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Final Takeaways and Conclusion 🫧📝🪄

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Learning how to play the

Mandolin!🕯️✨

The range of instruments I had to interact with during this internship has made me really interested in learning other plucked string instruments, so I got a mandolin!

It’s shares the same tuning as a violin to: G-D-A-E, so I found that it has really really benefitted me in my string writing for my principle study, I’m able to make more well-informed note choices when writing. In particular, writing double stops! Knowing what open strings are available. Plus I can physically try out what fingerings are actually possible or convenient when writing parts on my mandolin since the fretboard navigation is similar !

My experience and knowledge of alternate tunings really helps me easily figure my way around new stringed instruments.

This also adds to my sonic palette and toolkit as a musician and composer, and I believe the practice of learning new instruments helps me think on my feet better when teaching in the future

Safe to say, I am in love with the mandolin🥹

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Yuying Secondary’s Teacher’s Day Video

After many months, this was the culmination of ‘I Want It That Way’. I wasn’t present when they recorded the video. This performance was intended to be live in their school hall, however due to circumstances I don’t know of, they ended cancelling it and turned it into a video instead. I think this shows how things can change very quickly in this industry, and how important it is to be able to adapt and come up with solutions to problems such as logistic, time and other issues that might happen

Some ‘OH NO’ moments my mentor has cited for me include the following:

Strings snapping right before a performance

Not having THE STRING to change

Performances being cancelled last minute

Performances being turned into videos, meaning more work to record both audios, videos, and editing both together

Having said video not being used due to miscommunication

Players going missing/MIA, she had to cover for them

After hearing these stories, I really admire my mentor for being able to adapt to all these OH NO moments. I think it’s good that I’ve seen these mishaps happen on the sidelines and not when I’m the person responsible for solving the issues. I feel more prepared for how actually working in this industry long term will be like, and now see that it’s really far beyond just teaching.

Nonetheless, I have to admit their Teacher’s Day video really was the best Teacher’s Day Present✨

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Sound testing with Beacon again

I was tasked with monitoring the sound again, this time they played ‘The Road Ahead’ as you can hear from the video, there were other CCAs using the hall simultaneously, so there were many distractions. Another task I had was to tune the ensemble’s ukelele’s, and take a video so my mentor can monitor afterwards

The Chairs Kerfuffle🪑

My mentor had gotten there earlier to set up the chairs according to the seating plan. However due to miscommunication, a teacher went to my mentor and told her to get rid of the chairs as another performing arts CCA was coming in to do their sound test first. In the end a lot of time was just wasted because of poor scheduling and communication. The whole ensemble had to wait and that time could have been used doing other things. In the future, I think I’ll make it a habit to always double check the schedules with the teacher in charge and be transparent about if I’m coming earlier to prepare/set up and not just assume.

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Recording the

Ensembles Pt. 2🎙⚡️✌️

Recording at Yuying Secondary

We used the same mics and same process of setting up with the 2 chairs. The biggest difference was that we were recording in a room without sound proofing, and were right next to the basketball court. So we would hear the coach screaming every now and then and had to catch him the right time to attempt a take. It also took a bit longer setting up, as the ensemble was wayy bigger, and at one point we asked everyone to move back as the audio was clipping.

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Recording the

Ensembles🎙⚡️

Recording at Beacon Primary

My mentor brought her rhode mics and I got to see how they usually record the ensembles for projects and etc…

Another thing to note is that this school had a recording studio with sound proofing and everything, it was also located in the library, so we didn’t have to worry about outside variables affecting the recording

Good things:

Small and easy to carry around (2 mics & 1 receiver)

Quite affordable

Can capture a stereo audio with the 2 mics

Bad things:

Quite bright sounding, the space heavily affected the audio quality, especially considering working with kids

Overall, I think these mics were a great option since schools aren’t often looking for IMMACULATE audio quality, plus I would be a little scared to use more pricey mics around so many kids too. We clipped the 2 mics on chairs and spent some time going back and forth to adjust the mic placement.

