Moving In To A New Year

Hello!

So, I've decided I'm going to keep it chronological and stay in the past for a little bit longer! I'm going to talk about my Freshman move-in experience and my first few weeks of classes. It was a tough few weeks of figuring out what  really wanted from my first semester and settling into a routine that works well with my workload. 

I was so lucky to not only be on the first floor(no stairs!) but to also have a late move-in time! I moved into my building at 3pm, so I had all day to pack and make sure that my room at home was cleaned and organized. 

After we pulled into the parking lot and got unloaded, I ran off to go do the most important thing; take care of my instruments! I went straight up to my room and ran into my roommate who was already set up. We got everything organized and and I made a list of the important things I forgot, my glasses being one of them. My Family said goodbye, and I was left alone. It was a strange feeling of accomplishment when I was left alone. It started to dawn on me that I was officially a college student. I was filled with a sense of independence, responsibility, and fear all rolled into one. It was totally awesome!

A shot of my room after move-in.
The combination of Disney and Classic Rock just makes it all the better!

My roommate and I got started on some Orientation things that I won't bother elaborating on. I ended up running into a few really nice people during meetings based on my major, and we got along great! The three of us had to skip out on Freshman Weekend activities to spend some time in the music building. Auditions were the next day and we needed to prepare, and sign up. All of the Freshman that were involved in Music had to skip out on Orientation to go audition for ensembles and practice for the upcoming week. So we weren't the only reckless ones playing hooky!

Auditions went over well, and my first lesson with my violin teacher went great! She is an amazing professor and is always willing to help. She offers to Skype, Facetime, or e-mail during the week if I ever have questions or want to show her something. As a student who does need a little more help with Classical music and techniques, I really appreciate her dedication to her students.
My other classes were a whirlwind of things I felt I needed to catch up on or learn as fast as possible!
I have only had limited exposure to Music Theory and Aurals and the first week was, to put nicely; Crazy. I felt like I was so behind in those classes. I never really had a solid lesson starting with the basics in theory and it was hard to pick up on some of the techniques that come almost naturally to some of the people in my Theory class. I've been picking up extra work to help myself through my classes, and having the same professor for Aurals and Theory really helps me put the two together to create a better understanding of everything.

My professor rocks, for realz.

Another case of Amazing faculty resides in my Theory and Aural professor. He is always willing to help anyone that falls behind, but doesn't slow down the class to do so. It's something that I think everyone appreciates. But, Aurals is a whole battle on its own! It's something that I constantly work on and I never have a day where I don't feel like I should work on it. From memorizing Solfege, to general pitch recognition; Aurals is something I feel like I can always improve on. So far, my hard work is being paid off; I feel more confident every day. The class is full of valuable information that I will be using every day as a music educator. 

In addition to my Theory and Aurals classes, I am also enrolled in what we call "Tech" classes. Those classes are where you learn teaching techniques(see where the name comes into play?) on instruments other than your main one. I am in Non-Pitched Percussion and Guitar right now. I love my percussion class! We get to spend a lot of time learning how to teach rather than just learn to play instruments. I really appreciate that because I know in real life; I'd be teaching it more than actually performing. My guitar class is the exact opposite. We spend all of our time learning how to play skillful and as a non-guitarist, that's great. But it's something I would love to have more knowledge on how to teach rather than just play. 

In addition to tech courses, we also have our "minors" which is Piano and Voice Class. Both are in a group setting of at most 12 people. There are only two levels of group Piano class, and I happened to skip one of them in my piano placement exam(Go me!). So what that means, is after this semester, I'll move on to private piano classes. To be honest, I don't think my voice class will ever not be in a group. Both are also really fun to work on, and improve in. 

Finally, I have the dreaded Gen. Eds. or General Education Classes. These are essentially all of those classes that just aren't music. No one really takes them seriously and the goal is to be in all of the lower leveled ones. By doing this, we eliminate study time and increase practice time; making happier Music students! This semester I'm in Math 103(Math for Liberal Art Majors) which feels more like a logic class than actual Math. I'm also in Intro. to Sociology; which is an awesome class, but still relatively easy.
So, all in all; this semester shouldn't be too taxing. But I'll still be working 24/7 on getting the grades and performances I want. I am excited to get working!

Thanks For Reading!

Stay Musical!!

Flashback to The Fleadh 2014

Welcome to my blog! As an introductory post, I figured I would start with the beginning of my journey; flashback to this Summer!
This past August, my family and I were in Ireland to go to the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, in Sligo. What's that you ask?

The Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is an international Irish Music competition where people from all over the world come to celebrate and play Traditional Irish music. Everyone that competes in Ireland needs to qualify in their own County and Province. In America, and other countries including England, Scotland, and Wales competitors only have to qualify in regionals.
Although it looks easier to be a foreigner to qualify for the All-Irelands; it is harder for international competitors to meet the standards of playing in Ireland. On a whole, we get less exposure to Irish music. I know that here in America, Irish music is concentrated in a few main areas. On my side of the country It's popular in N.Y.C. Northern N.J. and Philadelphia. So it's always been a challenge to find credible teachers. In addition, American families pay much more than an Irish family would to go to the Fleadh, let alone lodging! We try our best to fundraise every year, but the cost is still normally over a thousand U.S. dollars per person. That may not sound horrible, but when you have a family of musicians that all need to go to Ireland, it gets a bit expensive.So to help competitors, the local Comhaltas helps fundraise. Comhaltas is the company that runs the Fleadh every year. There are branches all over the world and competitors are normally members of the closest one to them. It's the branch's job to help spread Irish music by helping the competitors afford to compete in Ireland. In my branch there were six of us that qualified and Competed in the All-Irelands in Sligo.

Sligo-Bound Six in Sligo, Ireland 2014

This is a picture of the six of us that qualified to compete, we called ourselves the "Sligo-Bound Six" and fundraised on our own in addition to our Comhaltas Branch. The six of us played for several fundraisers that our amazing parents helped us organize(and by help, I mean they organized it all and we just showed up and played). We had loads of fun working together and we're so glad we had the opportunity to go back to the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann! I competed in Concertina this year, and I had a brilliant time in Sligo! My competition went as well as I could have hoped, I was playing on a Concertina that I only got the night before, and I played to the best of my ability. I didn't place, but I'm happy with my performance and that's what matters to me!
The highlight of my Fleadh experience this year was getting my new Concertina! The family I was staying with are related to Michael Holmes; he is a member of the well-known band, Dervish. He restores old Concertinas and brings them back to life!

This is my new(well, new to me!) refurbished Wheatstone Concertina! Going off the serial number on the side, my estimate is that it was made in 1958. Wheatstone is a brand of Concertinas made in London, England that stopped manufacturing Concertina's in 1974. It's a bit aged, but still sounds beautiful!(I'll have more posts on Concertinas later on!)

Another fun time I had on my Trip in Sligo was seeing the Beautiful Sligo Strand!

The family we were staying with took us to the shore and showed us all of the beautiful mountains that were nearby! I wish we could have stayed outside longer, but in true Irish fashion; it started to pour before we got anywhere other than the beach! I did get a few nice shots before I was drenched!

Unfortunately, that was the last day of our trip, so we couldn't explore more of the mountains and beaches Sligo had to offer; but we had a blast! The rest of my time in Ireland was spent in County Tipperary with my Mom's family. It's hard being a part of a close-knit family long-distance, but I love seeing them! Up Tipp! 

When I got back to America I had a couple days, then I was college bound! I am about two months into my Freshman Year at W.C.U. and I couldn't be happier! There's more to come on that soon!

Thank you for reading!

Stay Musical!