Reflecting Back in the Past Part 3

It was a crazy, heavy semester,
with an intense workload.
We all laughed,
we all got frustrated,
but we all survived,
with a celebratory dance and bevs.

Semester One

Nicely summarised about our first semester, right? Hahaha.

Here’s my mini reviews on each of the subjects I took in Semester One!

CORE SUBJECTS

Music Performance 1

Syllabus required in each year 
First Year: Scales and Arpeggios, with two pieces (Pianists: Sonata by Scarlatti and an Etude by Chopin)
At least 6 attendance (this includes performances) in Concert Class

45 minute lesson
120 minute in a recital (Concert Class)
120 minute seminar in your chosen major instrument 
(at least 80% attendance to pass Music Performance by attending Instrumental Class)

What I liked about Music Performance 1?
Masterclasses, many opportunities to perform, professors/guest artists/instrumental teachers speaking, everything

All classes was great! I enjoyed all my classes, even though I fell asleep at a couple of stages, or simply doing my ML assignment during Instrumental Class. All of my classes made me challenge myself to perform with their expectations, and etc, and it was simply rewarding at the end. I loved the advice, and their knowledge of music they spoke in my instrumental classes. I really learnt a lot, and I applied them in my practises. Even though I was taking a nap in my instrumental classes, simply because 6AM till 6PM does use a lot of energy, it was delightful to listen when I was taking a nap. Hahahhahha.

My piano teacher gave me a lot of things to take on in my practises, which was great! I learnt a lot from my piano teacher in the last few months, and I can’t wait on what I’ll  learn more in the future! Even though, there’s one stage when I really felt frustrated and wanting to break down at one stage, it really challenged me to work harder. I know I’ll have one of these moments next semester. So, I know it will be alright in the future any ways.

Concert classes gave me a lot of perspective on each instruments I observed and watched. I enjoyed listening, and writing comments about the performers, which made me aware of what I should do in the future, if I had to play these type of pieces. Looking up to the older years performing is what makes me inspire to work hard, or wanting to perform someday with a chamber group, or a duo/duet in the near future. So, it was an enjoyable class to relax!

What I didn’t like about Music Performance 1?
Nothing

I don’t think there’s nothing I want to change. They have a really great curriculum going on for music students. I loved the challenge, and I’ve learnt so much from each classes. So, I’d say well done. I don’t think I’ll ever transfer in the future. Hahaha. Even though I had struggles, as first years were bombarded with assignments, expectations, pressure, and so on, I thought it was perfectly okay for that to occur. I know that sounds sad, but there will be no course that will be perfectly easy. It’s always an obstacle, a marathon, I’d think.

Rate: 4/5

Writing About Music: Australian Issues

Sort of a fortnightly assignments
Research assignment
Hour and a half tutorial
At least 80% attendance to Pass

I’m not going to say that much about WAM. So here’s a few thoughts about it:

• I have a love and hate relationship, simply because it was bearing to go through sometimes.
• Doesn’t relate to what we do in performing, but it’s nice to know about Australian music for a change
• I feel that the con should still continue this subject, as some musicians are not aware of Australian music
• It’s weird (in some historic moments), but somewhat interesting to know about Australian music
• Favourite moment – learning about Melba, writing an analysis about Down Under by Men at Work, and getting a chocolate for having 100% attendance. Getting chocolate for having perfect attendance made me slightly satisfied that I attended all of my WAM classes. Hahahaha.

Rate: 3.5/5

Music Language 1

Weekly assignments
Two tests (listening test, and two sections smashed into one hour)
60 minute tutorial, 2 x 60 minute lectures (Tues and Thurs)
At least 80% attendance in your tutorials

What I liked about ML?
Learning how to actually compose, doing music theory and actually cooperating lectures into assignments.

Doing things is what makes me learn, and it’s pretty good. It makes me wish I should’ve studied VCE Music Performance instead of VET, if PE wasn’t out of the way back in high school.

My lecturer

My lecturer was my weekly giggles. There’s one time my lecturer was accompanying himself by singing a Prelude, Suite No.1 in G by Bach. Oh my god. It was the best thing I’ve witnessed in one of my ML lectures. I came out of the lecture theatre crying, because I laughed a tad too hard.

Tutorials felt like it was really quick with time!

