Here is a book trailer I made in my English class. The book is Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynn Jones. After this book was published, it became a Ghibli film too. The book is a little different from the movie and, I personally think it is better so if you are looking for a book to read, check this out!
On Tuesday 27th of November, we had a koto performance, and we played a piece called Josho no Kanata, composed by Hikaru Sawai, and a piece called Murasame, arranged by our teacher Mr. Patterson, this with the choir.
For Josho no Kanata, it is personally one of my favorite piece, and I really enjoyed practicing and playing it at the concert. I thought that our performance was pretty successful compared to the rehearsal and other practices we had. We were able to keep playing at a constant tempo most of the time, and we were able to play through the whole piece. We had no major mistakes in the first movement, so that was good.
Some parts we could improve on for the first movement is to keep a constant tempo throughout the whole piece. Even though our tempo was good, sometimes we rushed or went too fast which made the piece sound not as good. To accomplish this, listening to the bass koto woud help because they have this constant tempo throughout the piece, and the rest of the kotos tend to rush because they have a slightly harder part, especially page 3 line 3. Another thing that we could improve on is dynamics. Dynamics is such an important factor to this piece, especially because it is a rather slow tempo, we really need to be thinking about dynamics to let out the effect of mystery and overall this characteristic of music. The crescendo and decrescendo should be more clear while playing, and also really knowing which parts are piano, which parts are fortessimo, would help us on the change of dynamics to make the music more professional and better. Sometimes while playing, I heard wrong notes and I myself played some wrong notes so getting the right notes and playing together as one will really make a powerful impact. On page 4-6, the first koto was dragging a bit, so by really counting the beats in your head, not just following the other kotos will help us not to drag on.
For the second movement, I again thought that it was very well played. We messed a little towards the end but it was so much better than the rehearsal. We did not play too slow, or too fast and it was constant. Some places to improve is the chirashi zume part. The first time was really good, and we were able to play through it without messing up but the second time, we messed up and i think this is because the 17th string went too fast, which gradually lead to the 17th string and first koto playing together. In the video attached, we can see Daniel and Ellen playing at different times at the chirashi zume part on the second time. This might of lead the other kotos to play at different times as well. Another thing we could improve on is again, playing the right notes, and focusing on dynamics of the piece to make the music sound more effective and intense. At the end of the piece, it could have been so much better if we ended the piece together. Someone came in early at the last note, leaving an unsatisfying ending.
Murasame, I think was very successful. It sounded very nice, especially with the xylophone. We were able to play as a team, and we did not play too fast or rush. Even though we got the score of the music a couple weeks before the concert, we were able to perform very well.
Here is the video from the performance.
The composer of Josho no Kanata is Sawai Hikaru, born on 1964 April 11th, son of Sawai Tadao and Sawai Kazue who were also koto players/composers. He is also a Japanese metal guitarist, so his koto works include metal techniques, rhythm and scale. In 1985, he formed a rock band called Mephisto Pheles, and composed and played guitar. He won the 14th Ministry of Cultural Affairs Performing Arts Grand Prix Award for ‘Shaei’ , a solo koto piece.
The music Josho No Kanata was composed in 2003 March
The meaning of the title ‘Josho no Kanata’ is to rise, or go up in the distance. It could also be translated to ‘Beyond the Ascent’. This title has a relation with the actual music, where the music’s tempo/speed builds up throughout the piece and rises, as with the intensity, in the transition from the first movement to the second movement. Josho no Kanata has three main parts which is separated in koto 1, 2 and bass koto (17th string).
