Music, I sum.
Well, a bit of hindsight about my musical talents, or dis-talents as the case may be. First and foremost, for those who don't know, I started playing the violin in the 5th grade. It was fun, and I worked fairly hard at it. When I started middle school (7th grade), I was taking private lessons from an ex-hippy who hadn't gotten out of the drug scene. She was a bit eccentric, very scatterbrained and even more unreliable (breaking appointments, and showing up late). In any case, I was originally seated as the concertmaster due to my one extra year over the rest of the violins, and the fact I was taking lessons. I stayed there for about half a year before being sentenced to the middle of the second violins for the rest of 7th grade. In eighth grade, I was placed on the second stand of the first violins. Beth and Sara were in front of me. They thought they were good. I carried my violin back and forth each day to practice, and theirs stayed locked up in the school's cabinets at night. There was a competition for composition, and I entered a fairly simple piece... Tt didn't do very well, but then again I didn't know squat about theory (because no one had ever taught me any, and I couldn't find any good books to start learning from). I also played at Barnes and Noble that year, and it was fun (even if I wasn't all that good). Mr. Davies (god rest his soul) and the orchestra's accompaniest played a huge role in spurring on my musical interest.
In high school, I earned concertmaster for each year... To the displeasure of Beth, who thought that she was better than me. To be completely honest, if she cared enough to practice, she could have been. I tried out for MYSO (Milwaulkee Youth Symphony Orchestra), a few years in a row, and was declined. I also played in the UWM Summer Music Institute, which was always a lot of fun. Margery, the conductor of the UWM Symphony and MYSO's Senior Symphony, was always pleasant to me, although in high school I thought she was an elitist and that I wasn't playing for long enough to please her... I'd find out later how wrong I was. Mr. Davis (not to be confused with Mr. Davies), was a good man, but not a good music teacher... That added to my lack of private lessons in the last two years of high school land slid into disaster to come. I had not progress as much as I needed to, and I still didn't know what a voice was hiding within... In any case, college auditions and theory tests were coming up, and I wasn't ready.
I bombed the theory test, and thus had to take a baby course in theory before I could continue on to Materials of Theory I, Aural Theory I and Keyboard Harmony I. It was a fast semester that I did well in. The second semester of college, however, didn't go to well at all. I failed Materials (because I didn't do much of the homework, dispite the fact that I understood it) and Keyboard Harmony (because I am NOT AT ALL good at playing piano)... The second time through was much better, I really gained an even better understanding of theory (it was really coming naturally before, but I didn't keep up... The second time through I was a whiz.) , and even managed to muscle my way through keyboard harmony. The second time through Aural Theory was very beneficial. Prof. Bermiester was a great help. I became really good at theory, developed my voice and started playing with composition, but my skills on the violin were not advancing as well as they should have, and the new string staff wanted to raise the bar in the department. I was already on probation from the department because of my poor audition. I was informed of how hard I had to work, and I put in 6 hours a day, just to have my lesson teacher tell me that I didn't practice this week... He always offered me extra lessons, but wasn't around enough to schedule them. I worked my butt off... But in the end, it was all in vain. I was tossed out of the music department in a two to one judgment on my jury. Margery had voted to keep me in the department, but the Cartmans voted me “off the island” (to quote Surviver which wasn't even on at the time).
Now, I play with music, and sing (more than anything else musical). I love composing, but have no group to compose for... I have tried a number of times to put together a quartet, but it always falls apart because of scheduling problems. So, music is a advocation instead of a vocation, and I program now... In fact, I am a damn good programmer now... thank you very much :).
I don't know what sparked this entry, I think it is the geekculture “geekculture band” thread.
In high school, I earned concertmaster for each year... To the displeasure of Beth, who thought that she was better than me. To be completely honest, if she cared enough to practice, she could have been. I tried out for MYSO (Milwaulkee Youth Symphony Orchestra), a few years in a row, and was declined. I also played in the UWM Summer Music Institute, which was always a lot of fun. Margery, the conductor of the UWM Symphony and MYSO's Senior Symphony, was always pleasant to me, although in high school I thought she was an elitist and that I wasn't playing for long enough to please her... I'd find out later how wrong I was. Mr. Davis (not to be confused with Mr. Davies), was a good man, but not a good music teacher... That added to my lack of private lessons in the last two years of high school land slid into disaster to come. I had not progress as much as I needed to, and I still didn't know what a voice was hiding within... In any case, college auditions and theory tests were coming up, and I wasn't ready.
I bombed the theory test, and thus had to take a baby course in theory before I could continue on to Materials of Theory I, Aural Theory I and Keyboard Harmony I. It was a fast semester that I did well in. The second semester of college, however, didn't go to well at all. I failed Materials (because I didn't do much of the homework, dispite the fact that I understood it) and Keyboard Harmony (because I am NOT AT ALL good at playing piano)... The second time through was much better, I really gained an even better understanding of theory (it was really coming naturally before, but I didn't keep up... The second time through I was a whiz.) , and even managed to muscle my way through keyboard harmony. The second time through Aural Theory was very beneficial. Prof. Bermiester was a great help. I became really good at theory, developed my voice and started playing with composition, but my skills on the violin were not advancing as well as they should have, and the new string staff wanted to raise the bar in the department. I was already on probation from the department because of my poor audition. I was informed of how hard I had to work, and I put in 6 hours a day, just to have my lesson teacher tell me that I didn't practice this week... He always offered me extra lessons, but wasn't around enough to schedule them. I worked my butt off... But in the end, it was all in vain. I was tossed out of the music department in a two to one judgment on my jury. Margery had voted to keep me in the department, but the Cartmans voted me “off the island” (to quote Surviver which wasn't even on at the time).
Now, I play with music, and sing (more than anything else musical). I love composing, but have no group to compose for... I have tried a number of times to put together a quartet, but it always falls apart because of scheduling problems. So, music is a advocation instead of a vocation, and I program now... In fact, I am a damn good programmer now... thank you very much :).
I don't know what sparked this entry, I think it is the geekculture “geekculture band” thread.