Mark's Music School Diary.

Well, I played like shit on my piano accompaniment recital :(

I've done pretty well on the first two days of testing and the fourth and final day is Monday so I need to get on top of that.

Currently finishing my transcription of Jim Hall's solo on this tune:



I also have finals in History, Arranging, musicianship, theory and jazz piano left to do. Tomorrow I have my final ushering assignment in the afternoon before I have a gig at night so my study time is shot then.
 
Ok....tenuously holding on to my A- in piano after what seemed like an epic train wreck of a recital on Friday. I got a C for the performance and an overall grade of B for the recital portion with the coaching and repertoire portions added in. I have my actual final in three hours and I’m hoping I’ll do OK. Worst case is I get a B in the class but if I ever decide to get a Music ED degree I need a minimum of a B for it to count. Music history final is tomorrow as is my guitar jury. Theory and arranging finals are Wednesday and jazz piano and Musicianship are Thursday. Yay.
 
Ok....tenuously holding on to my A- in piano after what seemed like an epic train wreck of a recital on Friday. I got a C for the performance and an overall grade of B for the recital portion with the coaching and repertoire portions added in. I have my actual final in three hours and I’m hoping I’ll do OK. Worst case is I get a B in the class but if I ever decide to get a Music ED degree I need a minimum of a B for it to count. Music history final is tomorrow as is my guitar jury. Theory and arranging finals are Wednesday and jazz piano and Musicianship are Thursday. Yay.
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FUCK YEAH!!!

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This is my piano requirement. It's "Piano for Music Majors". Performance majors such as myself need a "C" to get their degree and Music Ed majors are required to get at least a "B" for their degree. I don't plan on getting my Ed degree anytime soon but it's nice to know that I've got this requirement down if I do. There are three classes and this is the last in the sequence. I auditioned out of the first class and took the second last fall semester. I was supposed to do this class in the spring but I had an opening and thought "What the hell? it's just one more class". Dumbest thing I've ever done. The amount of practicing this required and how insecure I was with my solo and accompaniment pieces really made me doubt myself.

OK.....back to Music History studying.
 
Music history test didn’t go incredibly well. Shouldn’t hurt my grade too bad but it bums me out. Jury is in a couple of hours.
 
Semester is over. It was brutal. My grades will not be continuing in my straight-A tradition although I’m not sure what I’m getting in some classes yet. Some of my professors were less than forthcoming with grade information over the course of the semester.

Piano 282B - A
Applied music (my lessons and jury) A
Chromatic Harmony - unless completely fucked up the final it will be an A. Currently showing 97% online
Chromatic Musicianship. Don’t really know. I think was was getting a B but the final was hard
Jazz piano - no idea although it will probably be an A. Our final was a 10 minute private hand today where I played a couple of things and then he gave me some advice. Never had a graded assignment or test all semester
Jazz Arranging - no idea. I turned in all the work, he said it was great but gave no letter grades. The final yesterday was a disaster though.
Music Production - A- (didn’t turn in one concert report)
Music History - Maybe an A, maybe a B. Depends on the final.
My two combo classes will be A’s.

We’ll see how it goes as the grades show up online. I took on too much and it shows.
 
Just finished my finals also. 1st semester of my masters program done!!! My impulse is to drink and do drugs every night while on break, but I think I'll just get out and run and bike and try to get back into shape. I did go to the pub after my last final. That was needed.
 
Just finished my finals also. 1st semester of my masters program done!!! My impulse is to drink and do drugs every night while on break, but I think I'll just get out and run and bike and try to get back into shape. I did go to the pub after my last final. That was needed.
I know exactly how you feel. I just drowned my sorrows in a big plate of steak nachos. I have a GE history class I’m taking over the break but I to exercise and de-stress a bit.

I’m especially happy because I only have to play guitar from here on out. No more singing, piano, ushering other peoples concerts or other time wasters.
 
Semester is over. It was brutal. My grades will not be continuing in my straight-A tradition although I’m not sure what I’m getting in some classes yet. Some of my professors were less than forthcoming with grade information over the course of the semester.

Piano 282B - A
Applied music (my lessons and jury) A
Chromatic Harmony - unless completely fucked up the final it will be an A. Currently showing 97% online
Chromatic Musicianship. Don’t really know. I think was was getting a B but the final was hard
Jazz piano - no idea although it will probably be an A. Our final was a 10 minute private hand today where I played a couple of things and then he gave me some advice. Never had a graded assignment or test all semester
Jazz Arranging - no idea. I turned in all the work, he said it was great but gave no letter grades. The final yesterday was a disaster though.
Music Production - A- (didn’t turn in one concert report)
Music History - Maybe an A, maybe a B. Depends on the final.
My two combo classes will be A’s.

We’ll see how it goes as the grades show up online. I took on too much and it shows.
You know what they call the person who graduates at the bottom of the class in medical school? Doctor. :wink:

GPAs are a funny thing. No one has ever wanted to know my GPA before hiring me; they just want that piece of paper. It does seem like you took on a lot, but I am sure you'll do fine.
 
You know what they call the person who graduates at the bottom of the class in medical school? Doctor. :wink:

GPAs are a funny thing. No one has ever wanted to know my GPA before hiring me; they just want that piece of paper. It does seem like you took on a lot, but I am sure you'll do fine.
Yeah. I've had several people tell me not to worry about grades but I'm the kind of person that if I take it easy I get behind really quick.
 
I know exactly how you feel. I just drowned my sorrows in a big plate of steak nachos. I have a GE history class I’m taking over the break but I to exercise and de-stress a bit.

I’m especially happy because I only have to play guitar from here on out. No more singing, piano, ushering other peoples concerts or other time wasters.

that's great, although all that piano practice will probably come in handy at some point.
 
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