Practice Week 10

I managed to increase my speed in this practice. I think I did pretty good however I still made some silly mistakes that I really need to eliminate in my next practice.

This is my final practice for tomorrow's assessment. I think I did pretty good even though I made some minor mistakes. I hope to eliminate these kinds of mistakes in tomorrow's assessment.

Practice Week 9

This is my practice of my 12 bar blues. I think I have made a lot of improvements since my previous practice. For starters, I did not make any mistakes in starting playing my 12 bar blues. I however made a mistake in the middle so I really need to improve it for next week's assessment.

This is me practicing the chords of my 12 bar blues. Mr. John said that it is better to play the chords using its movable chords form so I tried however I did not play it so well because I do not really play chords with bars that well.

Practice Week 8

This is the video of me practicing all of my 12 bar blues consequently.I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning but I willt try my best to fix it as the assessment is in 2 short weeks.

I still make a lot of mistakes at the beginning. I couldn't see any major improvement. However, I will keep on practicing and hopefully I will be able to start playing my composition without making too many mistakes next time.

Practice week 7

This is me practicing the second 4 bars of my 12 bar blues. I think I did pretty good, however there are still a lot of things that I need to improve on on my next practice.

I think I was able to improve on the third line of my 12 bar blues a little, however I still make some mistakes. I should practice more and by next week I should be able to play all of my 12 bar blues consequently.

Week 10: March 19- March 23

Theory Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues Performance
Question: How did my understanding of Blues change after my performance?

My understanding of Blues definitely changed after the performance. Since I have performed it myself, I now understand that Blues is all about our feelings. If we do not enjoy performing it, then it will definitely show in our music. I also learned how to collaborate with my group mates.

Instrument Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues

We did our final practice of our 12 bar blues in front of Mr. John. Mr. John also helped us fix our mistakes if we have any.

Practice week 6

This is my first practice for my second four bars of my 12 bar blues. I think I did pretty good but I still have a lot of things to improve on.

I have made some improvements this week because I was able to play the second 4 bars of my 12 bar blues without committing any mistakes this time.

Week 9: March 12-March 16

Theory Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues improvisation
Question: Explain your progress in understanding improvisation in Jazz Blues!

I cannot simply explain my progress in understanding the improvisation in Jazz Blues because I have not been taught how to improvise at all. I also think it is very much absurd that we are told to make a copy of our improvisation in Finale because I thought improvisation was supposed to be spontaneous. But nevertheless, I know that it is in Mr. Herry's best interest for us to be able to "improvise" well, that is why he asked us to make a draft of it first, to make it easier for us. But because of that, I still do not really quite understand Jazz's element of improvisation.

Instrument Class
Topic: 12 bar blues

We practiced our 12 bar blues again during instrument class. Mr. John also taught us how to play the chords of our 12 bar blues.

Practice week 5

This is me practicing the first four bars of my 12 bar blues. I aim to be able to play the first four bars well by the end of this week. But as you can see, I did not do so well in this practice. I have so many things to improve on for my next practice.

This is my second practice video for the first four bars of my 12 bar blues. I feel that I have made a lot of improvements and I am happy about it. I will be practicing the next 4 bars of my 12 bar blues next week.

Week 8: March 5- March 9

Theory Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues Rehearsal
Question: Explain the role of Blues in the early development of Jazz!


Blues can be described as one of the important origins of early jazz. This is why Blues music is so improtant because Blues is really the "father" of Jazz for without Blues, Jazz music would never be brought to existence. Theme and emotions are 2 very important keys in Jazz because Jazz music was originally created to express the feelings of African-Americans.

Instrument Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues

Mr. John lets us practice our 12 bar blues again. He was there for us to ask questions.

Practice Week 4

Because Mr. John was absent this week, I practiced the melody of All of Me at home. I did not really do a good job though. I made quite a lot of mistakes especially in the triad notes.

Week 7: Feb 27- Mar 2

Theory Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues Practice
Question: How did I practice and apply my 12 Bar Blues at home?

I practice my 12 Bar Blues step by step at home. I first practice the first 4 bars, then the 5th to the 8th bar, and this week I finally practice my last 4 bars. I think this way of practicing is more effective because this way, I will not have to learn too much things in a week. This way, the improvements made by practicing can also be seen more.

Instrument Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues

Mr. John again allows us to practice our 12 bar blues improvisation. I am amused by Dhanes because he can immediately improvise whereas I still can't. It is really fascinating and I hope to be able to do it someday.

Practice Week 3

I did not do any video for week 2 because Mr. John was absent so we did not learn anything new during instrument class.

This is my first practice on the chords of the Jazz song "All of Me". I did not do so well because the chords given by Mr. John and Mr. Herry are not the same. I am using Mr. Herry's chords. I made a major mistake towards the end but I will try my best to fix it.

This is my second practice for the All of Me chords. I think I improved from my last practice however my tempo is not quite constant. I need to improve on that. 

Week 6: Feb 20- Feb 24

Theory Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues Submission
Question: Did you face any challenges working on your 12 Bar Blues?

I had a really difficult time in composing my 12 Bar Blues mainly because I have never learned how to play Jazz before and it is really hard to learn a new type of music in a very short period of time. I also had a problem with my Finale software because I could not hear my composition in this software so I was not really sure whether or not the melody goes well with the given chords.

Instrument Class
Topic: 12 Bar Blues

Mr. John checked in on us playing our 12 Bar Blues. He also gave us feedbacks on our composition and help us improve it if there is a wrong note. He also helped us play our 12 Bar blues.

Practice Week 1

This is a video of me practicing the song "When the Saints Go Marching In". This is my first practice of this song at home. That is the reason why I made a couple of mistakes. I also did not pluck some notes right which makes the sound dies before it is supposed to. I will improve on my picking and I will try to minimize my mistakes next practice.

This is my second practice on the song "When the saints go marching in". I think I have improved a little. I only make 1 mistake and I picked all of the notes right. I will now try to play the melody with the chord.