Asking questions, then explaining what we actually need to do for our assignments is so helpful! Then, ding! Tutorial is finished. It goes by pretty quickly. During our tutorials, our tutors were always happy to help students to understand their assignments. After tutorial, it’s like a light bulb has flashed brightly in my mind.

“I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT WE NEED TO DO FOR OUR ML ASSIGNMENT! LET’S DO IT NOWWW!!!”
^ This was basically me every single week after ML tutorials.

What I didn’t like about ML?
Weekly assignments

Four to five hours of doing a ML assignment. Nope. It takes me about double the required time for assignments for me. Majority of the assignments were difficult, and time consuming. But that’s okay.

Fast paced lectures and assignments

The first few weeks was a little crazy. We had to learn some topics in a week for our first assignment. It was a little intense, and hard. But, as weeks go by, you get used to the fast paced workload and classes, and what you actually need to address in your assignments. At first, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was highlighting things that my analysis turned into a colourful art work. Hahaha. It’s kind of like a trail and error when attempting your ML assignments, which is nice to learn as you go.

What I wished I could’ve done before taking ML?
Taking up theory exams/classes during the summer holidays

I wish the con provided a theory program for those who actually didn’t do any theory, or did the first two grades of theory like Monash does, as I heard. Even though, I recognise the musical terms, and such, I didn’t know how to explain it. All my music theory knowledge was gone into the back of my memory after I went to high school. So, my connections to musical knowledge was weak. Hahaha. This is why I suck at general knowledge in my AMEB Exams. Hahahahaha.

Rate: 3.5 ~ 4/5

Art of Piano Teaching 

Two Oral Presentations
Maximum one thousand word essay
At least 80% of attendance to Pass
Readings is a must to do when being given one
Two hour seminar, every late arvo Tuesdays (4:15 till 6:15PM)

This subject was compulsory for first year pianists, as the con wants us to be exposed to other potential pathways we might occur in the future. A few of us already head into this sort of pathway after we took this subject, which is pretty good as it was effective. It was handy to start of with, but as weeks goes on, it felt like it was a total bulgy subject. Sit there for two hours, listening for the first couple of weeks, then you can go home. First couple of weeks I was engaged, and willing to listen. Then, as more assignments popped up later on in the semester, or something that needs to be done on my laptop, I just did it during my seminar, as attendance is important to pass. So, pretty much the second half of the semester, I was basically multitasking. Hahaha. We have a break in between, to allow people to get mentally ready for their oral assignments in the second half of the seminar.

Week 1 to 3 was listening for two hours
Week 4 to 12 was listening for one hour, and the other hour was assessing each presentation.

Oh it was great finishing the day a little early later on in the semester, but when your turn (presentation time) is up a week time, people would stay back and observe how it is assessed, and how people presented their ideas.

Oral Assignments were a pain. Let’s just put that out. At least I got up, present, done. Pass. Score! Our seminar always give every one a pass, as long as they present, and hand in their essay on time, which is why I said, “easy to pass, but not easy to get a very good mark.”

What I liked about this subject was that I learnt some things that I could incorporate into my practising and teaching.
I was being aware of what I should do, what I shouldn’t do when I’m teaching piano lessons, and what I should or shouldn’t do during when I practise. It’s a good subject to take. But as I said, as times goes on, sometimes you do your assignments in class, because there’s that one subject, such as Music Language assignments, has a lot of work to do. Hahaha.

What I actually learnt during Art of Piano Teaching?
“COGNITIVE SCHEMES.” 
Every seminar, “cognitive schemes”, or “you have to use your mind, not your muscle memory” kind of thing. It’s very emphasised in our seminars. I think I made a million under lines under the term, ‘cognitive schemes’, because my seminar really, really mentions about ‘cognitive schemes’. Hahaha. My seminar connects psychology and music together, which was pretty nice to hear, such as “inhibition”, and such terms as “long-term memory”.

What I disliked about the subject?

Let’s just say that my seminar decides to announce who got the top marks at the end of marking assignments, instead of only discussing what we should actually improve next time. It wasn’t my cup of tea. Okay, end of story! That sentence explains what I feel/think. Next review!