We were working with the Choir CCA as well, the coaches decided to have the choir stand in front otherwise they would be drowned out. My mentor played with the ukelele ensemble to help them volume and timing wise. I was in charge with monitoring the recordings

Chan Mali Chan🤩✨

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Borrowing an Alto Cembalo Guitar🪄🔮

My mentor allowed me to borrow one of Yuying Secondary’s Alto Cem guitars that they weren’t using, here’s a little audio clip of an idea I came up with✨👇

Struggles:

It was so so so so so OUT OF TUNE, massive intonation issues. I spent 20min tuning it and it was impossible, which was a shame🥲

The strings were VERY RUSTY, Which made it hard to slide around comfortably, which I think reflected in the playing

I have bought new strings for this guitar in case the 1st string snaps (which it’s prone to), Still love the sound of it, but wish the intonation wasn’t so bad

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Check-In with

Mentor🚨

Summary of topics covered:

She said I was doing better than expected, and that I was able to command the students attention better than most, and more firm than she expected, which was good.

Advised me to try teaching in pairs instead of 1 on 1 to save on time, can do 1 on 1 depending on the situation

For secondary schools: Allowing ourselves to trust the senior students to guide the juniors, also to help to not get stuck while teaching

Having to know when to stop; some students who have learning difficulties would stick out during a combined run in the ensemble or even in their sections. It was hard to overlook, but she reassured me that it’s better to just do what we can, and not overlook the overall ensemble by getting stuck on a handful of students

She told me many instructors in the industry end up leaving as they feel too drained by it. For example the ensemble may still not sound great even after trying their best. She cautioned me to not blame myself if a student was not able to catch up, as we have to consider the time constraints and circumstances in the job.

Importance of communication with Teachers in charge of the schools. She had faced Teachers dumping a lot of unrealistic projects onto her, such as too many performances with not enough time for students to learn. Having to be transparent about our capabilities and limitations depending on the student’s technical proficiency. Knowing when to say no.

Ensemble teaching vs Private teaching:

Seeing this job as being there to produce a decent sounding full ensemble instead of producing individual ‘musicians’ out of the students

This piece of advice really helped me shift my perspective and eased my worries when teaching. Afterwards I realised I less prone to getting stuck with 1 on 1 students, I would often teach the senior student, and then leave him to teach the juniors. I was able to save time and get more done.

Feedback to her on how to improve

Scores (Chord Charts) 📝✨

I expressed how I’ve noticed students struggling reading the scores, especially chords. I noticed many of her scores didn’t include chord diagrams and the Chord symbol itself, so I had to spend time writing the chord symbols on the students scores and waste time asking them to copy. I also noticed students didn’t know the chord names of they were playing too. I thought it was pretty alarming and it made it harder to practice as well. I also added that maybe we could try using slashes and chord diagrams instead of tabs and notations. It would look neater and save paper too. I thought this change would benefit both instructors and students and save time too.

Commemorative Picture with Yuying students and mentor

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Yuying Secondary

Sectionals

Reflection:

I was tasked with going around and checking each of the sections, I realised I would spend too much time on 1 student, I got too engrossed teaching the basics (counting, etc…) and suddenly time was up. It was frustrating as sometimes I’d have to stop halfway because they had to move on or the session was over. And it got mentally taxing too as I was teaching the same thing over and over, I was very drained by the end of a few sessions. Need to have better time management and focus on the section as a whole instead of students as individuals.

The Bar Chord Kerfuffle🍫

I noticed MANY students’ bar chords had no sound. I used to struggle a lot with teaching this, as no matter how hard I try to explain, there’s still no sound even though their fingers were in the right shape. One day I tried physically pressing down a student’s finger that was barring the strings(after asking of course hahah) and after pressing down THERE WAS FINALLY SOUND. I realised many students didn’t understand what they were suppose to feel on their left hands when holding these bar chord shapes. In hindsight I think most of them were just ‘laying’ their finger over the strings, but not applying enough pressure. After this incident, I always used this method to teach bar chords. I’ve found that it’s been the most effective method because it’s the most direct way to help the students understand how their hand is suppose to feel on the strings and how to replicate the same feeling without me pressing down on their fingers. I could see the light✨ in their eyes when they eventually figured it out🤩

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Yuying Secondary

Trials & Tribulations😰

Overtime, this batch of students got more and more unruly and hard to teach, it was a real struggle as I’ve never had to ‘scold’ before but I eventually had to do it as the students started using their phones, dropping their guitars, weren’t practicing and everything. I’ve consulted my mentor and she also said this batch was particularly hard to manage.

