Week 6 - WTF?

 These posts are becoming less and less about classes and more about my relationship to classes. 

(I guess that does make them about classes?) 

It's turned into journaling which is fine, it's my blog! :-) 

Hit another huge roadblock with theory this week. Had an assignment given out Monday and due today (Friday) that I had a question about. Teacher has Zoom office hours Tuesdays @ 5:00. This week I missed that so I asked questions in Slack, which he never did get back to me. So I did the assignment best I could with the understanding I had (or thought I had) and turned it in.  This caused me no end of anxiety the entire week culminating in a near PA last night. I'm doing / taking all the things I'm supposed to to deal with PA, but sometimes they get the best of me.

Worried that I am the slowest person in class. Which in and of itself might not be bad, after all it's about understanding the concepts, not how fast you do them. Right? Each class (M & F each week) we start out with analysis. He writes out 8-16 chords in a progression on the white board. 

We need to the following:

• Starting out working horizontally across the staff:
1. Copy the progression down
2. Analyze the progression (determine what key it's in and identify the chords with symbols. 
• In the key of C: a C Major 7 chord is analyzed with the Roman Numeral [I Maj7]. A G7 chord is [V7/I]. (You are not expected to understand this, apart from realizing this is a step that takes some time)
3. Identify and spell out the scales each of those chords uses within the analyzed key. 
• In the key of C:, C Major7 is analyzed as [I Maj7] & uses the C Lydian Scale, those are the series of pitches you can choose from to create voicings for a texture. A G7 chord, is analyzed as [V7/I] and uses the G Mixolydian Scale. etc. ad nauseam. (For further reference, in the Key of G: the same C Major 7 chord is analyzed as IV Major 7 and uses a C Lydian scale. Key matters!)
4. Create voicings of the given chord progression using pitches from the associated scales (you should know that scales have 7 pitches but not all of them are available to use in a chord, this also depends on the key and how the chord is used in that key.) 

(You can see how complicated this can become!)

• Now working vertically on the staff paper:
• Depending on which voicing system you are using, the rules are different (now even more complex.)
• Voicings can be anywhere from 2 to 7 pitches, however we limit ourselves to 4, 5, and 6 voices. 
• Create a vertical voicing that uses pitches from the correct scale, (BUT), not use the pitches you are supposed to avoid. (for reference, if sounded vertically, avoid notes destroy the nature (sound) of the chord and lead to a confusing progression.)

(VISUAL AID)

The little crosses are 'avoid' notes, the ones that if sounded vertically destroy the nature of the chord.

• Once you have created a voicing for one chord, you move on to the next chord.
• Here's the deal with that though, you can't just arbitrarily chose a note from each chord to use in the voicing, now we deal with 'voice leading' which prevents each voice (instrument) from jumping all over their range. You want each player's part to be smooth if possible, so, each voice needs to lead to the subsequent voice by as little movement as possible.

Long story short, all of this work takes time. For the first 5 weeks, I did alright finishing about the same time as everyone else. Lately, it's been taking me longer and longer each class to finish. Today I was barely finished with step 2 (above) when he asked who needed more time. WTF? I'm barely 1/2 way there. (living on a prayer! sorry, my train of thought derailed) 

My first thought was, "Am I really this slow? Is everybody really finished and I'm the slow cog in this machine?" To which I immediately answer, "Yes, you are and yes they are!" Now, I have no proof of this as nobody spoke up and said they needed more time, but from experience I know there are three students in class that were finished. One just came from a jazz program (notorious for their understanding of chords) and another I refer to as Hermione as he always knows the answer and is always the first finished. 

Reality could as easily be that those 3 are done and the rest of us are somewhere between starting and finishing.

So I'm stuck with wondering if I am really that slow compared to everyone else. As mentioned above, is that really the point? I understand the concepts, I just need more time to put them to practice. 

I am hoping to find an answer to that question over the weekend.