Rate: 4/5
Reason for that rating? It’s actually useful for teaching students piano

BREADTH SUBJECT

Mind, Brain and Behaviour 1

One two thousand word essay
Hundred and twenty multiple choice exam
80% attendance for tutorials to Pass
Readings is a must when it has been emphasised for homework
No textbooks required
3 X 60 minute lectures (Tue – Thurs) with a 120 minute tutorial
At least five points of REP (Research Experience Program)

What I liked about MBB1?
LECTURE SLIDES IN ADVANCED – the holy grail of uni

Lecture slides help a lot in my studying. I always print them, read it on the train, and I highlight or take down extra notes. I love it. It makes my life so much easier. However, Sensation and Perception wasn’t my cup of tea as nothing made sense to me. I knew it was about vision and perception, but you have to be there, as the lecturer only talks freely in each slide, and doesn’t put slides in advanced. I’ll talk about it in another topic down below.

It was interesting, as every thing was fascinating. Even the lecturers were entertaining!

All lecturers were entertaining, and they made me giggle, while they inspire us to learn about MBB1. Stephan (Learning and Cognitive lecturer) was a worth it lecture to go to! Even though I knew my stuff on memory and learning, I didn’t want to miss his good stories, and how he explains it SO SIMPLE. His lecture is so funny, that I even laughed my ass off when I was travelling on public transport. Apparently, he was mention on the confessions page. If you took this subject this semester, you know what I mean. HAHAHAHA.

The flexibility of going to early/late lectures is the best!

Can’t make it to the early lecture last minute, because you need to hand in your assignment on the day?
*cough, cough. Music Language assignments, or WAM*
No need to fear, late lectures shall be your best friend!

Even though, they suggest to head into your scheduled lectures, it will be weighted out later on in the semester. Late lectures is empty, as it is the end of the day, and some people just wants to go home early. I only skip lectures on Wednesdays, if I really need help in my ML assignments with my friends, or on Thursdays (skipping the early lecture), when I have a concert class performance.

What was odd about MBB1?
REP (Research Experience Program)

At first I thought, “this will be fun”, but actually I found it odd later on. The thing about REPs is to do them ASAP, or else you’ll be screwed at the end of semester (workload gets higher). I managed to finish them during mid-semester break, which was awesome. Then, I found myself doing more Research Experiments that doesn’t get credited to REP, because I needed the money. Hahahahaha.

Anyways, basically this is to get us to experience what happens when conducting research and experiments. It was alright, as I two of my REPs was mostly surveys, then my last REP was a combination of both (survey and experiment). Doing surveys was a buggar sometimes, but hey, it’s simple and easy. However, doing the experiment was a little odd, as I was involved with another student, who is doing their REP in MBB1 too. It was a little odd, as I didn’t know the person, but hey, we’re all here to get our REPs over and done with. That’s probably one thing we had in common; getting our damn REPs over and done with. Hahahahaha.

What I didn’t like about MBB1?
Sensation and Perception lectures

Even though S&P lecturer had a nice, taste in music, I didn’t understand a thing my lecturer said. It was hard to understand, and it was all over the place. S&P lectures it was interesting. However, all the information that was discussed was confusing, and a little bit hard to get around with. The extra notes (commentary) helped to get a basic understanding of what the lecturer was trying to say, but I felt like I didn’t have a deep understanding of S&P. When exam day came, I was thinking, “im’ma wing this, and go with common sense”.

TOPICS?

BEHAVIOURAL NEUROSCIENCE

It’s all about the brain. Literally.
Great lecture and notes
Interesting
Intense, and there’s a lot to know
It’s all about the brain. Literally.

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

It’s all about vision and perception, and how you perceive things in general
Confusing lectures
Notes are okay
Hard to understand in lectures
Can get drowsy
Nice lecturer with a nice taste in music

LEARNING AND COGNITION

It’s all about memory, learning and how you think about things (thoughts, choices, etc)
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE LECTURES so far
INTERESTING
GREAT, SIMPLE NOTES
MAKES ME EXCITED TO GO TO THESE LECTURES

QUANTITATIVE METHODS

Four words. Stats and research processes
Helpful tutor to guide you these bad boys
It’s not too bad, once you get used to it

Rate: 3.5 ~ 4/5

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I hope your break is going well so far! I’ll see you till my next blog post!

– Nic