April 6, 2013 - SPARTA
When you wake up in the morning to a ridiculously loud team cheer in the morning: “THIS IS SPARTA!!!!” Gotta love college. In yesterday’s Muggle Quidditch scrimmage I was only bludgeoned twice and I scored four goals, one the game-winning shot, for the Original Wizarding League of Spartans. (OWLS) Best I’ve done so far, guess I’m finally improving!
March 17, 2013 Clinic
Yesterday I went to a clinic taught by Allen Vizzutti, a world recognized trumpet player who has written many method books. At the clinic, my question was “Do you have some advice for overcoming performance anxiety?” He explained that the first step is experience, and said I should have a friend listen to me play, “Like this-” and then he stood a foot away from me and stared at me bug eyed for 10 seconds. Next, he explained being aware of the symptoms of nervousness, such as dry mouth, and how NOT to react. He demonstrated this by frantically grabbing his water, chugging some, playing badly, chugging some more, licking his lips, playing badly, then pouring water into his mouthpiece and playing badly, and then frantically dumping his entire water bottle. He was hilarious, fun, and an incredibly good clinician. At the concert, he came on and shook hands with random members of the band. He played a 10 minute trumpet solo, then walked over and shook the string bass player’s hand before bowing. He played carnival of venice….with his horn upside down. He randomly stuck his head out from the side of the concert hall. He jumped and stomped with the percussion once and startled the director. What a performer! Mr. Vizzutti is such an inspiration to me, not only because he is an absolutely incredible artist, but because he is such a kind, open, funny, and modest person. A trumpet player that can play so cleanly and beautifully without ego is truly someone to look up to.
March 7, 2013 - Critical Thinking Class
1. I had to write this on the first homework I turned in: “Professor - sorry for the dirt smudge on my essay, I was sitting under a tree while I wrote it.”
2. He gives us a 20 minute break during class, and he asked us what we did. Most people went to go eat, or call a friend, went on their phones or used their laptops. Me: “I went to the library….”
3. My group finished early on a project. All of my group members got out their phones and started using them. I was sitting there writing a letter in pen and ink to my best friend.
4. Our teacher asked what everyone did over the weekend, and people talked about driving through downtown and partying. Me: “I walked to the park with a thermos of tea and my book.”
All of these things happened over the course of this semester, but I recently realized how strange it seems when I put them all together…and rather entertaining of course. Don't get me wrong, I use my phone too, it just seems slightly less than others.
Feb 11, 2013 Sick at College, but not of it
This is my first time getting sick since I came to college, I thought it would be miserable. Instead…
-A trumpet player friend went with me to go get soup after brass ensemble.
-An awesome friend played guitar for me while I drank tea.
-My incredible roommate brought me Chinese food.
-A kind friend lent me a ton of books to read and stayed up with me really late until I stopped ---coughing.
-I locked myself in my room for a while, until my floormates practically broke my door down to give me cupcakes they made.
Gosh I really love this place sometimes. And I’m quite certain that I’m getting better fast. I am so lucky to be here.
Dec 7, 2012 My Precious
I stayed up til midnight today, to celebrate the day of the week before the release of The Hobbit. I kid you not, that is how excited I am.
Fiery mountain beneath the moon
The words aren’t spoken, we’ll be there soon
For home a song that echoes on
And all who find us will know the tune
-J.R.R. Tolkein
Nov 29, 2012 - Friendship
As I was walking through the music building, 7 people were just sitting in the middle of the hallway singing a capella. They sounded amazing, and it made me so happy. I had to walk through their group and I felt like I was interrupting a legit practice, though. I love walking through the music building, people are constantly singing, humming, or whistling.
