Category Archives: School of Music

Gamelan Ensemble – Part 2

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If you didn’t walk by the Music Building last Wednesday, you missed out on a real treat. The Balinese Gamelan Ensemble (of which I am a member) gave its end-of-year concert outside by the tuning fork sculpture. We all got dressed up in our Balinese costumes (sorry, I have no picture!) and sent all the music we learned over the year into the sky.

I had so much fun playing in that last concert, and being a part of the ensemble throughout the year was a fulfilling experience. I am so grateful that I get to go to a university where I can experience and learn about another culture first hand from some of the best in the world. I have a new appreciation for world music and honestly I really want to go to Bali and hear a legitimate Balinese gamelan ensemble! I feel like it would be mind-blowingly amazing.

Experiencing Balinese music has given me a new perspective on my own music making. In Gamelan Ensemble, the main thing is to have a good time and share your energy with your fellow music-makers and audience members. Sometimes I feel like that can be lost a bit in Western music; we get a bit too caught up in trying to achieve perfection in every aspect of our playing that it all gets a bit too serious for my liking. I’m going to try to incorporate more of that fun-loving attitude into my own playing, and get back to why I decided on music in the first place.

That’s not to say that I’m not going to do my best in terms of technique, but I think that for my music to be the best it can be, and also for it to be the most fulfilling for me, it has to come from a place of just loving making the music.

Performances This Week

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I was just going to tweet about it, but I just couldn’t squeeze everything into 140 characters.

 

Tuesday, April 2, 7 pm: String Divisional Concert. (Roy Barnett Recital Hall)

Chamber groups in the string department will be performing; I’m tenth on the program, performing with my harp trio. We’ll be playing a medley of ballet music, and Great Fairy’s Fountain from The Legend of Zelda (arranged by yours truly!) I am so psyched to be allowed to play Zelda music for a school performance, and it is going to sound AMAZING in the hall! Come check it out!

Wednesday, April 3, 12 pm: Balinese Gamelan Concert. (Plaza/Recital Hall)

The student Gamelan Ensemble will be performing the pieces we’ve been learning all year, including a piece by a UBC student composer, and one by our teacher. It’s very different from music you’re used to hearing, and very interesting and full of energy! If it’s nice out, we’ll be playing on the plaza outside the Music Building, and if not we’ll be inside in the Roy Barnett Recital Hall. If it is outside, come drop by for a few minutes! It will be a treat!

Lessons Learned From an Opera

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Or more to the point, lessons I learned from playing an opera.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that in the past, playing in the orchestra has majorly stressed me out, made me feel intimidated and incapable, and my fear of ensemble playing even drove me to a panic attack this January. However, with the help of mindfulness classes and gaining experience playing the opera, I’ve learned a lot. I just finished playing another orchestra concert last Friday and the whole process was much smoother, less nerve-wracking, and actually fun.

The first thing I realized was that everybody is here to learn. Not everyone is going to hit every note at the first rehearsal, and there’s a decent chance no one will even notice if you mess up. And there is a definite chance that no one is going to hate your guts if you mess up. We’re all students – making mistakes is part of learning! If you do make a mistake, it’s your job to figure out why and fix it for next time, but beating yourself up over it is totally uncalled for.

Another thing I learned somewhere along the way is to not take criticism personally. If the conductor tells you you’ve done something wrong, it’s simply because you need to fix it for the sake of making the ensemble sound the best that it can. It doesn’t mean that the conductor hates you, or that you’re a horrible person. The key word in “constructive criticism” is constructive.

Feeling intimidated still? Don’t! The next thing I learned was to play confidently. Playing confidently, even though it seems scary, actually helps you play better. And being too scared to play loud enough isn’t a way around your fear of someone hearing you play something wrong; you’re actually not doing your job if you can’t be heard when you need to be. Breathe in, say you yourself, “I can do this! Anything can go right!” and let the music flow. It’ll come right out.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask questions. I sat in on a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra rehearsal this Sunday, and they just pipe up with any questions they may have right away. It’s better for everyone if you can clear up any confusion from the moment it arises. If you’re not sure if you should ask the conductor, you can always start with your section leader. (Story time! During the last orchestra concert, I was having trouble hearing from where the harps were set on stage. I emailed the conductor and talked to the stage manager and it got cleared up! Problem solving for the win!)