As mentioned earlier, Josho no Kanata is separated into two movements. The first movement, which is in 4/4 meter, is a rather slow piece compared to the second movement, starting with the 2 kotos playing alternating notes. The 17th koto joins in afterwards, gradually building up to the part where the kotos have the melody. Here, there is a change from flowing and quiet music to a sudden loud and jumping. This is an example of the melody ascending, just like what the title of this piece describes. The kotos continue the melody, and plays in unison after the alternation. When the kotos harmonize/ come together after alternating for a while, it makes the piece sound more effective because the part is really emphasized by the unison, and makes the whole ensemble united. The dynamics in this piece is very important, since there are many parts that ascend and build up. For example, page 3 line 3, when the 2 kotos play in unison, it is mezzo piano at the beginning but at the end of the line on measure 4, it is fortessimo. From page 4 last line to page 6 second line, there is dynamic change all through, playing the crescendo, then the decrescendo, and playing the crescendo again. By playing each dynamic, it builds up to the next part, making the audience excited to know what is going to happen next, and it really emphasizes the title of the piece. In the first movement, there are many oshi-te (press) for the 2 kotos. The oshi-te allows the note to change half or a whole step higher, and in this case, it allowed the music to have a huge change and emphasize that change between the part when playing quietly with the fingers to playing loud with the tsume and pressing the strings to change notes. There are some keshi (dampening) at the end of the piece for the 17th string when they are playing alone. The dampening makes the music sound more organized, than just letting the sound play on and it makes it sound more sharp. At the very end of the first movement, the second to last measure changes its meter to 5/4. Sawai must of changed it here to leave one beat before the final finishing note for the first movement. It is so much better to have one rest before the finish, than just playing with the same meter and finishing right after the 17 string.
The second movement starts out soon after the first movement. Same as the first movement, the second movement is divided into three parts with two kotos and one 17th string (bass). In this piece, the tempo of this piece is so much faster than the first movement. It starts off with the 17th string, then the 2nd koto joins, followed by the 1st kotos. This building up leads to the chirashi zume part, where all kotos alternate playing one note by sliding the tsume along the string. This part suddenly increases in tempo, making it challenging to play, but the increase in tempo makes the intensity go up, and the different notes played by the different kotos coming together by with chirashi-zume makes the piece very interesting, but also sound good. After the chirashi-zume, it moves onto playing in the same tempo and style, but with the awase (octaves) with normal tsume. This increases the sound of the kotos playing together (Here too is an example of the piece ascending in volume). In the next part, the 17th string plays, and the 1st koto joins right after, followed by the second koto and they add up to playing the same melody with different notes, gradually building up. This technique is seen a lot in this piece, where the 1st, 2nd and bass koto play different notes but the same melody, all joining together at the end and ascending together. It really gives out Sawai’s, message of ascending towards the goal that you have somewhere out in the distance. On page 14, first line, the first measure meter changes to 5/4, where all the building up of the kotos come together. This is the part that is most emphasized in the music. Then, the second measure changes to 6/4, because a keshi is included which extends the measure. The keshi allows everything to stop for a moment, and then move on, which organizes and makes the music more sharp. The measure after that goes back to 5/4 meter, with different melody, using keshi again to emphasize the sharpness. There is a transition from page 14 line 2 to line 3, the meter changes back to 4/4 and it is like the end of the first part of the second movement and the beginning of the next part. Even though there is a transition here, the tempo still stays the same. The 17th string starts off playing, and the 2nd and 1st koto plays alternating. They come together at page 16 line 1 measure 3, building up to page 18 line 1 measure 2. Here, the melody changes entirely, with the 2 kotos playing in pizzicato very quietly. The 17 string joins in to play the melody in the background,and then they gradually build up, the kotos change to playing the same notes with tsume, which produces a bigger volume, increasing in dynamics. The build up leads to the first line of page 21, where all three kotos play the same melody in unison. The melody quickly flows into the chirashi zume part, the tempo always staying the same. The music continues to repeat the part after the chirashi zume, building up to the climax of the music. Again, the meter changes to 5/4, 6/4 on the second last page, which moves on to the very climax on the last page, with the meter changing to 3/4. This transition is big, changing the rhythm of the piece and introducing a completely different melody. The notes go higher up, and then goes back down again, as if it is closing up the song. The last bit slows down, and then after a few rests the final finish is played with a tempo, speeding up the music at the very end to finish with intensity.