My friend and I sat quietly talking in the college cafeteria. We were surrounded by TV’s, loud blasting music, groups of college kids on their smart phones. But we tuned it all out. Both of us had books and were reading quietly, every once in a while commenting on something or cracking a joke. Sometimes I will have a book and he will have the school newspaper, or I will be doing homework and he will do Sudoku. Our conversations range from Skyrim, pirates, origami, honor in today’s society, vikings, to marching band, LED billboards, Pokemon theories, and correct grammar; coding, tea, physics, Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter, the morality of slapping people, to music theory, camping, and more. Sometimes, when we are talking, reality will hit us and we’ll look at each other and say something like “Are we really talking about the practicality of dwarf beards during travel?” And we’ll laugh so hard that we get distracted and then somehow move on to another strange topic. We’ve stayed up so late talking quietly in the corner that we didn’t even realize how fast the time has passed or that everyone else has left, and once the waiter came up and said “I’m really sorry…but we have to kick you out now.” We felt terrible, but we just laughed and said “Wow, now we can legitimately say we got kicked out of a restaurant for laughing too much” and then we continued our conversation walking around campus. Sitting quietly in the cafeteria, talking about nerdy things, and reading books…and in the meantime we are surrounded by the typical college kid stereotype of teenage rebelliousness, those loud youngsters on their smartphones constantly, gossiping and increasing the usual loudness that is considered to be a counterculture against adults. Somehow, I think my friend and I are actually rebelling AGAINST all of that rebelliousness. Those moments when we are just reading, quietly talking in the corner, and suddenly we look up at each other and laugh: we don’t have to say anything because we both realize how different we are from the rest. And somehow this really defines my college experience so far, at least the non-music major side of it.
**Note - we are now in a relationship of 4 years :)
Nov 4, 2012 - Biology Report
This is the Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker. I discovered it during an aquarium project. It is absolutely adorable and needs some love.
October 26, 2012 College Silliness
-Had a Sherlock Holmes marathon/movie night with two contra players from the Santa Clara Vanguard. I guess college is pretty awesome.
-Two days ago, it rained. There was a huge, beautiful rainbow stretching over campus. When I walked past the event center, I could see its full extent and saw that the music building was at the end of the rainbow. It was a good day!
-Today, I was walking back from symphonic band with another trumpet player through the music building. As we approached the small door in the hallway leading to the lockers, a wild cellist appeared from the practice rooms and a sax player from the concert hall, and a trombone from the other side of the locker hallway. Five music majors, holding their instruments, stopped in front of both sides of the small door in the hallway leading to the lockers. Two trumpets, a saxophone, a cello and a trombone stared at each other awkwardly for literally fifteen seconds. Then we all attempted to move forward at once, and had to stop for another fifteen seconds and figure it out. We eventually made it safely to our lockers. Not a word was exchanged, but lots of awkward stares and many laughs were.
-In marching band, a trumpet player got yelled at….for checking his watch. For two seconds. In between sets. With our band director sitting at the very top bleacher in the stadium. Raptor vision? “CHECKING THE TIME IS THE BAND DIRECTOR’S JOB, NOT YOURS.” Our director is seriously the best.
-There is a popsicle stick with the Me Gusta face taped to it on the marching band lobby bulletin board. "Just in case."
Sept 30, 2012 - On College
So I thought college would be a place to “reinvent” myself…brand new place, new marching band, new friends, new life…but I really haven’t changed at all. Maybe a bit more outgoing…but not much else is different. So I guess I am unconsciously happy about who I am, because I’ve had an extremely large chance, or you could say an extremely large window of time, to change who I am, but I have still stayed the same. Plus, I have made a lot of new friends just by being who I am. Somehow, that’s a pretty comforting thought.
Sept 13, 2012 - A day in the life of a music major
8:00 Wake up, breakfast
8:30 Warm Up
9:00 Music Theory
10:30 Nap
11:00 Piano practice
11:30 Piano exam
12:30 Talk to marching band director, get keys to music building, eat
1:15 Practice
2:00 Trumpet lesson
3:15-7:15 Marching band practice
7:30 Start laundry, practice
8:30 Put laundry in dryer, practice
9:30 Eat dinner, pick up laundry
9:45 - ? Biology and music theory homework, tumblr, shower, CRASH.
Repeat.
Sept 11, 2012 Fun times in Trumpet Studio
Trumpet studio is one of my favorite classes. This is where all the trumpet players get together for some great times. Tonight, we played “Fanfare for 5 Trumpets” as an ensemble together. Unfortunately, the engraving of the music had some entertaining errors...
-Alex had most of his half notes filled in partially with black so they looked like quarter notes.
-Andrew’s part was printed weird and the page turn went from the first to the third movement.
