After all that mental effort
You should never speak too soon...
I am rethinking have reconsidered my recent change in major (fortunately it was never official). I've concluded that it is too broad for my specific desires, and thus might be more appropriate to explore on the side with no degree attached. After all, I would hate to go down the road only to find later that I've wasted time on something I wasn't whole-hearted about.
I have an idea of what I may want to do, but for now I'm going to declare myself as undecided - I wouldn't want to speak too soon again. ;) I still however want to continue to study music at a minor level when I get to 'state, but that is a given... (edit: I was never planning on majoring in music, this is a separate thought)
Speaking of which, the past few weeks of my new music class have been such a brain refresher - I took music last semester, but it was more about history than fundamentals. I haven't done anything to improve my fundamental skills for years. (Yes, I play piano on a worship team every week, but ironically it's actually discouraged my fundamental development. Keep reading...) But I've seemed to just pick up where I left off, as if my musically stagnant brain cells have just been waiting to be stimulated. My site reading in terms of both melody and rhythm has already begun to improve in these past few weeks, which will in the mean time help to improve (hopefully) my performance on the worship team.
Since joining the worship team I've been "cheating", if you will - getting away with site reading chords only & coming up with my own embellishments on the melody, using the recordings as a reference. Having the ability to memorize parts and come up with a melody without the ability to read music (aka: "playing by ear") is a good talent to have, however, it also has served as my biggest crutch in learning to site read. I've never quite broken through and gotten over that mountain because I'd end up memorizing entire pieces before I could site read them - which is easier than taking the time to develop that crucial skill. But ideally you need to have that fundamental foundation first, which will greatly have an impact on your natural talent. More than just wanting to develop this skill for "me", I will most certainly need it if I want to claim even a minor. (A minor in music is still a lot of work requiring advanced classes - not to mention, it requires you to pass an audition for musical eligibility.) So now I am really trying to discipline myself, which is partially why I took the class - accountability.
Anyway, I am just rambling now, but I guess that is my update.
I am rethinking have reconsidered my recent change in major (fortunately it was never official). I've concluded that it is too broad for my specific desires, and thus might be more appropriate to explore on the side with no degree attached. After all, I would hate to go down the road only to find later that I've wasted time on something I wasn't whole-hearted about.
I have an idea of what I may want to do, but for now I'm going to declare myself as undecided - I wouldn't want to speak too soon again. ;) I still however want to continue to study music at a minor level when I get to 'state, but that is a given... (edit: I was never planning on majoring in music, this is a separate thought)
Speaking of which, the past few weeks of my new music class have been such a brain refresher - I took music last semester, but it was more about history than fundamentals. I haven't done anything to improve my fundamental skills for years. (Yes, I play piano on a worship team every week, but ironically it's actually discouraged my fundamental development. Keep reading...) But I've seemed to just pick up where I left off, as if my musically stagnant brain cells have just been waiting to be stimulated. My site reading in terms of both melody and rhythm has already begun to improve in these past few weeks, which will in the mean time help to improve (hopefully) my performance on the worship team.
Since joining the worship team I've been "cheating", if you will - getting away with site reading chords only & coming up with my own embellishments on the melody, using the recordings as a reference. Having the ability to memorize parts and come up with a melody without the ability to read music (aka: "playing by ear") is a good talent to have, however, it also has served as my biggest crutch in learning to site read. I've never quite broken through and gotten over that mountain because I'd end up memorizing entire pieces before I could site read them - which is easier than taking the time to develop that crucial skill. But ideally you need to have that fundamental foundation first, which will greatly have an impact on your natural talent. More than just wanting to develop this skill for "me", I will most certainly need it if I want to claim even a minor. (A minor in music is still a lot of work requiring advanced classes - not to mention, it requires you to pass an audition for musical eligibility.) So now I am really trying to discipline myself, which is partially why I took the class - accountability.
Anyway, I am just rambling now, but I guess that is my update.