The common problems were students just not being interested in the CCA, many of the Sec 1s wanted to change to another CCA. So for the most part, they were not practicing at all. This was pretty frustrating because I had to deal with students giving me attitude, and having to keep my composure. I was at a lost as at how to handle the situation. However, watching my mentor give them the ‘talk’ did help me see how I could approach the situation as well. She would bring up points like having to maintain good attendance and earning enough CCA points in order to switch CCAs. And bringing up points that would make them THINK✨, she would be pretty direct and call out the problematic behaviours every time something happened so the students don’t start taking advantage of the instructors

How could I have avoided this/mitigated the situation?

I could have started off with a less ‘friendly’ demeanour, so the students wouldn’t take advantage of it

Be more firm when saying no to toilet break requests, not letting them off the hook so easily when they drop their guitars, use their phones etc… and actually listen to me mentors advice to just confiscate their phones

Could have separated the full ensemble to different rooms to prevent random students from sitting with the wrong section to talk to their friends

It was a very tough situation to handle especially when I was left alone with them. Having to balance actually teaching students, while keeping an eye on the more unruly ones.

Mentor’s Advice:

She consistently reassured me that it wasn’t my fault. She was very supportive and told me to just be firm and resort to confiscating phones, or just tell the students to report to her. She understood that it’s not natural to be strict but she assured me it’s normal and it takes time to get used to. I appreciated the advice as she acknowledged many of the struggles I was facing and told me not to get too affected and bummed out by it.

Combining Full

Ensemble

I think getting to watch and observe my mentor work with the full ensemble was the best way to learn how to handle such a big group. Like Knowing when to move on and when to keep working on a problem area in the song. You can hear her singing out the melody when a section started getting lost, and I’ve ended up doing the same thing as well.

For the most part I walked around and tried to see which sections were struggling so I can give the feedback to my mentor. For example, sometimes I’ll see an entire section just lost, can see it in their faces hahaha, so I’ll go to the section leader and help them find their way back on the score to keep up with the rest

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Teaching Tab

Reading 🎸

Example: Beacon Primary

I was in charge of the P3s again, and tasked with teaching them the melody lines of ‘Chan Mali Chan’ now. They were very weak with reading notation, so I had to teach them how to read tablature. Going off of how well teaching treble clef was, I used the same method of using the whiteboard and constantly using examples and asking the students to answer.

Struggles I Faced:

Teaching the rhythm was particularly challenging. As the students have not been taught how to count yet (eg. 1+2+3+4+), so it was very hard to explain

I’ve seen my mentor explain it as ‘playing this note 8 times’, so I tried that, but the students just got more confused because the tabs were also in numbers

I think balancing teaching both the tabs and the rhythm was too much to handle at the time especially with P3 students with very little basics

How I Adapted:

I noticed the students responded better to the ‘Play this note 8 times’ method, so I stuck with that

I sang the melody vocally while saying the numbers of the tab while playing to help the students follow along the tab in case they got lost

I instructed them to highlight the notes where they have to change strings when plucking and I asked them ‘Where do we have to change strings?’, refraining from just giving them the answer. Noticed it helped a lot to give students ‘reference points’ of sorts when playing so they don’t get lost in all the numbers (picture below)

How Can It Be Improved?:

I believe the lessons should be planned better ahead of time, for example, spending 1 lesson on tab reading first, then 1 lesson on rhythm reading and then 1 lesson to combine both in a song

I have consulted my mentor about this, and she said the school Teachers on the beacon side often throw too many projects and performances to her without planning ahead. Thus she’s had to make do to meet the deadlines, which unfortunately means it’s hard to plan properly on our end. I think this can be improved by having a candid and open discussion with the teacher in charge to explain our limitations and how we can plan the students curriculum more effectively

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Another day at Beacon Primary

13/07/23

I was tasked to handle the Primary 3 students, while my mentor took the seniors. There was around 7/8 of them so it was a small group and I think that helped to cultivate a more fun and effective lesson as I’ve realised over the past weeks that I work better 1 on 1 and in smaller groups compared to a full ensemble. I would always check up on them one by one after teaching something and give 1 on 1 time to all of them when possible.

