COLLEGE!
So marching band is bogging down. I'm sad to watch it go but at the same time it’s a relief. 'Nuff said about that.
Now that I have time to concentrate on my classes, I really enjoy them all. I suddenly remember how much I honestly enjoy learning. I’m sure it helps to be in pretty easy classes but hey, lets stay optimistic here.
I’m so pumped about region. I honestly think I have a chance to hang with the big dogs this year. Unfortunately the man who picked our music did a terrible job. All the pieces are pretty much the same and none of them are really that challenging. This means that most people are going to be able to play it so the difference in people who make it and people that don’t is going to be very small. Make sense? I was kinda bummed when I figured this out because I wanted to really EARN my spot in the region band. With all of the music being easy, its going to be hard to feel like I really earned it when everyone is going to be able to play the crap just as well as I do *Shrug* Another thing I have to worry about is since the music is all the same style, the only way for me to stand out of by performing with outstanding musicality buuut what if I play it and the judge's opinion of the way I phrased the whole thing sucks? *shrug* All I can do is try my best and God knows I am.
As some of you know, I've visited 3 colleges in the past few weeks. Texas State, University of Texas in Austin, and University of North Texas. I was least impressed with Texas State. Compared to UNT, the campus is ugly and I didn’t feel much of a connection between Mr. Hager, the horn professor and myself. Nothing against him at all, he's a great guy and all, I just didn’t picture myself working with him for 6 years.
Second was UT. Everyone knows about UT so I don’t really need to explain it all. Unfortunately I can easily conclude that I played the worst for Mr. Hughes than any of the others I played for. I found myself "clicking" with him a lot more. I could easily imagine myself practicing with him for an extended amount of time. He was full of great information and gave it to me in an easy to understand, basic format that made it easy to correct my mistakes. Pretty good experience there, defiantly a college I will consider.
Yesterday was when I went to UNT. I had an awesome experience through this whole thing. I enjoyed my lesson with Mr. Sharnburg (not sure how to spell that) more than the previous two. He is very into musicianship. He is a director that believes that THE PLAYER makes the music what it is where as some directors prefer that you be able to play exactly what the page tells you to. He geared more towards individual interpretations of music. He even told me that if I disagree with the phrasing in my solo's I should play it my way and re-write the new changes onto the score so that the judge doesn’t think I played it incorrectly. I loved him! I found myself HOPING to get the chance to study with him for 6 years. After that I took a tour of the school with a tour guide. The tour guides name was Michael and he was a baller! :-P He was full of information as most tour guides are. He was in Senior getting his degree in psychology, crazy guy. He showed us to dorms, the new 4 million dollar rec center on campus, I was VERY impressed. I wish I could have written down all the wonderful things he said and posted them all but you would all have been bored to death if you aren’t already *shrug* Another fact he said that really caught my attention was that basically the music program dominates the school. They have the largest and #1 music school in the nation. Their band has won multiple Grammy’s and are so good that they aren’t allowed to participate in UIL events... damn! Need I say anymore about that?
That’s what’s been going on in my life. It would be cool if some of my fellow seniors would leave me a comment letting me know where you want to go to college and what you wanna major in.
Anywho, my room has gotten out of control, I need to pick up a bit. Patrick is on his way over to use the World Wide Web so I’ve gotta start quick! Thanks for your time.
Amanda Michelle
Now that I have time to concentrate on my classes, I really enjoy them all. I suddenly remember how much I honestly enjoy learning. I’m sure it helps to be in pretty easy classes but hey, lets stay optimistic here.
I’m so pumped about region. I honestly think I have a chance to hang with the big dogs this year. Unfortunately the man who picked our music did a terrible job. All the pieces are pretty much the same and none of them are really that challenging. This means that most people are going to be able to play it so the difference in people who make it and people that don’t is going to be very small. Make sense? I was kinda bummed when I figured this out because I wanted to really EARN my spot in the region band. With all of the music being easy, its going to be hard to feel like I really earned it when everyone is going to be able to play the crap just as well as I do *Shrug* Another thing I have to worry about is since the music is all the same style, the only way for me to stand out of by performing with outstanding musicality buuut what if I play it and the judge's opinion of the way I phrased the whole thing sucks? *shrug* All I can do is try my best and God knows I am.
As some of you know, I've visited 3 colleges in the past few weeks. Texas State, University of Texas in Austin, and University of North Texas. I was least impressed with Texas State. Compared to UNT, the campus is ugly and I didn’t feel much of a connection between Mr. Hager, the horn professor and myself. Nothing against him at all, he's a great guy and all, I just didn’t picture myself working with him for 6 years.
Second was UT. Everyone knows about UT so I don’t really need to explain it all. Unfortunately I can easily conclude that I played the worst for Mr. Hughes than any of the others I played for. I found myself "clicking" with him a lot more. I could easily imagine myself practicing with him for an extended amount of time. He was full of great information and gave it to me in an easy to understand, basic format that made it easy to correct my mistakes. Pretty good experience there, defiantly a college I will consider.
Yesterday was when I went to UNT. I had an awesome experience through this whole thing. I enjoyed my lesson with Mr. Sharnburg (not sure how to spell that) more than the previous two. He is very into musicianship. He is a director that believes that THE PLAYER makes the music what it is where as some directors prefer that you be able to play exactly what the page tells you to. He geared more towards individual interpretations of music. He even told me that if I disagree with the phrasing in my solo's I should play it my way and re-write the new changes onto the score so that the judge doesn’t think I played it incorrectly. I loved him! I found myself HOPING to get the chance to study with him for 6 years. After that I took a tour of the school with a tour guide. The tour guides name was Michael and he was a baller! :-P He was full of information as most tour guides are. He was in Senior getting his degree in psychology, crazy guy. He showed us to dorms, the new 4 million dollar rec center on campus, I was VERY impressed. I wish I could have written down all the wonderful things he said and posted them all but you would all have been bored to death if you aren’t already *shrug* Another fact he said that really caught my attention was that basically the music program dominates the school. They have the largest and #1 music school in the nation. Their band has won multiple Grammy’s and are so good that they aren’t allowed to participate in UIL events... damn! Need I say anymore about that?
That’s what’s been going on in my life. It would be cool if some of my fellow seniors would leave me a comment letting me know where you want to go to college and what you wanna major in.
Anywho, my room has gotten out of control, I need to pick up a bit. Patrick is on his way over to use the World Wide Web so I’ve gotta start quick! Thanks for your time.
Amanda Michelle