Basically, it gets better with more experience, and also with a more objective attitude. Stay calm and believe in your capabilities and you’ll be fine. After all, what’s the best that could happen?

UBC Symphony Orchestra Concert Friday

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If anyone wants to come see me (and the rest of the UBC Symphony Orchestra) play, there is a concert this Friday that I am playing in! Here are the details:

Date: Friday, March 15, 2013

Time: 8 pm

Location: The Chan Centre

Works by Vaughan Williams, Beethoven, and Elgar

I’m playing in the Vaughan Williams piece, Serenade to Music. It is an absolutely gorgeous piece and the choir sings in it too! You should definitely come check it out 🙂

That Sweet Feeling of a Performance Gone Well

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Earlier today I had the pleasure of performing at the Dodson Series Concert (these are concerts held once a month in the Dodson Room in Irving K. Barber Learning Centre), and I’m happy to report that all of the performances (all by UBC Music students) went very well!

Like pretty much anyone ever, I get a bit nervous before I play.  I used to get a lot more nervous than I do now, but with every performance I gain better control over my adrenalin. As I sat down at the harp, I took a deep breath in, imagined the first few bars as I wanted them to sound, and then began to play. I knew that I had that piece down cold.  I’d practiced well, and I had just played it in the dress rehearsal, and nothing was going to go wrong. One of the most important things I think I did today was keep breathing while I played  – it’s easy to forget when you’re nervous, and not breathing makes it very easy to get tense and tired which can sabotage your playing.

I finished the piece, and I don’t even remember playing a wrong note. I stood up, smiled, and bowed, letting the applause wash over me. After pouring all that energy out into the audience, it felt so good to feel all the appreciative energy of the audience come back to me.  A few people came up to me afterwards to congratulate me on my performance and let me know how much they enjoyed it. I think those people who come up afterwards are my favourite part of performing; knowing I’ve played in a way I’m proud of makes me feel great, but knowing that I’ve been able to connect with and inspire another person so much that they want to come up and thank me for it makes me feel amazing.

No Global

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A few weeks ago when everyone’s confirmations for Go Global came out, I cried a little bit inside. I have a number of friends going on exchange next year, and their mixers and advising sessions are coming up and it’s all very exciting – except for me, because I will be staying home.

A year ago, I was determined to do an exchange no matter how much red tape I had to cut through. Now, well… the picture has changed somewhat.

Because I’m in music, that already limits my choice in universities somewhat.  Well, fine. I emailed a music faculty member to talk about exchange though, and that was where things got complicated. Apparently, most exchange universities won’t give you private lessons because it costs extra. A year without lessons? Yeah, I don’t think so. I also don’t know how affordable it would be to find another teacher and pay for it myself. Then there would be the problem of finding a harp to practice on. It’s not an instrument you can just take on a plane like you would a flute or a trumpet. So finding a harp I could use (hopefully at low cost) would be something of an issue.  Then you take into account the way the music degree is structured (ie. full year ensemble courses, third and fourth year recitals), and going on exchange would mean that I’d have to take an extra year in my degree no matter what. (A lot of people take extra years after exchange anyway, but it isn’t really something I’m willing to do.)

Thus, my Go Global story ended before it started. I was disappointed before, but now that everyone is talking about their plans to go abroad it just makes me depressed. That was an experience I really, really wanted. I’m trying to find ways around it; I’m thinking about backpacking through Europe after graduation, taking a learn-German-in-Germany summer program, going to Australia for the next World Harp Congress in 2014. (Hopefully I’ll have the cash to do all that..)  It won’t be quite the same as studying in a different country, but  guess at least I’ll have the chance to travel.

Phantom of the Puccini

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So I was going for a clever pun, but it didn’t really work out that way. What I’m trying to say is that I think I’ve come up with a topic for my history paper! Apparently the song “The Music of the Night” from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera was accused of plagiarizing an opera by Puccini written in 1910, and his estate tried to sue for it but it didn’t go through. But, I thought it would be interesting to look into the similarities between the two pieces and in doing that look at similarities between musicals and opera.

This is, of course, if my prof approves the topic. I’m hoping that he does. 😛

Why is Picking a Paper Topic So Hard?

