My Journal

19-12-20

Dear diary, today I went to see my cousin’s new apartment. She moved out 3 days ago.

My father woke up I guess at around 9 or 9:30 o’clock. He woke me up at about 10:00 because we wanted to see her new apartment.When we got there, we were the first to come and while my father prepared the ingredients for the Sabich, more and more family members came. We ate, we drank, we laughed. It was really fun and I really enjoyed the visit. After that we went back home and I studied for my math test. 

2-1-21

Today was a really happy day. It was my cousin’s birthday. We met up with a lot of family members and a lot of family friends. It was really fun. I ate a lot of kebabs and 3 types of cakes. After that I went to another birthday party of a friend. We ate burgers and played some card games outside. I got home at around 8:30 pm and I ate so much food that as of right now when i am writing this post (10:43 pm) my stomach still hurts.  

4-1-21

Today I have finally finished learning and practicing Trilogy Suite Op 5 this is a song by a swidish guitarist named Yngwie Malmsteen he is known to be the greatest neoclassical guitar shredder of all time. I just got my classical guitar back (i took her to a setup) and there is a really cool acoustic part in the middle of the song that i have wanted to play for a long time. So today was the day I have finished working on the song. I will share a link of it down below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10zjQ0iFREK0iHE8WOohAsQmfKtRZ0-Wx/view?usp=sharing

11-1-21

The Gift Of Music

The activity I chose to write about is music and playing music. I fell in love with music about 2 years ago by then I only played drums for 1 year but I didn’t really care about the music I had listened to.but  one day I asked my teacher to learn a song called Get To Heaven by a band called Everything Everything and from then the journey began.

I became basically obsessed with music. Listening to punk music was one of the biggest milestones in my music journey because for a teenager fast paced music is the way to go.

In addition to that, it was around the time I started playing guitar which was at first a big mistake because I wanted to play the bass. but my dad who wanted me to play guitar told me that he will buy me a bass guitar only if I learn how to play the guitar and three months in and I already fall in love with the instrument.

But the biggest milestone that i have achieved yet was listening to metal music. At first it was really weird because that genre was really extreme but after one month I became obsessed with metal. Listening to a lot of different bands that aren’t that famous but were obscurely  talented. But one band in particular called Dream Theater caught my attention and after falling in love with them I started to realize how important music is in my life.

Dream Theater is an american Prog metal band. They are my favorite band so far and I have been listening to them for almost 1 year nonstop. they’re style and music is so different from everything I have ever heard before using jazz blues and country licks and nuances really got into my heart. John Petrucci the guitarist is my favorite guitarist of all time and I really think that the Dream Theater members are the most talented and gifted players in this entire world.   

The astonishing, Dream Theater thirteenth studio album is a concept album that revolves around the idea of a world without music and a robot called “Nomac” that tries to make music but fails miserably. although I and most people believe that this album is their worst album in terms of playing. I think that the concept and the lyrics are just phenomenal.

I don’t think I would ever survive without music in my life right now. music has become my main interest and life without it will be almost impossible to me.

(There is a track on the album called the gift of music hence the name of this assignment sharing a link if you want to check them out :D)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdPn1mCmqoE&ab_channel=DreamTheater-Topic Great solo at 2:18 😀

After this insane journey that I have been experiencing in the last 3 years I have come to realize how important music is in my life. from an activity that I have done just because I wanted time to go on to my passion and favorite hobby and activity that I do everyday all day. In my opinion the gift of music is one of the best things that have ever happened to this world. I think that playing an instrument or even just listening to music can give you a huge amount of joy and happiness in life and can lead you into new paths that you have never thought about. for example after discovering Dream Theater and started listening to them exclusively specifically to John Petrucci and his style of playing. I started listening to alot of new styles and genres of music that I have never thought I would have ever listened to like blues jazz spanish guitar flamenco and classical music.

12-1-21

Today I have finally finished working on a song I have been working on for the last month.

