JK - Evaluation: Lesson 11

Complementary Studies: Liam Marley

Pupil: Joe Kosminsky
Date: 03/03/08
Evaluating Time: 2hrs


All objectives were completed to a satisfactory level during this lesson. Joseph did not seem to struggle with any task, if he did it was to be expected with the amount of new material that he has taken on. However Joseph was a little apprehensive with the music theory, this is not because of the difficulty of the content, but due to the stigmata of any theory based learning, it is perceived as a chore and a bore, however it is essential when progressing with an instrument.


Lesson Objectives:

1.) To initiate the pupil into the ten-minute practice routine, however this time utilising the scale of C major in the chromatic finger per fret form.

Outcome: Great improvement was demonstrated during the lesson with Joseph’s hand techniques, his finger flow was better, with good chromatic form between his first three fingers. Even the fourth finger on Josephs left hand had began be used more frequently, although the third finger is utilised as a support for it. This will lead to bad habits in the future where the pupil will begin to stop using their third finger all together.

When a practice run of the C major scale was done during the warm up session, Joseph kept making the mistake of playing C, D, E, F, G, A, B♭, C instead of C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. This is an easy mistake to make, as the pupil is just mimicking the patterns for the root note C and the fourth interval note F, where they are both played with the second finger, where the B♭ is played with the third. As this is the dominant of the two, it will feel more natural keep fretting in this manner.


2.) To go through the scale of C major with the pupil in more detail, verifying that they understand the subject.

Outcome: As this was only the second lesson to involve the scale of C major, it was beneficial for Joseph to keep practicing the major pattern so that each fret was played with a specific finger in the correct chromatic fashion. Once Joseph had grasped the pattern and understood that there were no sharp or flat accidentals present in the scale, a little exercise was put into practice. This involved learning both the C major scale and the notes on the fret board, as Joseph was asked to see if he could play the scale else where on the bass.

This was a hard exercise to undertake, considering Josephs fret board knowledge was not that great. It was probably too early to be carrying out exercises such as this, however it was implemented to get the pupil thinking about notes elsewhere than first seven frets.


3.) To persist learning ‘The Ballad Of John and Yoko’ by The Beatles.

Outcome: Joseph was becoming more confident with each new bass line and pattern that was learnt. However sometimes he became too adventurous for his ability and would always speed up, which led to his timing and rhythm being lost. This would also occur with the ‘The Ballad Of John and Yoko’, which is not surprising as it is an upbeat song and it is enjoyable to play along to. However Joseph could not quite manage the chord changes across the fret board, which is why a pre programmed beat was utilised. This way the tempo could be decreased while Joseph practices the arrangement and chord changes at his own pace, while still having something to aim for - keeping in time and rhythm with the beat. When Joseph became comfortable with this tempo it was increased. The pupil was comfortable with this for the first eight bars then problems with his fret crossing occurred from the B major to the E major. The tempo had to be decreased once more so this transition could be practiced.

To aid with Josephs fret crossing problem, the walking blues bass line was played, initially with quarter notes (refer to Figure 1) and then with eighth notes (refer to Figure 2). Unfortunately Joseph kept neglecting his fourth finger and reverting back to using just his three fingers and therefore straying from the chromatic finger form. This had to be pointed out every time, as not to let the pupil persist with this form and eventually be stuck with a bad habit that will be difficult to break out of.


G -|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
D -|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
A -|---------------2--------5--------2---------|--------------2--------5--------2--------|
E -|-----3---------------------------------------|-----3------------------------------------|

(Figure 1 – quarter note lengths)

G -|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
D -|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
A -|--------------2-2------5-5------2-2------|-------------2-2------5-5------2-2-----|
E -|-----3-3------------------------------------|----3-3-----------------------------------|

(Figure 2 – eighth note lengths)



4.) To give a more thorough explanation of music theory, in terms of beats and bars, rhythm (note lengths), the music staff and the bass clef.

Outcome: With Josephs background as a music producer and a beginner acoustic guitarist, he was already familiar with beats and bars. Joseph knew that there were four beats in a bar and from his GCSE music lessons he was able to remember a crochet (quarter) note. However after going over the rest of the note lengths and demonstrating them on the bass, they too became clear. It was decided that Joseph would prefer to use the American terms for note lengths rather than British terms, such as a whole for a semibreve, a half note for a minim, etc, as it obvious what was meant.

Joseph did awfully well in this objective, considering there was quite a lot to take in, he struggled a little when it came to introducing rests and the music stave but these will be recapped again later on.