Here we go again.

I thought I could do even better, so this year I'm repeating the project (which is why this is still the same blog as before). As before, I'm still on the worship team for church. It's a slightly different group this year, but the routine is generally the same; a one to two month rotation that is pretty easy to follow, save for occasional schedule changes to account for personal issues. I personally think I've improved a bit over the summer, but I had to leave early for an appointment, so I haven't asked the group leader for his opinion yet. I asked him earlier to email what he thinks, though, so I'll post that when he gets back to me. I would have helped choose songs this time around as well, but I came late to practice because they bumped the time 30 minutes earlier and forgot to tell me.

I couldn't figure out what happened to my photo, so I'm somewhat lacking in that regard for this post, but I'll get it next time.

Final Reflection

Well, this was posted last month, but as mentioned in the previous posts, there were a few technical difficulties with my internet connection and hard drive the previous month, and the original must have been deleted somehow. So I guess I have to post it again.

Well, this year I was probably meant to have three or four performances at my church. Due to some strangeness and oversights with the scheduling or some other factor, I've only done two. I was hoping to get more done, as there would have been more room to show improvement, but I guess there's not much I can do much about that, seeing that the next performance is after this is due. I chose this project because, even though I've been attending my church almost since I was born (as my parents were already going to that church beforehand), I felt that I haven't made any major contributions yet. As I had been taking an extended break from playing for the worship team since the final exams last year, I figured I should get back into it and see what I could do to improve. As I needed a MAD project anyway, I figured it was a good opportunity.

I told the church that I want to start again, so they put me back on Team 1. I took afterschool classes on drumset, too, so I worked harder then, as well as attending rehearsals for Sunday worship. As far as I can tell from what my teacher and my teammates have said, I have been steadily improving, so there's success in that regard. I feel that I could have achieved more, though, if I had more chances.

I've learned that I'm really not as good as I can be in terms of making up rhythms on the drums when none are provided. Though it's not too bad, it could still use improvement. I also have some trouble with tempos that are faster than average, so that's another thing to work on. Next time, I should also regularly check in with the person in charge of the worship team schedules to make sure they know when I'm on next.

Whether or not I continue this project, I'll try to work on my skills and try to improve before each performance. I'll probably help out for our summer camp, as well, so I do have to be in good shape for that.  I plan on continuing with the worship team until the academic side of my life gets too out of hand.

As far as making a difference, it's tougher than I thought, and easier at the same time. Finding some way to do so and getting started is usually where the difficulties lie. Once that problem is out of the way, you can keep going, and maybe even enjoy it.

Feedback from team leader

You might be wondering why this is posted days before this is due, but I've been having some technical difficulties. I lost the file she wrote her comments on after trying to clean up my hard drive space, and couldn't contact her for a while as she was out of town. Been having a slightly unstable internet, too. It probably can be fixed, but the blog might be empty for a while more.
Here's her comments about the very first performance, though:


about your performance :

 • you have actually participated more by choosing songs and tried to
 coordinate with other team members for a compromise and you have come up
 with a chosen song

 •  I noticed that you have listened more to other parts of the music and
 tried to fit in wherever is appropriate. The limitation is that the songs
 has little parts for drums unless we add in more on our own.

 • more coordination and compromise and communications are needed on site and
 before practice

 Regards,
 Steena
 Sent from my iPhone

More Feedback

I actually do take lessons for playing drumset after school once a week, so I figured I'd ask my teacher about how I have improved in the last year. His written response was in Chinese, which would probably not work well on this blog. However, I've roughly translated his comments, albeit in bullet point form, with the closing comment in a sentence underneath. It's brief, but it's long enough to show his opinion:

• Positive attitude, willing to learn.
• Actively engages and tries to improve in playing songs
• Attentive and focused.
• Satisfactory progress in learning.
• Suggestions: Practice more at home.
• Suggestions: Listen to more songs and music to improve sense of rhythm and skill in fill-in segments
• Practice and try to improve hand-eye coordination and rhythm/speed

Nathanael Chu is willing to make an effort and has good comprehension. Has made significant improvement. 

Second Performance

well, it's been a while, to be honest, but my church is pretty weird with its scheduling sometimes, so I'm not exactly surprised myself. Between that and homework disappearances, major oversights seem to happen around me often. We do have a lot of teams to cycle through, so it isn't entirely their fault. On topic though, I performed for my church's worship team again, though we have had a member change. Showing another photo again would probably be a bit on the pointless side, as photos of people playing drums generally look the same no matter what they're playing, but I do have a clip this time. It doesn't seem to be working properly, however, so I'm putting in the photos just in case so that you know that it actually happened. I hope I can get it fixed eventually.