The song is called The Glass Prison. It’s a song by a band called Dream Theater and It has one of the most difficult solos I have ever tried to play. I have attached a link of the video of me playing it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ZGcdV7mTYwCCSuXqQNZyVtiZ2FjQLPx/view?usp=sharing

22-1-21

Today Liquid Tension Experiment released they’re first single in 21 years. This is a very special day for me because I have been waiting for new music from this super group for a long time. The second they released the single it was about 1 oclock and i wasnt home so i played over and over without headphones it was an amazing experience.

1-2-21

This year was strange,really strange. I never thought I’d need to be isolated in my own house and somehow keep my life going like nothing is happening. From the first lockdown till now I haven’t changed much but my motivation to do certain stuff for example I started going to the gym in October (when I turned 14) but for a long period of time I didn’t go to the gym because I got injured badly. When I wanted to come back the first lockdown was already upon us and since then I haven’t really trained that much which is really disappointing. But also because of the lockdown I have a lot of free time which gave me the opportunity to play more guitar. I have improved drastically because I have been practicing and playing for almost 3-4 hours a day. Another thing that was really hard for me is the fact that we don’t go to school and if we do it’s only in small groups this is a serious problem for me because i have friend that live really close to me we somehow managed to see each other but i have friend that live in the other side of Tel Aviv and school is my only chance seeing them.

One happy thing I can say about the corona is that I have somehow managed to keep my grades kind of similar to how they were before. Another good thing is I had the time to think with myself about subjects that I want to go and learn next year. Computer science is a subject that I hate with pure passion but I always thought I HAVE to learn it because it’s important to my future. Although it’s true I never enjoyed CS and every lesson is a living hell for me so i decided to take a different subject instead.

1-2-21

Dear ministry of Education, in my opinion you have been acting well for most of the time , although at first it was really hard to get used to learning the same amount of hours but through zoom when time went on everything became much easier. Still, there is a problem I would like to mention. After 3 or 4 lessons it’s really really hard to concentrate and when a normal day of school is 7 to 9 hours when school days are over i’m exhausted and tired. I know those kinds of stuff aren’t really the Ministry of Education’s fault but thought it was important to share.Anyway I think with some changes,learning in zoom will be much more fun and enjoyable.

Sincerely Yoav

8-2-21

A BIT ABOUT MYSELF:

My name: Yoav Cohen

My age: 15

My birthdate: 28/10/05

My cell number: +972- 508481188

My email: [email protected]

Brothers and sisters: None 🙂

Pets: cat 

My 3 favorite bands or musicians: Dream Theater,John Petrucci,Haken

The sports I like to play: Soccer and Tennis

My favorite video games: Overwatch Cod 

3 favorite shows or movies: Lord Of The Rings, Don’t Mess With The Zohen, The Dictator

3 Things I like to do in my spare time: Play guitar, play drums, play soccer

Interesting projects I am involved with this year: Space Lab

My favorite subject in school: Chemistry

8-2-21

today wasnt a special day I woke up in 9:00 and went straight up to my computer and joined the zoom link my teacher sent us i was learning till about 15;00 and then i played guitar and broke a string. after i changed up the strings i played till 19:00 took a shower and ate dinner.

16-2-21

Today we went to see a game in a friends house Fc Barcelona vs Paris saint germain and it was pretty funny because we all hate both of those clubs so technically we wanted none of them to win but all of us were with Barcelona this time cause if there’s something to hate more then FCB is PSG but sadly Barcelona lost the game but overall the game was a pretty good so none of us really cared about it.

26-2-21

Today LTE released they’re second single and im so excited. The entire album will be out at march 24 and i have already pre ordered a copy of the vinyl. The second single is called Beating The Odds and its such a good song I have been listening to the track non stop since they released it and im planning to learn the guitar solo.

