hello world

lolololol is how I will begin this very first post. 

I have been inspired to start a personal blog on my reflections as a musician. Currently, I am just finishing up my undergraduate degree in music. I aspire to teach music and to continue to play percussion. I will not disclose any information about myself as this blog is just to share my reflections. For those who know me, hello and thank you for being here. 

This is my story. 

As a child in 4th grade, I got to experience a talent show. It was an insane drum battle by two 8th graders who I found very loud and annoying (lol). Little did I know, they were my inspiration to take drum lessons and so one day in a car ride home with my family, I brought up drum lessons. They were surprised and immediately signed me up for the next teaching year in 2013. 

Began my drum lessons and I made sure to practice for 15 to 30 minutes a day. My first song was Imagine by John Lennon. As I grew, my love for the drums inspired me to take music as a high school course because it was something I excelled in. During 8th grade, I was tech savvy and created a remix of rap songs that were popular using Microsoft video editor and used it to perform along with my graduating class in the final music concert of the year. I ended up with an A in music! Yay! 

Anyway, highschool. 

In the first class, we had instrument demos. As soon as the music teacher sat us all down to do instrument assignments, I was immediately forced onto percussion. I say forced as if it wasn't bound to happen haha but if I never was forced onto percussion, I would not be here at 12:13 am, writing this blog post. Anyway, I have never seen a real xylophone up close, not even real life saxophones or tubas. Entering the high school band program was like a dream to me. My first band piece was Prehistoric Suite by Paul Jennings! Shoutout to those who played it too. I was invited into the intermediate band because I exceeded the beginner percussion level.

 At this point, I was still in drum lessons with my original teacher. He saw me grow from 5th grade to 9th grade which is very crazy to think about. He was the best drum kit teacher I could have ever asked for. In 10th grade, I dropped my drum lessons because school was getting out of hand and I was in the senior band and the intermediate band. I also played basketball and loved sports very much. Unfortunately that year, my music teacher had to do an emergency leave and an LTO came in. 

This LTO was new but he got along with all of the band classes very quickly and we were able to pick up where we left off with out repertoire. In the band program, this was the funnest year yet. We played great repertoire like Chasing Sunlight, Chesapeake Bay Adventure, How to Train Your Dragon, and Jitterbug (my drumkit and band debut). All great pieces. From here, I began to develop a love for band music. I was the peak band nerd, staying in the music room during lunch, listening to band music full blast on the tv on weekends. One day, as I was listening to music, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was greeted with a melody so beautiful. John Mackey's Aurora Awakes was playing. I sat up and started at the screen: 

"How could music be this beautiful", I thought. I listened to rap music everyday, and was one of those kids who thought it was cool to wear one earphone in and the other dangle outside of my hoodie. 

This piece changed my life.

I began to search for more band music. I loved the stories they would tell, the rich and complex harmonies, how every note was intended. Band music was my home and I felt at home while listening to these pieces. On my way to school, I would listen to band music but go back to rap/edm music. These mornings and afternoons from the bus stop soon turned from listening to rap at full blast to appreciating instrumental music (still at full blast because the recordings are quiet *wink*). 

This year, my band also went to the national festival and there, I saw this piece LIVE. When I tell you, my jaw was dropped for the majority of it, I am not telling you a lie. It was beyond the floor. It went all the way down to the core of the earth. Anyway, life was changed again. 

In 11th grade, I was in a dilemma. Did I want to pursue life science to become an orthodontist? Or did I want to try and pursue something in media? I was stuck. I quit the basketball team, I am sure the girls hated me after that. I was so focused on music that year. I joined the jazz band, played in the senior band as the section leader, helped the junior and intermediate bands, and a member of the music council. I loved music so much. 

A conversation with my dad that year changed my life completely. It was during the pandemic as we went to renew my health card. I was talking to my dad about university applications because of how stuck I was. He proceeded to say "Do what you think you will be happy doing for the rest of your life". Immediately, I thought of music. I loved percussion. I loved the many different instruments. I wanted to be just like my music teacher, the LTO who came in during my 10th grade. Since 11th grade was so involved with music--doing school tours, performing with almost every band, being a part of the music program--I realized that music is what I truly loved doing. I did not want to do biology. I didn't want to look inside other people's mouths. Sharing music is what I wanted to do. 

I loved music so much that I wanted it to go from hobby status to professional status. 

In my 12th grade, I got a private teacher, and began to learn 4-mallets. My audition was done on a malletstation and my drum kit snare drum. I played with those crappy yellow vic firth mallets and a pair of snare drum sticks that my friend gifted me for Christmas! I was doubting that I would get in but I also played the heck out of that malletstation LOL. After auditions, I was accepted into every school I applied to. In the mail came my acceptance letter for the university I wanted to go to. I framed it and hung it on my wall as a result of my hard work. I accepted the offer and in 2021, I began my studies. 

-- 

That is my story. 

The story isn't over yet as my education is still ongoing and will continue to be ongoing. Life as a musician is a rough journey and I am still going through it, but I want to document my journey here as someone who cares so deeply about music and percussion.