Tasks

Ensure their ukeleles are in tune

Teach them the chords for ‘Chan Mali Chan’ : C G & D7 (Also teaching some how to read the chord charts provided in the score, attached below)

Teach them theory, following their theory books, topic today was reading the Treble Clef

Short Reflection

When teaching the chords, I noticed some of them really preferred having their chord books open as a reference, I assume it’s because it’s something more familiar compared to the plain B&W score. Thus, maybe just for primary school scores, we can start making the chord diagrams bigger and maybe even have some of the dots in different colours to indicate which fingers on the left hand to use, make it more visually striking ?

When teaching theory, I used the white board to draw out the stave and treble clef, it was my first time teaching how to read the treble clef so it was A BIT SCARY. But I think I managed well, I would call out the students one by one and made sure I got to everyone at least once and ask them to name me each of the notes. If they got it wrong, I would explain how to get to the answer slowly, like counting the ledger lines and working backwards etc.. I also tend to use a more ‘hyper’ and ‘casual’ tone when teaching to maintain their attention to make it less intimidating. And feel like I’m their friend. I think it worked because subsequently, they were always happy to see me and would ask me a lot of questions. In conclusion, I see how being interactive helps SO MUCH when teaching. And also I felt like I discovered a comfortable ‘tone’ and ‘vibe’ that works with this group of students, and will continue using it in the future.

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Sound Test at Beacon Primary

We were at the school hall for the sound test, and when I arrived they had already this set up:

2 overhead mics

1 student playing a ukelele through DI box

1 student playing a bass ukelele through DI box

This performance was going to be taken place in the exposed school hall during a CCA fair, thus it will be noisy, we were taking this into account as we monitored the sound

I was tasked with standing at the back of the hall to monitor the overall sound to feedback to my mentor and the CCA teacher

Another task was just going around and helping students tune their ukelele’s to help my mentor save time as she dealt with the mics

My mentor was playing with the students, seated at the corner, she tried to set up a chair in front slightly distanced from her, and placed another mic on top to capture her ukelele to try helping the ensemble sound more cohesive. We ran into pretty bad feedback issues, in hindsight, we realised it was the type of mic polarisation that was largely causing the feedback, we decided to take it away for today

We also tried going back and forth on the overhead mics to see what distanced was most effective in capturing the sound of the ensemble, too near and it only captured 1 player and sounded way too thin, too far and it didn’t capture anything at all, so it took some time

Planning Student’s

Seating Arrangement

I learnt how seating plans are SO IMPORTANT, I somehow didn’t register that this would be an issue. But watching how my mentor planned it out made me realise how much thought really goes into it. Such as:

Headcount of the students, knowing every student’s section

Space constraints

Who is using a DI ukelele, Bass ukelele

Most efficient seating for students to switch their sections in between songs

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Fun Fact I’ve

Learnt

After painting my nails different colours on each finger, I’ve found that it helps with teaching the primary school kids!! I guess it helps them visually. I had this realisation when I was asking one of the students to tell me which finger I was using to press a particular note (eg. C) to see if they understood what I was explaining, and he went ‘GREEN!’

