness. It is crucial as a cellist to have good posture and so the way I sit is something I have to constantly be aware of. Posture is an aspect of playing that can affect your sound, therefore it is important for musicians to fully understand it and the impact of it on our bodies. Poor posture can have negative effects on a person’s body especially over longer periods of time. So even when we are in a more laid-back setting and our natural instinct is to sit comfortably rather than properly, we can be causing harm to our bodies. When practicing, posture should be a top priority as you will most likely be sitting in the spot in the same way for longer periods of time. This article does a good job of breaking down how we think about posture and provides insightful connections to other aspects of our awareness.
Reflection #11
November 29, 2019
1) How have you grown towards this goal? Did your goals or focus change over the course of the semester?
A goal that I set for myself at the beginning of the semester was to be more organized. I believe that over the semester I have grown towards this goal. I have kept an agenda to keep track of dates and events which helped me to remain organized. Over the course of the semester my focus on my goal shifted slightly and I found it harder to stay organized. As the semester progressed and work started to pile up, I found it more difficult to stay on track and keep myself as organized as I was at the beginning of the year. It is still one of my goals to stay organized with my work, but I now focus more on prioritizing work rather than trying to do everything in the same day.
2) What was a challenge you faced this semester with respect to your time, wellness, or motivation? How did you work through it? What have you learned for next time you face this challenge?
A challenge that I faced was time management and being able to get all of my work done. As a music student there is always some type of work to be done, from assignments, tests, and practicing. I found it very hard to find time to get all of the work done and find time to practice music. This also affected my wellness as I had little to no down time and would find myself staying up late at night to relax. I worked trhough this my priotizing certain things over others. For example, if I was having a rough day and needed to relax I would choose my mental health and wellness over doing a reading or copying notes. I would also try to make the most out of my time during the day and get as much work done between classes so that I would be able to relax and not have a lot of unfinished work keeping me up at night. I learned that sometimes it is okay to put yourself before school.
3) Think of an idea that will be helpful to keep in mind as you work through next semester. This can be a good habit you are trying to keep, a specific goal, or a guiding principal. Write a phrase or mantra that you can use every day to remind you of this idea. Write this phrase in bold at the end of your reflection.
I think it would be very beneficial to have a more struct schedule in place with designated time for working, practicing and relaxing. If I plan out each day then I can work more efficiently without wasting time trying to decide what I should be working on. It will also benefit my wellness as I will ensure that I have some time set aside each day to relax and destress. Although I did try a similar idea this semester, I think that now that I know how difficult managing time can be, I will follow the schedule I create to avoid feeling stressed and burned out.
Reflection #12
December 5, 2019
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After watching this video, I felt very inspired by Brené Brown’s words and wisdom. One thing that she spoke about in the slip that really stuck with me was the topic of vulnerability. I found that the way she described the way we have been taught that vulnerability is weakness to be very accurate. This concept stood out to me because I have always been the type of person that hates feeling vulnerable. After watching the video, it is very clear to me that being vulnerable is part of the process of being courageous. The people who allow themselves to be vulnerable and can let their guards down in order to learn are the same people who gain the most from the lessons being presented.