Creativity
At the beginning of the semester, one of my goals was to learn a total of 10 beats by the end of grade 12.
Continue to work on all the beats I learnt the previous year and apply these skills to this year to show that I can learn a further 5, more complex beats. With the 5 beats I have learnt the previous year (4/4 beat, 3/4 beat, cha-cha, mamba and hustle), this would mean that a total of 10 beats has to be perfected by the end of this year.
I feel confident that I have certainty been able to achieve this goal as well as exceed in this task as well. I have been able to learn 6 more new beats and also 2 more drum fills with another beat, the 'Baila' beat, currently being learnt as well. I feel that this is a great personal triumph for me because I did not expect to learn this much before the year had even ended. I do know that I was very passionate about drums and I showed perseverance and commitment throughout this learning process, since the beginning of grade 11 however, and buying a new drum set really helped me learn more beats than I expected. I feel that the pursuit of this goal allowed me to increase the awareness of my strengths and areas for growth. One of the greatest challenges I faced during this learning process was switching between drum beats and fills (this can be seen by the video I had previously posted). They all vary in terms of the rhythm and pace, but I have been able to overcome this challenge and I hope to perfect all beats flawlessly by the end of grade 12.
My second goal deals more with the creative aspect.
Prove that I can compose a range of my own drum beats without the help of my teacher; this goal is a continuation from that of last years, which I plan to accomplish by the end of this year. The goal is to compose 1 or more drum solos (non-stop drumming with different beats played one after another) and present them via video, accompanied with a reflection on how it I got to that point.
This was a chance for me to really test my creative side and to really see whether I had the making of a drummer. I have been able to compose a few beats of my own and I have also posted a video of me drumming everything I have learnt since the beginning of grade 11 to half the first semester of grade 12. The new beats I composed can be seen in the video as well, though of course they need more work done on. I have never composed any piece of music before and so I feel that I have certainly developed new skills. I am not sure however, whether I have truly posted what makes up a drum solo, since I stopped after each beat in the video while usually in a drum solo, all beats must be played without the drummer stopping. This realization has allowed me to increase the awareness for my strengths and areas for growth and so I will continue to work on these beats and hope to perfect them by the end of the year.
Unfortunately, I could not achieve my third and final goal for creativity yet.
Play at a few school musical events and/or musical events in or outside school and reflect on my experience and what I accomplished from that experience. Then, compare and evaluate how I was in the beginning of grade 11 and and how I will be by the end of grade 12 in terms of my drumming skills and my confidence in the creative aspect.
This was probably my most challenging goal and as of now, I have not been able to perform in any musical event. Do to the amount of work we were getting since the beginning of grade 12, I feel that I was not able to commit to this goal at all. I had been given the opportunity to play for a couple of school concerts but due to the assignments I had during the time these offers were made, I could not attend any of the practice sessions. Hopefully, there will be another event that I may have the chance to perform in if I feel that I can allocate the time for it.
