philipforintoncasblog

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Summarising Post

CAS Project: A Train To The End Of Time https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711298384215064576/cas-project-investigation?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711299597846429696/cas-project-preparation?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711301355229347840/a-train-to-the-end-of-timemp3?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711302020669358080/a-train-to-the-end-of-time-ft-maksmp3?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711305066133553152/a-train-to-the-end-of-time-musical-scorepdf?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711305709142343680/cas-project-reflection?source=share 1. Evidence of identification of strengths and areas for personal growth (LO1) https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/678002580298809344/cas-activity-blog-november-no-2?source=share https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-activity-blog-january-no-1-this-week-i/h8mirme4sm9w 2. Evidence of undertaking new challenges and developing new skills in the process (LO2) https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/711260160922959872/february-cas-activity-no-1?source=share https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/new-recording-649mp3/4e5xd4evflr0 3. Evidence of initiating and planning a CAS experience (LO3) https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-activity-blog-week-1/2gmm5wu691yx https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-service-january-no-1/gktofndyc3y5 4. Evidence of commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences (LO4) https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/a-train-to-the-end-of-time-musical-scorepdf/z3ihlc37sfh8 https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/february-cas-activity-no-2/mzzkdydyq4uf 5. Evidence of demonstrating the skills and recognizing the benefits of working collaboratively (LO5) https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/new-recording-649mp3/bemmdkjc879p https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-project-preparation/rqlz8tkbsje4 6. Evidence of engagement with issues of global significance (LO6) https://www.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/665411361567817728/cas-service-blog-week-1?source=share https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-service-blog-week-1/b4dmjyoohl62 7. Evidence of recognizing and considering the ethics of choices and actions (LO7) https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-activity-and-service-february-no-1/hqbb2giuqjxf https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-service-blog-week-1/0xz927s7cpbm https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/cas-service-blog-week-1/b4dmjyoohl62 Evidence of reflection on significant CAS experiences https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/a-train-to-the-end-of-time-musical-scorepdf/z3ihlc37sfh8 https://at.tumblr.com/philipforintoncasblog/august-cas-activity-no-2/wrpk0166tdnj

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Final Reflection

By the end of CAS, I have experienced a renewed interest in many of the hobbies that I used to enjoy, and it has given me the opportunity to revive that interest. Before CAS, I never had the initiative to train in tennis on my own, and so my tennis skills had rotted away for years until now. I also take great pride in my musical achievements that I may not have been so eager to accomplish. 

For me, the strand I had the most difficulty with was the Service. It was a totally new experience to me, and so I was learning the different methods of teaching and how to make sure the student is engaged as I taught. I also had to learn about the teaching material and it was especially important that I knew where my students were on the spectrum of the English language.

The strand I enjoyed the most was tennis. The game of tennis is something that everyone in my family plays, and I had given up on it by the time I moved to Raszyńska IB. I have improved my game a lot by now, and I have discovered that training in tennis is not the only way to improve the way you play it. Swimming, jogging and other exercises play an important role in improving your physique, so they must not be ignored.

However, Creativity was my forte, because I had already played the drums for quite a few years and I had many strengths in already being able to read music. Therefore, learning the guitar and improving my drumming was an assignment in which I wasn��t starting from scratch.

Overall, CAS has fixed my bad habit of leaving my hobbies to languish and not making any effort to organise events considering those hobbies.

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Learning Outcomes

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Project - Reflection

All in all, my CAS Project has led to an unexpected growth in my musicianship. I can write music easier and I’ve learnt how to collaborate with other musicians. It has been a revival of sorts for my interest in music, and I have found it a pleasurable experience to create new songs. A Train To The End Of Time for me is an unconventional composition in the fact that only those who have worked on it can enjoy it. Any outsider would think that there is no pride to take from creating a song with little popular appeal, but its artistic complexity and the process of creating it has made it an unforgettable memory.

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Project - Action No. 3

Because Matthew sadly passed away, we were unable to record an ultimate version combining our first take and the joint effort with Maks Charaziński. However, I still managed to write down the musical score. I wrote down the musical score using noteflight, a web-based app that is able to digitally create the bars and notes, so that its not a sketchy mess. It was really difficult to create the piano progression, as I had not done music theory in a long, long time. In this 4/4 time piece, for every bar I had to hold up the phone to my hand and listen to the exact 16th or 8th of a second that each crotchet or rest lasted in order to recreate it to perfection. The drums were easier, of course, because they were largely a repetitive progression with the occasional drum fill; The drum fills were especially hard to transcribe, as I am a bit of a perfectionist. It took me a total of 4 hours to arrange the piano composition, and 2 hours for the drum composition.

