Graded performance 1 Essays (998 words) - Musical Instruments, Music

Edward Griggs Applied Music 9A 4 May 2019 Self-Evaluation: Graded Performance #1 This semester I have been tasked with bringing Alexandre Guilmant's, "Morceau Symphonique" to life. This has not been an easy task. With contrasting tempos shifting from sixty-three beats per minute, to shifting to one hundred and five beats per minute, this piece is very challenging. This piece is in the key of Gb Major which has been a great learning experience for me as a euphonium player. The interval leaps are also very tricky, often requiring octave leaps leading me into three octave range, both while requiring a very aggressive forte to fortissimo dynamic level. Last Friday, I had my first music 9a performance, my first as an applied music student at. A performance which after much reflection I am not content with. My peers provided me with detailed feedback on my performance, through the performance evaluation forms. Upon further reading of their comments and feedback I have narrowed down the pros and cons of my performance. I'll begin with the cons first. A majority of my peers seem to all agree on the same thoughts, these involved intonation, dynamic, breathing, and preparedness issues. Other issues involved failure to introduce the piece to my audience, and proper etiquette for the final bow. Intonation for the most part was solid and resonant. Chipping and fracking of notes occurred in the opening phrases of the piece, and in the faster second half of the piece where I am required to go above two octaves, along with, a three octave Db which I didn't hit properly. The second issue with my performance going off feedback received, was that of dynamic contrast. The audience felt as if there was room for bigger, more drastic, dynamic contrast. My forte dynamics could have been larger, along with not coming off as strong or rounded, per note, as it should have been. I also received comments about ghosting notes and not finishing off the more legato phrases with enough confidence. This leads us to the final problems many noticed throughout my performance, confidence and breath control. The audience noticed that there was a lack of confidence and stage presence on my part. They also commented on my phrases coming off as weak during certain forte sections in my piece. This being attributed to a lack of air in certain staccato, and legato phrases where the musical passage takes me up to higher octave notes which were not clear. That is not to say that my performance as a whole was all negative. I also received positive feedback which involved: great use of articulations of notes, nice professional attire, solid lyrical and technical contrast great resonant tone full of clarity in the mid, low, and upper range. On the other hand, people seemed to love how lyrical I made phrases and how I effectively utilized vibrato and sustains to really emote my feelings and expressions throughout the piece. It was nice to see my peers entertained and impressed by my playing, although they for the most part feel like I can do more and take it to another level. I enjoyed the constructive criticism and praise I received last Friday. This leaves me eager to work on improving this peace. Hence, as for improvement and preparation for the next graded performance, including juries, I've decided to change up my playing routine to better strengthen my weaknesses. This has involved going back to square one and take a more holistic approach with how effectively and efficiently my breathing is. Thankfully, with the help of my incredible private lesson instructor, Beth Mitchell, I've been playing through excerpts focusing on obtaining a bigger, more fuller sound in everything I play. She believes my sound is at fifty percent of what it can and needs to be. Fixing how I breathe will immediately fix intonation problems, especially through the slower melodic phrases that are required to be slurred only, not tongued. This will also allow me to better control and exaggerate the dynamics in the piece. I fully agree with my peers that I need to do more with this piece in terms of shaping and expressing the dynamics of this piece. Furthermore, as