My mom is a nurse, my dad is a scientist, and both have always told me that while college isn’t necessary to be successful and happy in life, an education is an invaluable thing. Life is a wonderful teacher, but unfortunately it doesn’t give piano and voice lessons. Once I knew that I definitely wanted to do music, I knew I needed a college atmosphere to better myself as a musician.
I always knew I would go to college, but I never thought I would eventually go to an all-women’s college. When my piano teacher, Camille, asked me if I would consider coming to Converse, I said, “ No WAY! It’s so expensive and it’s only girls!!” I knew how much she loved her alma mater, though, so I started looking into it anyway. I researched the scholarships and found that they offer a lot more academic scholarship money than other colleges and that the Bachelor of Music degree that I wanted would require almost all music classes, which I loved. When I came to visit the campus in October of 2011, I immediately fell in love. I marveled at the sheer beauty and almost quaintness of the campus throughout the tour. I loved the brick sidewalks and the hammocks. And as soon as I walked up the stairs of Blackman, I knew I was home. I said to myself, ”I could totally imagine walking up these stairs everyday.” When I came home, I was determined to get in. I raised my SAT score, I practiced the piano till my arms were numb, worked on my vocal technique and was accepted into Petrie.
When I was younger, I thought of music majors and music prodigies as the same thing. It never occurred to me that that wasn’t true. In my sophomore year of high school, my teachers started asking if I was going to major in music. I decided that it would be a definite long shot, but I would certainly try. The more I studied the more classical and operatic pieces, I realized how much I really love music. You may also be wondering how if I love music so much, why I appear to hate Bach(AKA my blog's name). Quite the contrary. I think Bach is an amazing composer and an absolute genius. He also wrote some of the most difficult pieces to master and memorize. I have lost many a scholarship, competition and a place in the top 5 pianists in South Carolina because of memory slips on his pieces. I enjoy playing his work, just with the music in front of me. My music also causes a lot of stress and frustration and in those moments, I think that I’m wrong. Could something that causes me this much grief possibly be what God wants me to do with my life? Getting that difficult passage in that one difficult piece takes hours and weeks of effort, practicing and freaking out. But the feeling I get when I DO finally play it with the fingering right, up to tempo and it’s so beautiful you could scream, is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. The feeling lasts a second, but in that one moment, I know that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. The literal blood, literal sweat and buckets of tears I’ve cried over my music are all worth it in that split second. Anything that makes your soul feel like it’s flying can’t be all that bad.
If there were a drama queen muppet, it would be me. Not a mean drama queen; an I-have-so-much-to-do-and-I-have-no-idea-how-life-will-go-on-if-something-gets-screwed-up kind of drama queen. I could just imagine a neon blue, curly furred muppet with glasses…that would be me! She would do anything for anyone and expect nothing back, be an adrenaline junkie and as energetic as a rabbit on a serious sugar high, AND play the pipe organ as well as the banjo.