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On this rainy Friday night I’m taking a break from Pretty Little Liars (I have become addicted, for which I can thank my room mate) and trying to figure out what I want to write about for the paper I have to write for my music history class. I don’t have to write the proposal until the twentieth, but I have no idea where I want to go with my topic.

The prof said we can write on any music after 1900 in the genres of classical music, jazz, and pop. I doubt it could be any broader.  There are so many interesting artists and composers but I have no idea what to pick! Florence and the Machine, Debussy, Carlos Salzedo, Elton John, Miles Davis, Muzak, Disney, Broadway? Any of those would be interesting to write on. But, I think my main problem is finding a narrow enough topic.

“Okay, so you want to write on Florence and the Machine. What about them?”

“Uhh.. Well I think they have a harpist in their band.”

“Right, so what do you want to say about that?”

Yeah and that’s about where all of my ideas stop. How am I supposed to come up with a relevant topic that isn’t just a description of something and also fill up eight to ten pages about it? I feel like actually finding the topic is the most difficult part of doing a research paper.

I’m sure there’s an art kid out there somewhere going, wow, what a complainer, you can’t even pick an essay TOPIC? This is why I’m in music, not general arts. Let me play my harp and I’ll be happy.  In the mean time I’ll stop stalling and try to brainstorm something…

Course Evaluation: MUSC 119

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MUSC 119: Music Technology.

Course Description: This course covers a lot of ground; you go from learning about the physics of sound and parts of the ear to how microphones work and making a website.

Textbook use: This course uses a course packet written by the prof, costing $40 (the $40 also covers headshots, a software liscence, and probably other things that I can’t remember). You have to get it. It contains all of the lecture notes and assignments, and if you miss a lecture it has all of the material covered in it as well.

Homework: Typically, there are two assignments per week which must be handed in at the music office, not in class. There is also usually a quiz every two weeks or so. Honestly, they are not hard! There isn’t very much material on them and the questions are very predictable, so if you so much as read over your notes beforehand you’ll be fine. I overheard a lot of people beforehand being nervous and after quizzes sounding really upset, but really, there’s no need to! Just actually study a little bit!

Professor: This course is taught by Dr. Bob Pritchard, known to his students as Dr. Bob. He is very friendly and marks fairly, and likes to tease his students. He makes a good prof for this first year course as he really walks you through everything, gives reminders, etc. (Not to mention is “dad speeches.”)

Class format: Two lectures per week, and one tutorial.  He provides lecture notes and you fill them in as you follow along.

Additional comments: Material in this course can range from interesting to pretty boring, but it’s really not very hard. Just do some studying. Seriously, you’ll be fine. And you might even have fun.

Course Evaluation: MUSC 220

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MUSC 220: The third installment of core music history courses.

Course Description: In this history course you will learn about Romantic music, spanning from Beethoven to Wagner and a bit of Strauss. You’ll be required to know about various concepts as well as be able to recognize from listening excerpts covered in class. This course contains quite a lot of opera.

Textbook use:  Textbooks for this class are the Burkholder History of Western Music and the Norton Anthology of Music vol. 2. Honestly, I got by without either one. The textbook can be useful if you miss a lecture, or if rereading what you heard in class is helpful to you, or if you want to preread. But everything you needed to know was in the lectures. (This could change if the professor changes.) As for the anthology, I didn’t even buy the second volume and got by fine without it. And although the CDs probably aren’t a bad idea, you can also listen to them in the library or find recordings on Youtube.

Homework: Not much homework in this class, although there is an in-class writing component once per week. You get the readings beforehand, but not the writing prompt. You’d come into the tutorial, have a few minutes of discussion, then have about 30 minutes to write something on the prompt. Oh, and you’re being graded on your writing skill as well as content. Other than that, there were one midterm and a paper.

Professor: To the best of my knowledge, MUSC 220 is usually taught by Vera Micznik, but I guess she was on sabbatical or something because once again we had Professor Fullerton. I like him as a prof; he’s very clear about what you need to know and explains it clearly.

Class format:Two lectures per week, and one tutorial on Wednesday or Friday with a TA. Tutorial class sizes are smaller than the lecture.

Additional comments: While not really very hard, there was a lot of material covered in this class, so if you want to do well on exams, start studying EARLY. Seriously.