Ready, Set, Go!

It's the second-to-last music lesson for 2011, and it was probably one of the breeziest days I've had in terms of teaching. I made my Grade Two music theory students to sit a 'mock' exam, using one of the past exam papers.

I only had to teach one class in the morning before the exam and so I just gave them Christmas carols. All the kids seemed to have learnt some other lyrics to Jingle Bells! It was about Santa Claus being too fat, and that I'm glad I'm not a reindeer who has to pull his sleigh!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF2fBLWAyrU)

I got Aonghas to direct my music theory students to another room and I joined them just before the exam started. I have to say it felt quite cool to be in a position of power, on the other side for once! I gave them a run down of the exam rules, and Aonghas wrote down times on the blackboard so he could cross off over time.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbgQlkrdZUY)

I went off to teach one of my music theory students who wasn't sitting the exam, and as I was teaching, apparently the students who sat the exam finished it in about 45 minutes, when there was one and a half hours allocated!

I'll have to start marking the papers, so I hope to see some good results, especially as the pass mark is 66!

The Big Exam

The early End-of-Year Concert at the music school I teach may be over, but for my second year music theory students, they have an exam to study for in a week's time!

None of them wanted to sit the actual ABRSM exam, so I decided I'd hold a 'mock' exam and get them to sit it under test conditions just to simulate an actual exam...and also partially for my own enjoyment! I'm just kidding.

Anyway I'm a little afraid as to how well they'll do. I've given them past papers to complete at home over the past few weeks, but only a couple of them have remembered to bring them to class for me to mark!

The last few weeks have been a bit of a rush, so despite having covered the whole syllabus, revision hasn't been ideal and I don't think the students have memorised the performance directions/symbols and Italian words completely!

I guess we'll have to see this Saturday! I've told them that the exam is one and a half hours long but they have to stay for at least 45 minutes, and use as much time to check, check, check and RE-CHECK!

Re-prioritising My Goals

I think I've finally decided what my study goals will be alongside doing my pharmacy internship and becoming a registered pharmacist!

For a while I've been set on trying to either do some online distance learning course or taking evening classes to get a Graduate Diploma/Certificate in something like Arts (Chinese), or maybe something relating to the health field. However, it would require me to take university papers which cost almost $1000 each, and I would have to study part time which means I wouldn't complete it within a year. Because I plan on doing post-grad studies next year anyway, I don't want to waste my money on a half-completed qualification! It also costs so much that if I end up not being able to study properly for these papers because of work or the assignments/tests I have to focus on for pharmacy and end up giving up on those papers, I'll have wasted a whole lot of money!

Therefore, I've decided instead to aim for two exams that are a lot cheaper to sit and I can study for on my own...more or less:

- HSK Test: This is a test on a non-native Chinese speaker's ability to read, write, listen and speak Mandarin Chinese. I've been meaning to learn Chinese for a while, so this will give me motivation to keep on going and recover all of the Chinese I've lost over the past four years since high school. I should really get my Chinese blog going again!
- Trinity Grade 6-7 Music Theory Exam: I bought several music theory books late last year, so I might as well make use of them and fulfill my dream of passing grade 8 music theory!

At least by working towards these two tests/exams, I will also be trying to fulfill my New Years' Resolutions:

12. Sit a music theory/Chinese exam

20. This should've come earlier but study Chinese and return to at least NCEA Level 3 Chinese level..and be more Chinese (throw that in as well) 

Once I finish my internship, I may even consider going to China for a few weeks or maybe a semester to study...if it's feasible. If not, I'll just do post-graduate study while working part-time! I think I'm starting to get somewhere with my life planning! Any further advice or suggestions welcome!

14. Decide what I want to do with my life after I (hopefully) complete my pharmacy internship

Getting Those Fingers Moving

Now that uni's over for now, I really should start practising my musical instruments again! I never really practised the strings too much in between lessons, but I used to practise the piano accordion almost everyday since it was my main instrument! I don't think I've played the accordion since my cousin Jeremy and Asumi's wedding in February (oh and maybe once for church sometime..)!

One piece I came across last night that would be cool to try on the piano accordion is this: Etude Op. 10 No. 5 (Black Key Etude) by Chopin. It'd probably be much harder having to play all the bass on the accordion but it would be pretty interesting and maybe sound good!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4B3SUfhr4)

I've also had several long-standing music-related goals that I'd really like to finally accomplish before I get too old, such as:

• Sit and pass Grade 8 in music theory
• Learn to play the guitar and piano
• Conduct an orchestra
• Compose some more music

OK last two are maybe out of my reach for now, but the first two are definitely high on my To-Do list! I've already started going through the Trinity Grade 8 Music Theory Workbook. The only difficulty for me is that I did music theory with ABRSM (many, many years ago!) up to grade 5, and so I'm not very accustomed to the Trinity syllabus. I'm considering purchasing the grade 6 and 7 workbooks to get me more up-to-speed, but I don't know how much I'm willing to spend on something I may not end up doing though! 

I suppose I should get a music theory teacher, but that's another added cost, so if you have done music theory up to grade 8 in either ABRSM or Trinity, let me know!