Update

Progress has been a bit slow lately, not because of me being lazy, but of conflicts with other projects. I need to finish my Eagle project before I reach 18 which is in May. Along with this and my Eagle project, I have an upcoming piano test this Sunday. Despite these delays, I was able to add 3 lines of notes to my music sheets. They are not revised yet so I have to edit later. My motivation for music keeps me going on this project. Time is running short so that is a big concern for me. I'm not content with my progress because I could have done so much more if I had less projects to work simultaneously with my 20% project. Somethint interesting did happen last week though. When I went to piano class on Sunday, a spark of an idea popped in my head, which led me to adding the 3 lines of notes. By the end of this week, I should be free to work more on this project since I'll be done with the piano test on Sunday and Eagle project by next week. I am still excited to see my final product. Hope things go well!

This picture represents inspirarion for me. I try to find everything around me an inspiraton to making my music sheets. The projects I will be doing may reflect on my music sheets.

20% Project Update #8

Due to delays from academic and extracurricular activities, I haven't done much with my project progress. I added about 2 lines of notes to my sheet, which have to be edited later on. My CM Piano test is coming up as well, so it is difficult practicing for it while revising my piano music sheet at the same time. My final prouct is going along fine. After I am done editing my draft of the piano sheets, I am planning to input it on a sheet generstor for piano and print it out. Piano has been an entertaining hobby for me all my life so this project has been exciting. What bothers me now is the limited time I have left. Along with upcoming AP exams, working on my Eagle Scout project, waiting for college admittances,  my stress list seems to go on to no end. I'm neutral on what I feel about my progress. After next week though, I should be ready to go and push forward with my project.

                           http://www.npengage.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/stess.jpg

This picture is basically how I feel right now. A lot of things are going on, and I have little to no time to take a break and calm down.

20% Project Update

As of now, I successfully composed a page of my song. I hope to expect at least 2 or 3 pages by the end of my project. Regarding tomorrow’s update pitch, I am quite confident about my presentation. It’ll be a good way to let my classmates know where I am in my project and how well it’s going. Composing this one sheet of music took a lot of hard work though. I thought it would take much less time than that. Throughout this 20% period, I worked on revising, editing, and removing notes to fit my style of music. It was a fun experience, however. I’m beginning to understand how much work is put into composed music from famous composers like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and others. I am very proud of myself for actually completing this sheet of music. It reflects my own original work. I am very excited to actually play it on the piano in the future.

Kyle Landry Sheet Music
I'll be using this website as a resource during my Update Presentation for tomorrow. Hopefully, it will attract attention from my classmates, because this website is amazing.

More Websites

I've been using plenty of websites to help me in my composition. One of them is a detailed composition website. This website gives me a general direction to compose music regardless of any instrument. It helped me find my overall mood and tone for my music. There are some steps in the website that surprise me as well. One of these mistakes is that mistakes do matter. If I mess up while composing music, I can use that mistake to create a new note or tone. One of my most favorite websites I use is kylelandry.com. Kyle Landry is probably the reason why I wanted to start composing. I have been using his music sheets to learn many of my favorite songs. The way he compowes music is amazing. It comes so naturally to him, as if the notes just pop in his head. Although all his music are versions of  an original song, his transcribed music sheets can be duplicated by no other. I hope that one day I will be able to play around hid level or at least close to him. I use his website as a way to see visually how he begins his songs. The patterns, tones, and speed of the songs he plays help me compose a song.


A Beginner's Guide to Composing
Kyle Landry's Compositions

Obstacles

There are plenty of challenges and obstacles I am facing currently. One significant challenge is achieving the Eagle scout rank in the Boy Scouts. As mentioned in the requirements, a Scout must be under the age of 18 when working towards the Eagle rank. I have about less than 3 months as of now to finish, because my birthday is in May. Along with this and my 20% project, it is difficult to manage both at an efficient time. Unfortunately, I have to do a project for the Eagle rank, so I have two projects to work on. While this one is due around in April, the due dates are quite close to each other. Hopefully, I can finish my Eagle project by the end of March so I can have more time to work on  my 20% project. Fortunately, the time spent on the Eagle project does not interfere significantly with the 20% project, so I should be able to manage my time wisely for both.

Source: Me

This is a picture of my Merit Badge sash. I have 2 more Eagle merit badges left to finish. Not all of my merit badges are on this sash, but soon it will be completed. I hope to be finished with the merit badges by the end of February so I can start on the Eagle Project.

Continuation of my Compostion Progress

So far, I have the basic components of my music song down. After some thought,I decided to make a modern song. Lately, I've been playing modern music that appealed to my liking. I'm hoping that the song I create will be just as great. I haven't really added any notes to the music sheet yet, as I have not found a good melody to start off with. Finding the melody of a song is the most difficult aspect of music conposition. After I find the melody of my song, things should get easier. For this song, I've chosen to play it in 4/4 time. In piano, 4/4 time is the most common time signature. It'll be easier for me to compose the music since this is my first time. 4/4 time, or common time, will also allow me to easily change the speed of my song so I can make it sound better. Generally, composers don't create a music title until the end. I've already named my song: Reminiscent Memories. The name just came to my mind and I believe it will fit the tone of the music. Hopefully by next week or so, I can form a melody for my music so I can begin composing my song.

This is a rough sketch of my music sheet. I have the type of music and music title finished for the music sheet.

Source: Me

Progress Update

So far, my project is going very well. I figured out what melody I’ll be making this song as well as the time signature of the piece. As of now, some of my questions from before have been answered, but new ones have developed. What if I get “writer’s block” while composing this song? If one of my colleagues is right, what will I do after I finish song before the end of the 20% Pitch month?  As the days go on, however, new inspirations led me to add unique sounds to my song. I hope to gain inspiration from anything around me. After all, piano is a form of musical “art”. The 20% Pitch from many of my classmates helped me understand my personal project more. Although some were completely different from mine, the difficulty of many of the projects were of equal, or possibly even higher, level. I hope to see that all of these projects result in a nice finish at the end of the 20% project month. 

Summer- Joe Hisaishi

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