My CAS Experience is learning to play keyboard. It comes under the creativity section. The goal behind this experience was to learn the basics of keyboard such as notations, chords, basic tunes, and some songs. The reason I chose this as my CAS experience is that I like listening to Music and wanted to persue my interest and develop a hobby. So I thought to learn an instrument of my liking, and chose keyboard for the same. This allowed me to understand Music in a depper manner and made me explore it in much detail.
Leanrning Outcomes:
LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
Q: Did you identify your strength and weakness?
I identified my strength and weakness in playing keyboard. My right hand was my strength, I could play notations from my right hand very gracefully, but when I had to synchrozise it with my left hand for playing chords, it was a very difficult task. I need to work upon geting my hands in sync.
Q:How do you feel now that you’re aware of it?
I feel very motivated and dedicated in order to work on my weakness, which would not have been possible if I would have not identified them.
Q:Why is it important for us to know our strengths? Or weaknesses?
It is important to know our strengths and weaknesses because without knowing that, we cannot move further ahead in our journey. If I dont know my weaknesses then I wil merely be playing just the same even if I play it 100 times. Hence, in order to improve it is very important to know the strenthgs and weaknesses.
Q: Did you work/ or would like to on your weakness? Relate one area where overcoming this weakness would have benefited you?
Yes, I did work on my weakness and improved it gradually. Overcoming my weakness of playing chords along with notes have really helped me enhance my playing skills as now when I play, it actaully sounds real and soothing to the ears.
LO2 : Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
Playing songs along with chords and maintaning the tempo is quite challenging. It was challenging because I had to use both my hands while playing a song with chords and bringing such a sync is really tough. Mainting the tempo of the song is also which was challenging as sometimes I used to go off track which would distrput the song. To overcome this challenge, I used to practice a lot expliciltely playing with both of my hands, also I would practice it allong with the song so that I maintain the tempo. After undertaking this challenge I felt quite relieved and superior as I was able to fluently play the song. I learned the skill of playing a keyboard, such a skill would help me in future if I wish to perform in front of my family or friends, I could also be a great entertainer for my family and friends in a party or so. Learing music can also help me socialize with people in the future. To conclude, It is very important to learn new skills, it helps you grow as a person and bring meaning into your life.
LO4:Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Initially, things were new to me and it took a bit of time to understand the notations and set my hand. I had to keep my patience and be commited towards the experience. Once I was thorough with one aspect of learning keyboard such as notations, I used to feel so good and would think that my comitment really paid off. But this was just the begining, to complete this experience, I really had to be commited because i also had other things going on like studies and sports, in between of all of this finding the time for learning keyboard was tough. Sometimes I did thought of leaving things if I was not able to do it, for example, when I was initially learning chords, it was really difficult for me to set me left hand as i am a right handed person, but then I did not commit and went on to overcome that weakness. To conclude, showing perseverance and commitment while doing this activity was very important, otherwise I would have just left it midway.
I developed the learnier profiles: Reflective and Balanced. Reflective because I had to reflect on my progress every time i sit for learning keyboard, this allowed me to progress in my activity. Balanced beacase, I had to balance this experiecne along with my other activities such as studying and sports. The highlight of the experience for me was when i played the song ‘Fix You’. After completing the activity I had a sense of accolmishpent, that I have done something new and have accomplished it successfully. This activity has developed a new hobby for me and I believe it will help me troughout my life. It can help me when i am lonely, it can help me to be an entertainer for a set of people, and most importantly, it will help me to express myself.
EVIDENCES:
Week 1
In this video i am playing keyboard after a long time so i am just getting my hand smooth on the keyboard so that i just get a hang of it.
Week 2
In this video I am playing the songs: happy Birthday and Twinkle Twinkle. These are some of the easiest songs on keyboard and i thought of starting with them.
Week 3-4
In this video i am playing the song’ fix you’ by coldplay. After learning the basics of keyboard, I thought of learning a song with only notes and no chords. It took me about 2 weeks to get this song right.
Week 5
In the video I am playing the song, “Scientist” by coldplay. I am playing the chords part of the song as i learned to play some basic chords this week.
Week 7
In the video I am again playing the song ‘Fix You’ but this time I am playing chords as well as notes. I initially learned the chords for the song and practiced it, then i started playing it along with the notes using both my hands and creating a sync between them.