Mark's Music School Diary.

I got my summer school classes. Both online - World History after 1600 and African American Music Appreciation. At least they are classes that I'll enjoy. And I can stay home with the kids during the summer. I have my Jazz Harmony and Analysis final in a few hours. Should be fine although there are sometimes multiple correct answers to a question and you need to give the one the instructor wants. Just being correct isn't enough.
 
I think I did OK on the Jazz Harmony final. I had kind of a brain fart on something I did well on during the semester but I think I worked it out.

Musicianship went OK. I got an A on the prepared piece but a B on the sight singing so I guess my 88% stays. No A in that class :(
 
Mark Wein said:
I think I did OK on the Jazz Harmony final. I had kind of a brain fart on something I did well on during the semester but I think I worked it out.

Musicianship went OK. I got an A on the prepared piece but a B on the sight singing so I guess my 88% stays. No A in that class :(
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Oh, the tragedy...a B+...how will you ever overcome this dismal failure...











:helper:
 
Mark Wein said:
I told me wife the same thing. I just feel like this year should have been all A's. I definitely wasn't this hardcore the first time around.
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You did fucking great, Mark...I understand how you feel, if they just based grades on how hard you worked you'd be 100% across the board...

Just remember this....what do they call the guy who graduated last in his class at med school?

...doctor...
 
Study notes for todays needle drop test:

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Mark Wein said:
I told me wife the same thing. I just feel like this year should have been all A's. I definitely wasn't this hardcore the first time around.
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Mark, I was the same way with getting MLS.

Undergrad in my teens and 20s was great, I got a 3.23 GPA without really trying. When I went for my masters at 36, I was accepting nothing less than straight A's. I got them, but I know that "mastering" library science is a a hell of lot easier than playing music at academic levels and getting straight A's. Your faculty know how hard it is to work as a musician and they are putting their all into making sure you're prepared as possible to pursue a career as a musician. That said, you've have a career as a working musician, so don't sweat it.

Also, sight singing is a bitch. Unless you're going to be a studio singer or back up singer, it's not a priority. I get that it's a variation on sight reading, but it's much different. While this doesn't apply to you, not every musician can sing worth a hoot and they needn't have to. It's kinda smacks of a course from the "we had to suffer through this shit when I went to music school, so all our students will to" philosophy.

But I love how serious we get as adult about our education when we're working full time, raising kids, having minimal time (let alone free time) to get what we need done in a day. So what do we do? We totally screw with that and try to wedge more work in.

You got this...not that you don't know that.
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
Mark, I was the same way with getting MLS.

Undergrad in my teens and 20s was great, I got a 3.23 GPA without really trying. When I went for my masters at 36, I was accepting nothing less than straight A's. I got them, but I know that "mastering" library science is a a hell of lot easier than playing music at academic levels and getting straight A's. Your faculty know how hard it is to work as a musician and they are putting their all into making sure you're prepared as possible to pursue a career as a musician. That said, you've have a career as a working musician, so don't sweat it.

Also, sight singing is a bitch. Unless you're going to be a studio singer or back up singer, it's not a priority. I get that it's a variation on sight reading, but it's much different. While this doesn't apply to you, not every musician can sing worth a hoot and they needn't have to. It's kinda smacks of a course from the "we had to suffer through this shit when I went to music school, so all our students will to" philosophy.

But I love how serious we get as adult about our education when we're working full time, raising kids, having minimal time (let alone free time) to get what we need done in a day. So what do we do? We totally screw with that and try to wedge more work in.

You got this...not that you don't know that.
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The thing with my musicianship class is that the sightsinging and the aural dictation actually ARE pretty important to the development of a musician. The ability to "audiate" is really key to performing and conceptualizing music on a higher level. Without it you're basically just playing by wrote or guessing when you're improvising. I'll be spending my summer working on this since I have one more semester of chromatic harmony musicianship to do in the fall and obviously it doesn't get any easier.

I get shit from my teachers (not really but I do get "advised") that I am a little too intense about this stuff but at the end of the day I need to own it. It's both about the achievement towards being a better musician and building a reputation in the academic community as someone who has his shit together before I get to the point where I start applying for positions around here.
 
Mark Wein said:
The thing with my musicianship class is that the sightsinging and the aural dictation actually ARE pretty important to the development of a musician. The ability to "audiate" is really key to performing and conceptualizing music on a higher level. Without it you're basically just playing by wrote or guessing when you're improvising. I'll be spending my summer working on this since I have one more semester of chromatic harmony musicianship to do in the fall and obviously it doesn't get any easier.

I get shit from my teachers (not really but I do get "advised") that I am a little too intense about this stuff but at the end of the day I need to own it. It's both about the achievement towards being a better musician and building a reputation in the academic community as someone who has his shit together before I get to the point where I start applying for positions around here.
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I hear you. However, I went to music school with a few folks that literally couldn't sing, but had amazing ears...near perfect pitch. They could sight read like motherfuckers and pick up on everything around (even calling out horn players for being a little sharp or flat because their mouthpiece wasn't sitting correctly, or bassists for poor intonation on the upright). I can hear things pretty well, like I know my singing is for shit...always was, but when I was younger I wasn't as horrible as I am today (not an instrument I use or practice).

That said, I understand it's higher level application for a professional popular/commercial musician as opposed to my lame ass that relegated itself to hobbyist decades ago. Do they still use the lingo of "legit" for classical players and pop/commercial musicians for jazz and other "inferior" genres?
 
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