After that encounter, I started explaining using my nail colours, like saying ‘OK GIRLS USE YOUR RING FINGERS OK? LOOK AT MY GOLD FINGER’ and I found that it did help hahaha

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Chij Primary Girls

04/07/23

It has been a while since I’ve last seen the girls, and they are the most enthusiastic students amongst the schools. I was excited to finally get to see them again. They greeted me once I opened the door, it was very VERY WHOLESOME. Today I was assigned to instruct the P3 students again, I’ll be listing down the tasks and a short reflection for each task

Follow the notes the students have been practicing (Attached below)

Help the students 1 by 1 or in pairs - depending on students’ skill levels

Lead everyone to try the exercise together

Give them a 5 min break

Continue the 2nd exercise provided in their notes for a bit (not in full due to time constraints , was higher in difficulty, required more time)

5. Assign guitar parts to each student for a new song that they will be playing with the P4 students (‘Rewrite The Stars’)

Below is a table I’ve listed how I thought through assigning the girls for their respective parts

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Yuying Secondary

Pt. 2

FULL GUITAR ENSEMBLE AND THEIR VARIOUS INSTRUMENTS

This was one of the most fun parts of the internship, as I’ve never really been exposed to these instruments.

The full guitar ensemble comprises of a multitude of unique guitars spanning across a wide range of pitches/ranges and timbre. The concept of a ‘guitar ensemble’ originated in Japan, thus most of these instruments are mostly sold from Japan.

Another thing to notes is that only secondary schools adopt these full ensembles as primary school students are mostly not physically big enough to handle some of the larger bass guitars

The standard classical guitar is dubbed the ‘Prime Guitar’ .

Below is a compilation of the various instruments I saw on my first day in Yuying Secondary.

Soprano Guitar

Pear-shaped body

6 Nylon strings tuned an octave higher than standard prime guitar

Plays melody lines to highlight main melodies, or counter lines within arrangements

Usually assigned to 2-3 players total within ensemble

I have not gotten to spend much time with this one as none of the current students are playing this guitar during lessons. However, I assume it would be familiar to navigate as the tuning is the same.

Alto Cembalo Guitar

6 steel strings tuned to B E A D F# B : the 7th fret of a prime guitar

Ability to cut through the entire ensemble due to its distinct timbre from steel strings

Usually assigned to 2-3 players

Strings are VERY THIN, are prone to breaking very easily by just tuning it. Therefore, the ensemble always keeps extra 1st and 2nd strings in stock for this guitar

I fell in love with this guitar the moment I got to play it. I would describe its tone as a dialed down mandolin. It’s gentle yet cuts through. Navigating this one was also relatively easy as it was just like imagining playing a regular guitar with a capo on the 7th fret.

Furthermore, besides the rusty strings, it was very easy on my left hand due to its small size and thin strings. Harmonics sounded GORGEOUS on this one. Was very inspired to use this guitar for my own compositions and song-writing.

Guitarron

I did not manage to work much with this section, as they were mostly very solid and didn’t need much work, the seniors were very good at guiding the Sec 1s

I do know that they use their elbows more than their wrists when plucking the strings

I tried playing this once, and was shocked at how much harder it was to press the strings with my left hand, the action on these instruments were 💥😵‍💫

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Yuying Secondary pt. 1

I was again, intimated before going in as I was nervous that Secondary school students would be more rebellious and if I would have to change my tone when talking.

I realised interacting with secondary school students is WAY DIFFERENT to primary school students.

SECONDARY VS PRIMARY

In primary schools, it’s very instructional: ‘step 1: blah blah, step 2: blah blah blah’, and it’s all spelled out for the students. This goes beyond just learning the music, but also for how to practice, how to keep their guitars etc… the tone I use when speaking to them is more ‘teacher-like’

In secondary schools, the students are no where as enthusiastic as primary school kids. So it took more effort on my end to engage them and make the lesson look more interesting and fun. Because for them it’s been a 7 hour day, they are EXHAUSTED, and you can see it on their face. Thus, I tend to use a more friend-like, casual tone.

Overall, I enjoy the contrast between the 2 and I know it’ll take more time to properly firgure out my teaching style for both.

The ensemble received their new song ‘I Want It That Way’

After my first day at Yuying, I met my seniors for mookata, they nagged me to complete this intern journal, I appreciate them a lot for doing so🤪

They shared about our experiences doing their internships and we went back and forth. It was fun to hear how they faced the struggles with their internships and how they adapted and reflected upon their experiences.