Here it comes!

Here it comes! The end of the semester! Packed full with nerves and excitement all blended together until you can't tell the difference between the two. Nerves about Juries, and vespers, the upcoming semester, finals and final grades. Excitement for the holidays and perfomances. It's all coming around. By now I have started to feel some relief alongside the tension. Some classes are coming to a close while others are going at full speed. Registration is over and done, I am signed up for every class I needed/wanted. Next week is Thanksgiving and I get a little breath of rest and relief.

 

Looking back, I feel so blessed to have had so many oppotunities come up. I have gotten to perform at Paten Elementary, a friend's art show, another friend's wedding, and am looking at maybe another opportunity to play at a Christmas party next month. I also feel a little overwhelmed at how much I feel I have learned in such a short span of time, particularly about music. If you had given me a sheet of music this past summer and told me to sing it to you then and there, I never would have been able to. If you had played an inerval and told me to name it I probably couldn't have without some struggle. If you had asked me spell out the chords in a scale or write out a simple melody for the progression, I would have looked at you like you were crazy, and I NEVER would have thought I could learn so much on piano so quickly! And it all does seem like it happened so quickly. I still remember going to commencement speeches and fall regisration like it was only last week, and now the semester's about to be over soon.

 

 I'm excited for next semester and what it has in store for me. New friendships, new things to learn, new opportunities. If next semester goes half as well as this one did, I will be very happy :)

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.

Update on my Transition into College

Yesterday, I was walking across campus thinking about how well and how smoothly  my transition has gone from high school to college. For me coming to college hasn't felt like a huge deal. This is thanks to my older sister, who we call "the family guineapig." Since she is the oldest, she always has to experience the huge life milestones before anyone else in the family. She was the first to homeschool through high school and graduate, first to get her driver's license, and then first to go to college. With all these things, I have always had the chance to get used to the idea of things before having to experience them for myself. The same was true for college. She had already started here at TLU last fall, before my senior year, so I kind of knew what to expect. Now, here I am.

 

Thinking about where I probably was at this exact moment last year. I woul probably be sitting in my bed, in my pajamas (don't say "lucky homeschoolers" just yet!), reading my physics chapter trying to make heads or tails of it alone, or writing one of the two 3 page essays I had due every week, plus written homework responses and all of the reading I had to do. Just the usual routine I have had over the past 12 years of my education. Now, here I am going from class to class like it's no big deal.

 

The routine has become fused in my mind already, and like I said earlier, I don't find it wierd anymore. My study habits are improving and declining at the same time. My procrastination levels are still about the same, but I am more focused since I have bigger goals now that I have my mind set on college. My junior year, I loathed the idea of college. I thought, "what is the use of spending tons of money for classes I don't even care about. I want to teach music!" Now, I see it as improving myself to help me improve my future students and the extra classes help make me a well-rounded person academically (TLU has me sold over the "liberal arts education" idea). The better I become, the better I can help them become. This "bigger picture" focus, helps to keep me set to my work.

 

However, now I don't have my mom here to make sure I'm working on my essays instead of on facebook. Responsibility is about the same, although in different ways. In high school, I was responsible for both teaching myself the material, and making sure that I learned it well. This is a HUGE load for any person of any age, and has really matured me. Now, in college, I just have to take notes, and make sure I'm learning enough to pass the tests and (in the case of music classes) make sure I am prepared for my career. In this way, responsibility has even decreased a little. In other life areas, however, I have had more responsibility placed on me. I don't have my mom to make sure I'm where I need to be on time, I am responsible for managing my own money, and as I mentioned earlier am solely responsible for getting my work done.

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.

Music, Music Everywhere!

      Of all of the changes in my transition from high school to college, my favorite part has been all of the opportunities I have had to enjoy and participate in music. In high school, I had been able to attend many symphonies and concerts with my family, but not quite so much as I have in just these past few weeks of college.