-My part was labeled “A B C P F.” Everyone else’s had an “E.” And it wasn’t smudged or anything, it was a literal P...
-We had a 5/4 6/4 alternating piece and we were arguing about whether or not to count each measure as 5, 4 or to risk counting straight through 39-77 beats. Alex: “I’m in college, I can count to 39!”
-Other Alex: “I think there’s an invertebrate living in my valves. Kelly, let me borrow your pencil. I have to get this flatworm out.” Fun times in trumpet studio......
June 24, 2012- When I traveled to Sweden for the 2nd time
Oct 9, 2011 - PantheismI’ve finally found a religion. It’s really just a name for something I’ve believed my whole life. This makes it a real religion in my opinion. This day marks my first day following in this path. http://www.pantheism.net/paul/faqs.htm
-Two days ago, it rained. There was a huge, beautiful rainbow stretching over campus. When I walked past the event center, I could see its full extent and saw that the music building was at the end of the rainbow. It was a good day!
-Today, I was walking back from symphonic band with another trumpet player through the music building. As we approached the small door in the hallway leading to the lockers, a wild cellist appeared from the practice rooms and a sax player from the concert hall, and a trombone from the other side of the locker hallway. Five music majors, holding their instruments, stopped in front of both sides of the small door in the hallway leading to the lockers. Two trumpets, a saxophone, a cello and a trombone stared at each other awkwardly for literally fifteen seconds. Then we all attempted to move forward at once, and had to stop for another fifteen seconds and figure it out. We eventually made it safely to our lockers. Not a word was exchanged, but lots of awkward stares and many laughs were.
-In marching band, a trumpet player got yelled at….for checking his watch. For two seconds. In between sets. With our band director sitting at the very top bleacher in the stadium. Raptor vision? “CHECKING THE TIME IS THE BAND DIRECTOR’S JOB, NOT YOURS.” Our director is seriously the best.
-There is a popsicle stick with the Me Gusta face taped to it on the marching band lobby bulletin board. "Just in case."
Sept 30, 2012 - On College
So I thought college would be a place to “reinvent” myself…brand new place, new marching band, new friends, new life…but I really haven’t changed at all. Maybe a bit more outgoing…but not much else is different. So I guess I am unconsciously happy about who I am, because I’ve had an extremely large chance, or you could say an extremely large window of time, to change who I am, but I have still stayed the same. Plus, I have made a lot of new friends just by being who I am. Somehow, that’s a pretty comforting thought.
Sept 13, 2012 - A day in the life of a music major
8:00 Wake up, breakfast
8:30 Warm Up
9:00 Music Theory
10:30 Nap
11:00 Piano practice
11:30 Piano exam
12:30 Talk to marching band director, get keys to music building, eat
1:15 Practice
2:00 Trumpet lesson
3:15-7:15 Marching band practice
7:30 Start laundry, practice
8:30 Put laundry in dryer, practice
9:30 Eat dinner, pick up laundry
9:45 - ? Biology and music theory homework, tumblr, shower, CRASH.
Repeat.
Sept 11, 2012 Fun times in Trumpet Studio
Trumpet studio is one of my favorite classes. This is where all the trumpet players get together for some great times. Tonight, we played “Fanfare for 5 Trumpets” as an ensemble together. Unfortunately, the engraving of the music had some entertaining errors...
-Alex had most of his half notes filled in partially with black so they looked like quarter notes.
-Andrew’s part was printed weird and the page turn went from the first to the third movement.
-My part was labeled “A B C P F.” Everyone else’s had an “E.” And it wasn’t smudged or anything, it was a literal P...
-We had a 5/4 6/4 alternating piece and we were arguing about whether or not to count each measure as 5, 4 or to risk counting straight through 39-77 beats. Alex: “I’m in college, I can count to 39!”
-Other Alex: “I think there’s an invertebrate living in my valves. Kelly, let me borrow your pencil. I have to get this flatworm out.” Fun times in trumpet studio......
June 24, 2012- When I traveled to Sweden for the 2nd time
Oct 9, 2011 - PantheismI’ve finally found a religion. It’s really just a name for something I’ve believed my whole life. This makes it a real religion in my opinion. This day marks my first day following in this path. http://www.pantheism.net/paul/faqs.htm
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