You're Invited...

...to the Jessie pity party! Wahoo! Won't this be fun?

Today in class, Mrs. Theory noticed we were a bit stressed. We informed her that some of us have a scary music history exam tomorrow.
"You don't like music history?" She asked.

A classmate quickly retorted, "Oh, we like music history just fine. We just don't like the class."
I would add that I don't mind the class, just the insane amount of difficult work and the crazy exams!
Oh, and I don't really like being told I'm going to fail. That's probably the clincher.

I've listened to some astonishingly gorgeous pieces, learned some fascinating things about musical form and the progression of art music through the Catholic Church and into the secular realm, etc, etc., but I'm terrified about tomorrow! (Isn't that a backward form of teaching/learning?)

Why do specifics matter when I understand the overall concepts?
Like, "Describe the progression of polyphony from it's earliest appearance through the late 14th century, using specific treatises, composers, pieces, styles, and textures." In an in-class essay. (Those are my words, but they're pretty close to Mrs. Music History's.)

Yikes! I've written 4 essays, and now I'm working on memorizing their main points.
Tomorrow's exam also includes score analysis. This is early music history, people! Bach won't even be born for hundreds of years!

Speaking of Bach, I didn't get to practice my fugue today because of tomorrow's exam. :-(
(All together now: Awwww)

Thanks for participating! Depending on tomorrow's results, we may have another party soon!