Week 7 - Action Plan for 2015

- I want to have achieved my Grade 5 Music Theory - this will help me achieve my Grade 8 Piano.

- Achieve my Grade 8 Piano - this can open more opurtunities for me in work and also for my confidence as a performer.

- Continuing with the weekly lessons, become sufficient in guitar and drumming - this is important because it gives me the initial head start to being a versatile performer.

- widen my knowledge of popular music (and music in general) so I can be more involved in group discussions about artists and musical eras.

- Pass FDA Popular Music year 1!

Week 6 - 70s Music Reflection

Following watching the class presentations, it's clear to me that 70s Popular music in Britain reflected many of the events and topics that were held during that time.
David Bowie as 'Ziggy Stardust' a controversial but hugely popular character that depicted themes of transgenderism and being open about homosexuality (the latter having been illegal before 1967).
This was a decade of rebellion and strikes, having such bold and different approaches to music and performance seemed to embellish that movement - Bowie being an example of this, an other example being 'The Sex Pistols' with their aggressive stance on the government and the identity of Britain.

Technological advancements like the Mog Synthesiser gave rise to a growing electronic movement in The UK but across Europe too. Bands like Kraftwerk introduced exciting new sounds and musical expressions no one had heard before, showing what could be done with this new technology.

Week 5 - Drumming Workshop

As part of the course, we had a proffesional drummer come in and give an interactive lecture on several drumming styles, using the same rhythmic pattern for all of the different genres. I found this particularly interesting because it showed that all the styles are connected, just by playing it in a different way in a different tempo it could change the whole genre of the song.
The main part of the lecture was about the key 'fundamental skills' every musician should have.
This included time keeping, reading music skills, versatility in playing genres, knowledge of music technology, as well as working well with other people/musicians.
Something that the lecturer said stuck with me "I rarely see people who are just composers/producers" meaning that most people are playing an instrument on the side of being a full time composer/producer, I found this information interesting because at the moment I see myself wanting to go down the production/composing route, but if I do get a job in production I might need to keep up paino playing as a source of income too.

Week 4 - Learning Style Overview

The basic categories of learning including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, I think that people do have preferred learning techniques, and by learning techniques I mean the most efficient way someone can memorize information. However, I think it's healthy to learn in a variety of different ways.
For example if you are a proclaimed 'visual learner', you aren't going to learn how to ride a bike just from watching it on a video (generally speaking) you would need to psychically ride the bike in order to master it. In this respect every learning style has it's own specialties that are not capable of understanding with any other learning style.
Because of this, I personally feel that labeling oneself as a particular learner, and limiting themselves to that one style is not as beneficial is it might seem. As for me, I consider myself to be a flexible learner - meaning that I know when one learning method is going to be a lot more effective than another when I'm learning new material, but no learning style is inherently 'better'.
Although, rather contradictory I will say that I am more confident when learning with visual and kinesthetic methods, which is probably why I (and everyone else) prefer one or two styles because in the end, having confidence when learning something can take you a lot further, regardless of the style.

Week 3 - My Practice Routine

There are two main ways I practice playing my instrument - the first being when I am learning/practicing an actual written piece of music (a composed song on a score) which involves me having to learn the piece absolutely correctly note from note, and the second being a more casual way of practising that would work with more independently driven, improvised pieces.

During 'classical practising', I will go through the piece bar at a time, fill in all the fingering according to what's comfortable for me (in pencil), and repeat hands separately until I've learnt it.
I think writing on the music is a very effective way of making the music "yours" and when there is an especially challenging piece it's very helpful to write out all the problems and parts to watch out for. (e.g a note with many ledger lines).

During 'creative practising' I will usually find a chord chart for a song online and experiment with different chord voicing/extensions, seeing what works, what sounds interesting or different - and generally having fun with it! When I feel like I'm not making any progress, I usually look at an arrangement by some other artist on youtube and take ideas from that or try to analyse what exactly they're doing.


Above all else, the most important elements to practising in my opinion are the following:
- fingering
- repetition
- learning hands separately

Week 2 - Music Theory and Me

I was fortunate enough to have instrumental lessons from a young age - including learning to read music in both piano and saxophone - although I pursued piano more as I really liked the classical tunes that were on my keyboard and I always wanted to learn them!
So moving on a couple of years, at the stage I am now I would consider myself to be an accomplished pianist. By that I mean with practice I could play any piano piece that I wanted to, because I feel that I am at the level of understanding that enables me to confront any piece given to me, with a confident mindset to complete it.
The areas that I feel I am strongest in (in terms of musical theory) are chord relations, for example referring to chords in a key by their number ( IV V III etc.), and how they work with each other, what progression the song/piece is likely to take, recognising a modulation in a piece.
Areas in which I'm least confident include extensive knowledge of popular music, as I have mostly been into music from anime, obscure genres such as IDM, music from games and more recently jazz and Bossa Nova - I think the main reason for this is that as my main instrument is the piano, so perhaps I was drawn to music that was more satisfying to play on the piano.
I am very excited about opening up my musical vocabulary, as I am taking drumming and singing lessons and am planning to take guitar lessons when they are available, I think this will be a good way to feel more in touch with a wider selection if music.

Week 1 - Preferred Learning Techniques - Nico Vernetti

Approximately this time last year, (September 2013) starting the foundation year in art and design, I had to undergo a sort of 'diagnostic' test which would tell me what my ideal learning style was. Well I got 'visual learner' and it told me that I fit well into situations involving long periods of reading, and I remember things better when I see them written down.
Whilst I agree with remembering things better when I see them written in text, there is a point where it becomes tedious and I get switched off when there is too much information, or when I don't understand a certain part very well, and the entirety of the remaining lecture/tutorial/article consists of referring back to the previous point which I never understood in the first place.
Having to depend/work with other people is something that I'm usually apprehensive about, mainly because it seems human nature to need to elect a 'group leader' of sort (wether it be automatic, or a more subtle meutral agreement) where a stronger personality, or let's say someone who has more attractive 'leadership' qualities e.g the oldest, the most popular of the group, the most confident etc. The more vulnerable members/minorities tend to find themselves struggling to find a voice, which can be fustrating for the group and halt progress/learning in my opinion, I myself always make a conscious effort to try and make sure everyone has an equal footing.
Nevertheless I would still consider my learning style to be versatile, to be honest it depends mostly on whether I'm interested enough in the subject matter, or whether the information we are learning is really relevant to our project/course. I would say that abstract styles of learning that have vague, untangeable goals are somewhat stifling to a 'visual learner', as if I can't see where I'm supposed to be heading, how am I supposed to reach my goal? - which in this case the question being how can I learn the most efficiently?

Nico Vernetti