3-3-21

Today I found out that due to printing errors the new LTE record got postponed to April 16th. when I found it I got super mad because i was waiting and i have already heard everysingle song and part by Liquid Tension i really wanted them to release new matirial as soon as possible. I know its only 3 week postpone but its still really annoying

13-3-21

Today I finished a song which I failed to play half a year ago. The name of the song is Damage Control by the legend himself John Petrucci and even he said that this song is the hardest song on the set. I have been working on this song for almost 2 months right now and I have to say this is one of the most satisfying feelings i have felt in a while.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N_kWghL0Ju6guvQ0SSIaODrSlTgslurg/view?usp=sharing

16-3-21

Today we went and play football. In the last few weeks after 2 years. I got back into foolball so i talked with some friends and we went and play. my expectation were really low cause I havent play football for almost a year but it turned out to be reallynice and fun so i can see myself playing a lot more football from now on

24-3-21

Today LTE released they’re third and last single before the full release of the album. The entire album will be out at april 16th. The third single is called Hypersonic and the intro of the song has being used as the official trailer for the Liquid Tension reunite almost three months ago. I really enjoyed the song I think its my favorite one as of right now and im reallly pumped about the release of the album.

25-3-21

Today I went to my friends birthday he lives in Ramat Aviv in a pretty nice penthouse so we got there at around 6pm and because our birthday boy loves meat we did אל האש. we were there for around 5 hours and it was pretty fun

29-3-21

The quote I chose is from a song named “The Glass Prison” from the band Dream Theater. The song is part of a series called the 12 step suite which are 5 song that talk about Mike Portnoy the drummer of the band and how he faced the 12 steps program (a rehab for alcoholic people). The glass Prison is the first song from the series and it ends with the quote “Way off in the distance I saw the door

I tried to open

I tried forcing with all of my will and still

The door wouldn’t open

Unable to trust in my faith

I turned and walked away

I looked around, felt a chill in the air

Took my will and turned it over

The glass prison which once held me is now gone

A long lost fortress

Armed only with liberty

And the key of my willingness

Fell down on my knees and prayed

“Thy will be done”

I turned around, saw a light shining through

The door was wide open”

I chose that quote not because of lhe lyrical point but because of the music behind it and how the words can be heard perfectly throughout this specific part of the song.

when i hear this part of the song only one thing comes to my mind and its POWER this is such a great way to end almost 14 minutes of an insane music.

30-3-21

Me and Ryam got to know each other by Zoom and worked together on only one assignment so far, In which I’ve had a great time working with him.Ryan is really nice but unf ortunately the only time we met was 6pm my time which is 8am his time so i didn’t really met his personality because he just woke up.  but overall i enjoyed our conversation and hope to keep in touch with him.

My Peermatch is Ryan Willems he is 14 years old and he has 2 cats. Ryan has to Italy, France and the Fiji island where he sailed with his uncle for more than 3 months. If he had millions of dollars he would give it to his family. And if he would have to choose a superpower it would be teleportation for obvious reasons. 

Ryan really likes sports.He went to Arizona to go hiking, he is playing soccer on defense and one thing he would like to do is win a race and on Easter he will go and ski.

A quote Ryan liked was “Never give up on something that you can’t pass a day without thinking about.” The Belgium soccer team inspires Ryan to play soccer because Ryan was born in Belgium. Unfortunately because of the pandemic He didn’t get the chance to play soccer that often.

2-4-21

Today I did a mistake… a big one… a really really big one i had nothing to learn on the guitar and i needed something challenging enough to play so I searched up things to learn and found a really old unison i said i would learn but the hard part is that in order to play this solo you need to pick on note with your right hand and let your left hand to do the job until the sequence is over. although its a really impressive technique and generaly sounds better than just pickning everysingle note it is kind off boring and easier than to play it in alternate picking (to pick everysingle not) so i set up a challenge to myself learn the solo but to alternate pick it and it is really really hard but as i have already said I NEED THIS CHALLENGE

how you supposed to play it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcKR0IIPT2c&ab_channel=AlpoP%C3%B6yt%C3%A4kangas

how do i want to play it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB003HYjlPI&ab_channel=AlexCampbellMusic