Transitions Update- Family

This is my final update as the semester comes to a close, so I thought it appropriate to talk about who has helped me make it through the semester. My family. I love how my family never ceases to come through for me. All of those times that I forgot to bring my paper and my mom takes the time to find and email it to me last minute. All of those times that I forget something at home and my dad takes the time out of his day to bring it to me. And my sister, who is nice enough to drive me everywhere. My younger siblings who always make my day better.

I have come to appreciate the time I get to spend with them more. In high school, homeschooling, I saw them every minute of every hour of every day. Now, i'm lucky to see them in the mornings for a little bit, if they are awake, and when I come home for dinner. I am very greatful for a family that loves and cares for me, is always there for me, always eager to help me succeed, and keeps me set straight no matter what I'm going through.

 

This girl, UGH! what would I do without her! I think I can solidly argue that I have the best older sister in the world. She's always there for me, no matter what I need. Always ready to hear about my little "Freshman problems" and help me fix them.  

My awesome parents! Ever-ready to get me out of any scrape that I can't get out of myself. Always loving me and worrying about me.

 My little sister who helps keep me crazy.

 

 

Baby Brother #1, who should seriously be the next Andrea Boccelli, and if not, then Frank Sinatra will do just fine.

 And Baby Brother #2 who's always there to give me hugs and kisses when I'm feeling down. I couldn't decide which picture was cuter, so I'll just let you decide.

  Love these people so much! These guys are my support group, my team. They're always there for me, and I am so so SO grateful for them every day.

 

 

Questions, nice comments, and ideas are great. The whole idea of this blog is to help me better my writing. Any positive feedback is welcome.

Confidence in Talking to Myself

In Virgil's Aenid, he writes "Possunt quia posse videntur" or "they can because they think they can" (17). This is very true in any type of performance situation, whether sports, your job, school or in my case music. In this past week, God has blessed me with three performance opportunities. As a performance major, this is a BIG deal, since this is all great work experience and music resume material. 

I was invited last minute this past Saturday to play at an old friend's (who had been in the same guitar studio when I started taking lessons) wedding. Since we had just talked about this blog post in class the day before I was invited, this was a great opportunity to see my confidence- or lack of it- in action. I took careful note of what kept going through my head as I prepared. When I was first asked to play at his wedding, my first immediate mental reaction was"No! I can't do that! There's no way I can have those songs performance ready in one school day!" I had failed at the very beginning. However, I remembered that we had also been talking about goals in Comp class to prepare for the "Write to Serve" project. One of my goals had been to take advantage of every performance opportunity that came my way. This snapped my mind into "Yes man" mode and I agreed to the performance. Over the course of the next day again and again my mind kept freaking out. How was I going to do this? I didn't want to ruin my friend's wedding! The one thing I had to keep repeating to myself was that I had performed the main piece for all of my scholarship performances last spring. I had to keep telling myself "If I could do it then, I can do it now!" 

Also, a few weeks back, I had been invited by the music teacher at Paten Elementary to play for her fourth and fifth graders this past Thursday  With the wedding performance, I had completely forgotten about it until my mom reminded me a few days before. This time, I was prepared. Yes, I did struggle some at first when I saw that I didn't have much time to prepare, but I was able to bring it all under control by remembering how much of a success that the wedding had been. That got me through, and this performance was a success as well.

Finally, this past Friday evening, another friend called and told me that because of the cold weather we have been having lately, she had to drop the band that she had hired and find someone who could play indoors that night. With the success of the past two performances behind me, I had the confidence that I could do it, and said no without any hesitation other than some minor details about repertoire length, but that was soon sorted out. That performance was a success as well. Thus, I know very well first-hand how much of a difference confidence can make in a performance situation. 

Work Cited
Nettleship, Henry, et. al. "Liber Quintus." Trans. Henry Nettleship. Virgil's Aeneid. 
     London: George Bell and Sons, 1898. 1-59. Print. 

(Originally wrote this last week, but forgot to publish it. Found it today and decided to revise :D)




Questions, nice comments, and ideas are great. The whole idea of this blog is to help me better my writing. Any positive feedback is welcome.