Final finished product

My final Art project! I am very happy at how it turned out. A bow was somewhat murdered to make the painted bow in the making but I wanted it to be realistic like the angel I made for my mother for Mother's Day. I've asked Mrs. Rivenburg if I could display this in the orchestra room or outside of it until the end of the year. I have to wait for her response. I can't wait to share this with the class tomorrow and explain how I got here. I feel like people are going to be confused because my project was to learn how to play the Viola and I painted two of them as my final product. But I will explain and hopefully the confusion will be resolved. As a final statement I would just like to say that Music is Art and it can be expressed in various ways.

Beginning of Final Product

I'm beginning the start to the art piece I'm creating as the final product. I'm really enjoying doing this so far! This will be completed before Monday and brought in to present to the class.

The Star Spangled Banner

For the concert, as a part of our grade, we had to pass off, The Star Spangled Banner. To show that I have been practicing the viola, instead of passing off the song on the Violin, I'm going to be passing it off through memory on the Viola. I'm going to record myself performing it and put it as a part of my presentation. I've been working on memorizing it for about a week now and I'm passing it off today, Friday, for Mrs. Rivenburg. I'm proud of myself that I was able to memorize the piece on both the Violin and the Viola and through memory. As my final product I've decided not to create a Viola piece because I find it awkward to create a piece JUST for the Violas. It might not sound right also. I originally wanted to do my project on something to do with art because I used to be a small artist when I was younger and I want to see if this inspires me to want to take an Art Major in college. So my final product will be an art piece.

Music is art

I made this photo for my mom for Mother's Day. I know my project is on learning how to play the Viola but Music is Art too. I want my final product to have some type of art in it along with the song on the Viola I'm creating. One of my ideas for my 20% project was to draw a Violin and now I'm having more ideas to incorporate the Violin and Viola in an art piece. I don't want to give it away so stay tune to what I'm creating! I think I'm going to start recording videos of me playing the Viola to show my progress on learning how to play it. And when my song is done being put together I want to have the entire Viola section in the orchestra play the song and I'll record it. 

NYSSMA results

NYSSMA results are already here! I got a 21/28 on the solo. It wasn't a perfect score but it was better than I thought I did. I thought I did worse because when I began playing for the judge my bow wasn't rosined well enough so it was creeking against the strings and plus I was nervous and my face was super hot during it. Although I didn't achieve my goal I did enjoy preparing to play for the judge because when I began playing the solo it was difficult and I thought I wouldn't be able to play it at all. But as I practiced more and worked on it slowly, I began to play it at the right tempo and the right finger patterns and I felt confidence each time I improved. I do wish I prepared more for this but atleast I didn't do awful. I also feel like I would have gotten a perfect score if I prepared a level 3 NYSSMA solo instead of a 4. But I was aiming to do well on something more difficult.

NYSSMA DAY!

Today is NYSSMA day!!! I can honestly say that I have confidence in performing my solo. Although I don't think I will get a perfect score but even if I do fail I still habe confidence that I will atleast get a 23/28. My playing permit is read and I have the first 7 scales on the permit memorized and ready to play I just need to work on my solo a litte more before 11:20. I will post how I think did either today or tomorrow and then when my results finally come in then I will post that sheet along with the metal I will ne receiving. Then I can start preparing the second part of this project of writing a song for the violas and playing it with them. I might also perform my NYSSMA solo in front of the entire orchestra class and record it for my final product as well.

NYSSMA Date

NYSSMA is next weekend! I have to admit that I was and still am very nervous when Mrs. Rivenburg told me this. I am going to be working extra these next two weeks and when I finally perform for the judge, I'll post about how I think I did. I will also be working just on learning the viola and creating the song for the violas and possibly the violins for the final product. I need to start memorizing scales which isn't going to be too difficult but when practicing a hard piece, while memorizing seven scales at the same time is a challenge. I will be performing infront of the Judge next Saturday, at 11:20 AM. I have much to practice and hopefully I'll be walking out with the gold!