      First of all, as a Music major, I have my recital attendance requirements to meet. This means six TLU sponsored music events every semester. I have no problem meeting this requirement and have been enjoying every bit of it. Thus far, I have attended four of the music events. I went to see "The Power of Music:  Music in the Lives of Children," where they had guest speakers come and talk about how music played a part in their childhood development. I also went to see the pre-screening of Alive Inside, a documentary about the influence of music in the lives of alzheimers patients at "The Power of Music:  Music in the Lives of the Elderly". I got to see the Navy Band Country Current Perform at the Jackson Auditorim, and tonight I went to see Mark Alexander play the music of Franz Liszt on piano. What a wonderful opportunity to be able to hear all of these amazing speakers and musicians and get credit for it! I don't know about the other music majors, but I know that I sure am enjoying all of this! 

       Another big thing that I have been enjoying is all of my music classes. As a Freshman Music major, most of my classes have been pre-selected for me. I have all music classes besides my Freshman Experience Class and Composition I, which this blog is for. I struggled a little bit in my first couple of weeks of music theory, but am back on track and doing my best. I have discovered a knack for sight reading/ sight singing while here at TLU. Before I never would have thougth it would be this way, but it is actually one of the classes that I am enjoying the most. Because I love all of my music classes, I don't mind all of the work. I just enjoy it and soak up all that I can. I know that I probably won't be saying this once I get to Music Theory and Ear Training and Sight Singing IV, but for now, I am really enjoying it all.  

      This past week I had my first major choir performance during Homecoming. It was great getting to meet so many alums who had been in our place years ago and who came back to celebrate TLU's 100th anniversary homecoming. It was also great that we didn't fall off of the stage when all 200+ of us crowded onto the stage to sing "Beautiful Savior" together. 

      There is such a great music community here at TLU. Almost everyone I have met here on campus is involved in music in some way, or has a great passion for it. It was fun going to the coffee house evening in chapel a few weeks back to hear so many talented singers and instrumentalists. I'm hoping to maybe get up there myself, at one of the next ones. Overall, I am very excited about where these past few weeks have taken me in my journey with music, and am even more excited to see where the next four years will take me.


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.

Transitions and Finding the Time

The toughest part of my transition into college so far has been finding the time to practice playing my guitar. Before starting college, It was easy for me to make the time to practice. Being home schooled with a clear focus on my path in music, I could take two or more hours out of my day no sweat. Lately, though, I have been struggling just finding a few minutes to do it. Toward the end of this past spring I had lots of auditions to prepare for, because of my coming graduation, and had been working myself like crazy. I practiced every spare moment that I had. The result was beautifully polished songs, but a very tired out musician.

 As soon as the auditions were over I decided to take a short break and cut down on my practicing.  This was for many reasons: first, I was tired; second, this was my first summer without lessons, and the freedom brought out the worst in me; and lastly, I had developed an arm injury and was unsure if I would be doing myself harm by continuing to practice. Luckily, it turned out not being serious at all, and I was able to practice again.

 As I got into the swing of summer and got my plans together for college, I completely dropped off of my practicing. By the end of July I was only practicing maybe once or twice a week.  This is a very bad thing for me going into college as a performance major. And now that I am in college, things haven't gotten any better. I have been able to practice maybe thirty min before classes or when I get home, but at my level of playing this is barely enough time for a decent warm up. 

As a result of all of this, my arm muscles have gotten out of shape, I have less dexterity, and less accuracy. When I am able to find the time, I use it to kind of quick play all of my songs just to keep them under my fingers. However, I haven't really had the time for critical playing. I haven't been able to just sit down and perfect individual pieces. This is a very important and necessary thing for a musician. The lack of it has made my songs sloppier, made them lack tone, and I have developed many bad habits overall. In short, it has all been one downhill ride.

 I need to find some way to schedule in some time for practice. After all, this is my major! I am hoping to improve on this during my next few weeks in college.  This is something I need to set straight now before my classes become harder and I need to spend more time on them.

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.