Courtney's AP Blog

Practice for juries...

2008-05-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled that I get to sight sing in front of the voice faculty...wait, no I'm not! I'm scared out of my mind (mostly because I get nervous and then can't focus like at the Opera Theater thing when that old man handed me a ten and a one dollar bill and wanted a 5 dollar bill back but I got flustered so I just stared at him and started mumbling...). ANYWAY...because of my fear of failure and embarassment, I practiced sightsinging for an hour yesterday after piano lessons. I mostly focused on examples that used the tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant chords. Still feeling a little nervous...more practicing to come.

Preparation for the AP Sightsinging Exam

2008-03-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I practiced sightsinging for about 45 min. I basically picked my way through section 1 of the Berkowitz, singing major and minor examples that used the 1 and 5 chords. ...That's all...

TAPS- the destroyer of a good night's sleep

2008-03-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's thursday night and I'm lying in my bed, trying to fall asleep. As I try to quiet my restless mind, a song begins playing in my head. It was TAPS. Then I asked myself, "I wonder what the solfege is to that song?" So I began to figure it out. At first I thought it was Do Fa- Do Fa La- Do Fa La- Do Fa La- Do Fa La- Fa La Do- Do La Do- Do Do Fa

Then I thought that an entire song based entirely around the four chord would be kind of odd. So this is what I changed it to:

So Do- So Do Mi- So Do Mi- So Do Mi- So Do Mi- Do Mi So- So Mi So- So So Do

I suppose that both ideas are possible, but I find the latter more believable.

My Hawaiian AP practice

2008-02-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

So, this post may be a little overdue but I think it still counts. Exactly one week ago, while in Hawaii, I practiced AP. How and Why you many ask? Well, my parents bought this weird flute thing at a road side arts and crafts sale. It's alot like the flute that Mr. Thumnas (questionable spelling) plays in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". So, I began playing with this "flute" and found that it was either very out of tune or it was intended to have a funky sounding scale. So I started singing solfege to figure it out. This is how the scale went:

do re mi fi sol la ti di

in relation to steps, it was

whole whole whole half whole whole whole

Is this flute merely out of tune? Or is it inventing a completely new type of scale, pushing the limits; conquering new frontiers?

AP Rythm Exam

2008-01-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

I spent a hefty amount of time practicing rythm for the AP exam on tuesday. That hour of practicing paid off, let me tell you! (ps: this happened on monday, the 28th)