Week 3: 23 - 27 April 2012

Topic (Theory): Music presentation: "Roles of Music in the Society"
Reflection Question: How have developments in technology changed the ways in which we engage with music?

Music industry is one industry that has been greatly affected by technology. Back then, music producers, artists, and sound engineers did not have enough choices of what equipment that would use to record the music. Mono recordings were only the equipments available during those dreadful days. However, new innovation and the technology that becomes more advance and advance each day make the opportunity of recording music become endless. Nowadays, people who even have no knowledge in music/sound recording can easily record their music using the devices available around them, e.g. mobile phone, laptop, and PC.

It is also due to technology that the development of access to music in the later half of the 20th century has revolutionized to the extent which most people can listen to the music. Internet generates people to be able to access all genres of music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Back then, people need to have phonograph or radio to listen to the music. These devices are not mobile because both of them are too heavy. Thus, people were only able to access music at some occasions. However, nowadays there are so many devices available such as mobile phone, iPod, CD player which people can access music anytime and anywhere.

Furthermore, technology makes music sales more flexible because songs are not only available in (physical) CD stores, but also in online music store. iTunes, the most famous online music store in the world, since its launch in April 2003 has sold more than 600 millions songs.

Instrument class
I did not have any instrument classes because my instrument teacher was absent and I had assessment.

Practice videos
Playing "Back At One" (Brian McKnight) - 1st practice

In this video, I practiced playing “Back At One” (sung by Brian McKnight) using flute. This song has a nice melody thus I thought I would encounter some difficulty when playing it. However, as seen on the video, I did not make many mistakes even though it was my first time playing it. It does not mean that I did not make mistakes at all, however, since I made some mistakes on the verse. I observed that my blowing skill on this video is better than previous practices. In overall, I was able to perform well on this practice. Nonetheless, I still have to learn to play the continuation of the song since on this practice I only played until the first chorus. I also have to be calm so that I will not make mistakes.

Playing "Back At One" (Brian McKnight) - 2nd practice

This is my 2^nd practice of playing “Back At One” using flute. I think this practice was not as good as the first one because I already did mistake on the 5^th bar of the song. I also did some mistakes when playing the chorus. I did not make any mistakes for the rests; however it is more obvious that I could not play the song fluently compared to the first practice. It took longer time for me to think of what the next melodies I have to play. Nonetheless, I did not observe any problems in my blowing techniques. Perhaps because this is a slow song thus I have no problems in taking breathes. On the practice next week, I will probably not play this song since I will have jazz ensemble group assessment in the near future. However, whatever the song I am going to play, I have to memorize the melody well and do the practice harmoniously.