14 thoughts on “A Ditty

  1. Aziel, this is such a unique project. I didn’t expect this so when I saw it in class I was so excited. I loved how you used music as a tool to convey your feelings and experiences in the conservative church. I appreciated how you took the time to explain in class what each step of this piece signified. My favorite part was how you described the church as the piano and your instrument was in a battle with it. At the end when the quartet came in without the piano I was so impressed. I think you deeply conveyed your thoughts/feelings/experiences in both a relatable and creative way. Nice job! Your project was truly one of my favorites presented.

  2. As I said in class, I loved this tune! The key of B♭ reminds me of my trombone days. I especially like the D minor to B♭ to C6\9 sus 2 (I think?) to B♭ to F6/D in measure 24 and the beginning of 25, sounds beautiful! I didn’t know you were an Eastman student, but now that I do, I’m not surprised at all — you seem like one! (in a good way!)

  3. This is such a cool project!! I don’t know much about music, but after hearing your explanation, it was so cool to see how you translated your experiences with identity and religion into this piece. Listening to it in class was super impactful, and I really appreciate the symbolism throughout it.

  4. This project is very neat. I really like how you explained what each part of the story was and how each transition in the music connected to your personal experiences. I think it is so valuable how music can convey so many emotions and tell stories without words, and you definitely did that. The story you told verbally was already personal but getting to hear how you imagined your story would sound in music made it feel like you were communicating so many emotions that words couldn’t justly convey.

  5. Aziel, this was such an awesome project and presentation! I love that you chose to use music to express yourself here. I really liked the idea of yourself as the horn and your religion as the piano. I thought that the way you composed this piece made your experience with the hardships of coming out very clear, and the music sounded really nice too! I hope that you continue using music as a creative outlet and accomplish wonderful things!

  6. I think that this project is SO COOL. It’s amazing how you can use music to express your religious journey. I am most definitely not a very musically-minded person, yet I could still follow the music’s progression and subsequent meaning based on your explanations in class. Like religion and sex, music is also something that is so universal and something that anyone could listen to and hopefully understand. I really hope that this project gets out there for other people who may relate to your journey to hear as music can oftentimes express emotion in ways that words cannot.

  7. This might be one of the coolest projects I’ve seen in a long time. I grew up in a very musical religious household and having my own personal experiences with realizing I didn’t align with what my religion taught, along with seeing my brothers journey as well made it so I could kind of feel this music with you if that makes sense. Your explanation of each part of the piece showed how much thought you put into it and how significant every little part of it is. If I’m being honest I might be feeling a little emotional thinking about your presentation again as I can feel how impactful it was. I think it’s incredible how you were able to incorporate your musical talent into this project, amazing job!

  8. I absolutely loved your project! I know very little about music, and it is so cool to see when someone can create something like this. Even knowing very little I could still see (and hear) your journey in the music which was so cool. Growing up in the church, and even going to an evangelical summer camp in the bible belt, where music was a big deal, I could relate to your project a lot. I loved this!

  9. Once again, this project was very well executed. I think the way you decided to show your transition and experience through music was extremely impactful and beautiful. It was very clear and I think you made it accessible to begin to understand part of your experience. In the bigger scheme of things, it shows a trans experience through all the hardships and battles but the beautiful arrangement, I think shows to give hope. Thank you again for your project!

  10. This was such a creative and unique project! I personally find music composition to be very difficult, and this was executed so well – I loved how you were able to take a story and turn it into an instrumental piece. You could really hear the journey throughout the music which was super cool. Great job!

  11. Aziel, although I haven’t looked at sheet music since my middle school trumpet years, I was fully able to follow how you related the music to your own experiences, and I thought that in itself was pretty impressive. The arrangement was beautiful all on its own, but listening to it in the context of your changing thought process articulated the parts of such an experience that could never be described with words. Music is such a cool and underrated medium for this kind of project, and I am really glad that you chose to take this route.
    I also just wanted to say that I have genuinely enjoyed your class discussions because you have a lot of thought-provoking questions, and I really like your sense of humor.

  12. I absolutely love the creativity in this project! I really appreciated how you made a reference to religious music within the piece. As a musician myself, I enjoyed how the different sections expressed different tonalities and I was able to see how you were able to convey your conflicted feelings at one point in the song when the horn melody and piano rhythms almost contradicted each other. Overall, I really enjoyed this, you are very talented! Thank you for sharing!

  13. I thought that this was such a unique project! I loved the way you used music to express your experience with identity and religion. After hearing your explanation of how you composed your piece, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your piece and thought it was both beautiful and so deeply impactful. Thank you for sharing it!

  14. Aziel, this project was so cool and creative, and it was amazing to see your passion for music and your background and identity combine to create an impressive finished product! I don’t know anything about music theory, but from what you explained in class, I could very clearly see how your experiences translated into the music. I loved the part where your horn went a bit crazy and then asserted its independence from the church/piano by being accompanied by other horns. This really showed how effective of a medium music is!

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