Hello,
Welcome to my fifth blog post for In-Depth 2022! For the last month, I have been practicing a lot (because of spring break). Here is another update for my bass guitar so far.
During the last couple of weeks, my mentor and I did not do that much. Mostly I was playing the bass and he would give me some feedback that would help me with my playing. One big improvement that happened is the sliding. Comparing the sliding I do now to the first video, my mentor told me that I have improved a lot. Even though I am not always on beat, using a metronome had helped me a lot. I feel like I’m getting more comfortable on the bass. When I would get bored on practicing on the same songs repeatedly, I can search up a music sheet online and I am able to read the music sheet and play along with the song.
Here are the songs for this week:
Things I need to improve on:
Staying on beat
- Counting in my head
Cleaning notes
- Staying on beat
Reflection Questions for post #5:
- What kinds of learning opportunities does the mentor provide to expose you to new learning?
One kind of the learning opportunity that my mentor provides to expose me to new learning is trial and error. When he gives me a new music sheet to try out, he makes me figure out the music by myself first, then he turns on the music and makes me play along. After I finish playing the song, he would give me feedback and other ways I could try and play along with the song. These tips could be starting at a high octave then going lower or the rhythm I should be playing at. But before he tells me all of that, he asks me what I should be fixing. Another learning opportunity that my mentor provides me is adapting how I play music to me. Everyone plays an instrument in many ways to fit their own style. I think that is my David asks me for my feedback before addressing his. For example, if I was using my index finger for a note, he would ask my why I was using my index finger and not my middle finger. He would later say that he uses this middle finger because it is more comfortable for him, and it fits his style and body.
- What kinds of learning opportunities exist to reinforce new learning?
I think there are lot of learning opportunities that exists in the reinforce of new learning. I mean one example is what I said before, trial and error. It one of the biggest learning opportunities because learning a new instrument is all about trail and error. It is basically learning a new language in a physical form. Everyone knows that you need to practice and go over your comfort zone to progress in a language/ instrument. Another opportunity is looking at a new music sheet. Looking at something different every lesson and trying to figure out what it is trying to say is me using a lot of critical and creative thinking. The final learning opportunity I think is listening to music and thinking how I could add onto the music in a musical way. I can learn how I can make that music mine and how my bass skills would polish the piece of music. Doing that action multiple times in a week would make me more familiarized onto sight reading and my critical thinking skills.
- What kinds of opportunities exist that might accelerate learning?
There are many opportunities that could accelerate my learning but the biggest way to accelerate my learning is to constantly try a wide variety of music. First, the wide variety of music will expose me to different ways I could play my bass. Having different styles, I can tackle a song would open new doors for me which would make me use my creative thinking skills more throughout the song. Secondly, the wide variety of music would expose me to different speeds, tempos, and style. This point is specifically aiming to the bass part, not the music part (which was the last point). Trying out different ways bass is used through the music industry would add more interest to my plate. For example, when I first started to play guitar, I though it was only chords. Although, after learning the guitar, I have learned that there are numerous styles of guitar such as fingerstyle, power chords, and many more. Lastly, trying out all the skills and being exposed to new music constantly would bring me lots of practice. Having lots of practice would make my growth in learning exponential. Other then other opportunities that could accelerate my learning, this is what my mentor and I have been doing this whole time.
- When you get together what do you talk about?
I mean we start off my talking about how my practice has been, what had been hard for me, and how comfortable I am getting with the bass. Mostly, we talk about the feedback that he gives me and me communicating onto that. One thing we always talk about is what we had been up to. David is the youth mentor/ facilitator so, he wants to know about my life and what I had been up to. But I think there is not that much we talk about because most of the time, I can play the bass and reading the music sheets.
- What is going particularly well in your mentoring relationship right now?
One thing that is going well on the mentoring relationship right now is the connection ad relation. I think because he is my youth mentor, we had more time to connect and talk about life and bass. Spending more time out of the meetings, made me more comfortable talking to him and just being with him during the meetings. Also, we have other meetings and events outside of the mentoring which makes me talk about my bass and what I am doing right now.
- What are you learning about one another?
When my mentor and I are taking to each other we talk about lots of topics that are not on topic. Some of the topics that I am learning about David is this work life. Like I said, when in-depth was first staring, David got his first full-time job. He was very busy, but now he has more free time and he talks what he does during his working times. I am also learning about what he wants to do inside the ministry. He had been working in the church for a long time, so we have been talking about that as well. Some parts that David is learning about me is my school life, such was the in-depth project, what I want to do, and how I am preparing for it. I think there is not that much to talk about in the idea of ourselves because we knew each other for a long time so we know lots about each other. We mostly talk about events we could do in the youth group, retreat planning’s, and if I want to volunteer in my church more.
This is it for this blog post. Thank you for clicking in and checking up:)