Rehearsing and performing in the symphonic band. The band provides performers with a wide range of repertoire. Attendance is a vital part in which there is continuous assessments. Students are required to attend and pass an audition in week 1.
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Disclaimer: I am a percussionist so my experience will be vastly different from wind players.
This module is on wind/symphonic/concert band, if you’re looking for small band (with drumsets and guitars and singing) this is not the correct module, go for AAI48G Studies in Pop and Jazz instead.
Took this mod in AY21, it’s a small class with around 10 people in total. If not for the COVID-19 situation, the class would have been a physical one where everyone meet at the NIE band room to play. You are expected to already know how to play an instrument in the woodwind/brass family (or percussion), though string players are accepted also. Everyone is given a part from a common piece and has to record and submit audio and video recordings of their own part.
You also need to choose a solo piece, record and submit your playing as the final submission. The solo piece has no restrictions other than a minimum and maximum length, so really you can choose anything from classical music to pop songs and even anime music. The solo piece can come with accompaniment. If there are more than 1 percussionist, Mr Louis Yeo (the conductor) is open to replacing the solo piece with a percussion ensemble piece of your choice instead. If you need to purchase any scores for the solo piece, you can ask Mr Yeo to buy for you (free scores!) on NIE’s behalf. You’re expected to practice your pieces outside class timings so depending on your abilities it can be quite a lot of workload.
The original time slot was a 3h class every Friday night at the NIE band room. Since I play the percussion and I have no access to my instruments, I have to go down to the NIE band room to practice. Otherwise, you can loan the wind instruments from the NIE band room if you don’t have your own. For wind/string players, there was a 1-to-1 consultation with Mr Yeo every Friday during this time slot over zoom, the consultation takes around 20-30 min for each person I think. For percussion, Mr Yeo might pop by every once in a while to check on your progress, but you’re mostly left on your own. You can stay in the band room for as long as you want until the security comes to lock up the room!
Assessment (both require audio and video recordings):
1 band piece played by everyone
1 solo piece chosen by youNote: because of the COVID-19 situation, we used an app/website called BandLab to put our record audios together for the band piece for a rough gauge of how it sounds like. It is highly recommended that you learn how to use it if Mr Yeo happen to use this in this mod.
Tldr: Best mod I’ve taken this sem, would 10/10 recommend if you’re a percussionist (or musician in general) who loves wind band! The band piece I played had some challenging parts but I had a lot of fun with it and the percussion ensemble piece 😀
November 9, 2021