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Project - Action No. 2

We recorded another version of the song with Maks Charaziński, a guitarist that I work sporadically with and sometimes joins us in the studio. He was on board with the idea of adding the guitar as a lead instrument whilst Matthew and I continued our usual rhythm. We ended up drawing out the song for an extended jam, and I’m really happy with the sound we produced. This version is slightly faster than our original, because of my bad habit of accidentally speeding up if I get too excited about something. Because of Maks’ addition to the composition, we were able to explore our skills in this area of music further.

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Project - Action No. 1

Amazingly, our first take of the song was actually the purest take. Even though Matthew and I initially admitted that we had made mistakes during the recording, we both thought they actually fixed to make the song sound better when we replayed the recording. For example, the intro dum-fill I played sounded particularly bad at first, but to me it resembles the chaos of starting up a train engine, in a way.

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Project - Preparation

Matthew and I came up with a name for our song: A Train to the End of Time. The way we developed the name was funny. Matthew devised a chord progression on the piano and asked me to drum to it. I, without and method of drumming or any conscious decision, played a RA-ta-ta-ta-RA-ta-ta-ta snare drum progression and it sounded like a train, he said. And somehow, it became A Train to the End of Time.

During this time, Matthew and I knew what direction the song was taking, and so our plan was to record many improvised versions until there was one that stuck, and then we would record it on our phones and on paper.

[philipforintoncasblog]

CAS Project - Investigation

For our CAS project, Matthew and I resolved to write a song, with just the two of us on the drums and the piano. I'm on the drums, and Matthew is on the piano. Matthew and I have always been very interested in music and developing our writing skills, as we have been collaborating in music sessions since February 2022. In this CAS project we will explore and venture just how far we can go in the realm of music, even though neither of us are serious musicians, so its a project that revolves around creativity. We will record a song and also write it down in musical notation.

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Learning Outcomes

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Service No. 2

In our most recent lesson, I taught Jullia about the differences between "much" and "many". We practiced using these words in various contexts such as talking about quantity of food, money, and time. I used visual aids and interactive exercises to help Julia grasp the concept. She was a quick learner and picked up on the differences between the two words with ease. By the end of the lesson, she was able to use "much" and "many" correctly in her own sentences. Overall, it was a successful lesson and I was pleased with Julia's progress.

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Service No. 2

In my last lesson with Andrii, we worked on phrasal verbs related to travelling. I started by introducing some common phrasal verbs like "set off", "get in", and "take off". We then worked on the meanings and usage of each phrasal verb in different contexts related to travel. To practice, we had a discussion about our travel experiences, and Andrii used the phrasal verbs we learned to describe her own trips. He was very engaged throughout the lesson and seemed to have a good understanding of the material by the end of it. It was satisfying to see his confidence in using phrasal verbs grow throughout the lesson.

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Activity No. 2

Continuing with the double-handed strategy in my training, I think I am doing quite well. I am managing to keep my aim relatively within the parameters of where I want the ball to land, and my swings are not as telegraphed, which means my left arm has gotten used to the physical exercise that it needs to be.

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Activity No. 1

After some advice from my coach, I decided that I would train with two rackets for the next few weeks, to help balance out the weight between my right and left side. Mladen said that the left hand was almost as important as the right hand in playing tennis itself, and so it can't be left behind whilst building all the muscle on the right.

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Creativity No. 2

Today, Maks and I decided to play some songs from our favourite bands, including Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Frank Zappa and Cream. This song here is Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child, where I played a bit slower for fear of speeding up the song too much.

[philipforintoncasblog]

February CAS Creativity No. 1

This recording of myself playing drums and Maks on guitar is my favourite of all time! In this session, I decided to use the traditional grip in holding drumsticks, which is quite hard as, unlike the other grips, you keep the drumstick close to the drum, nearly touching but not, and you twist your wrists like opening a door. It made the drums sound really cool, and I was able to utilise a really cool sounding buzz technique on the snare, which is quite hard to play in tandem with loudly hitting the snare on the next beat. Not to mention, our cooperation, working in tandem without even talking to each other, made me feel like we were reading each other's minds! I'm very happy with the progress I've made on the drums.

[philipforintoncasblog]

January CAS Learning Outcomes