Here is my goal settings for this year.
Explain the following statements:
1. Climate is the most important factor affecting weathering.
Climate is the most important factor because it affects the temperature and precipitation rates. Temperature affects the rate of plants to grow and also affects the expanding and contracting of rocks. The plant creates a crack between the rocks which leads to weathering. The precipitation rate affects the amount of rain fall, which weathers the rock (physical). Also acid rain affects weathering, which is a part of rain so there needs to be a high precipitation rate. Higher temperature and precipitation rate causes a higher rate of chemical reaction so it has more weathering in those environment.
2. Mineral composition, grain size of the rock, presence of line of weakness affect the rate of weathering.
Mineral composition affects the rate of weathering. Some minerals are permeable and others are impermeable. Impermeable rocks weather more because they do not let water pass through and the water breaks the rock. Permeable rocks weather less because they let water pass through without much resistance.
Grain size of rock affects weathering by how big or small the surface area of the rock is. For example, with bigger surface area, there is more possibilities that rain, wind, etc collides with rock, causing the rock to weather. Smaller size of grains tend to weather more than bigger size grain.
Presence of line of weakness makes the rock more liable to cracks to become smaller rocks. In between these cracks, water can get inside the rock. When the water is frozen, it expands and makes the rock crack even more. When the ice melts, the water seeps into the new cracks and restart the process. The more lines, the more area of the rock is touching to water that affects the amount of weathering, so there is more weathering.
These are examples of weathered rock, affected by the climate, and in the first picture you can see the rock weathered because water running through the line of the rock is weathering the rock.
Mcdonald's CSR website
Put a link and a screen shot of the CSR website on your blog page
1. What are you most proud of in your semester one results? Why?
I am proud that almost all of my subjects had good grades. I think I worked really hard on each subject and I am proud that my report card turned into good results.
2. Given the comments of your teachers, what do you most need to work on?
For English I would like to work on my sentence structure and technical accuracy. For math, I would like to prepare for my IGCSE.
3. How will you work on #2 above?
English- I would like to do some careful revision and editing. Math- To spend time reviewing the work covered.
4. How do you feel about your Approaches to Learning (ATL) feedback?
Overall I think they are pretty good, but my critical thinking skills tend to be lower than the others so I would like to work on it a little more.
5. Review the learning goals you established in Semester One. In what ways have you met them? What remains to be done?
My first goal was to be able to over-hand serve in volleyball, and now I have accomplished this. My second goal was time management, and this is still a challenge for me, but I am working on it and been able to manage my time better than before. My third goal was to read 5 books but I only read around 3 books so I need to make more time for reading.
“Is the kind of mass production seen in the Manufactured Landscapes video the only effective way to produce things in today’s economy?”
The system of mass production seen in the video were thousands of factory workers assembled in lines and each repeating the same process over and over and passing the products to the next worker, who does something else to the product and passes it on to another worker. I think this system to produce things is effective to the economy, because the cost of employing workers are cheap and a huge load of products can be produced, but it is not the only effective way and it is not an effective way for the environment . Many of the products are dumped and wasted after a short time because the products being made are in very bad quality (they break easily). The factory has to keep on producing because the wastes are not being recycled even though they could be used again. More wastes are produced, which causes pollution and damage to the environment.
There must be a better way to produce things which is more friendly to the environment. For example, instead of human workers use high technology machines and use better quality materials to produce things so that it will last longer and people don’t have to keep dumping them. When some products are dumped, it should be recycled so no materials are wasted and cause pollution. Machines can work faster than human hands and they could be more accurate with handling high quality materials. Machines may be expensive and it could make the products more expensive but people would want to but good quality things that last for a long time, rather than cheap things that doesn’t last long.
