Laura Phillips

My Not Very Musical Career

            I have never been very musically skilled.  Over the recent years, I have improved my musical abilities by taking band.  I am still not a good musician but I did make district band in middle school and I have started to enjoy the musical aspect of band and the music I hear.  The fact that I made it this far is unbelievable because on my first ever music lesson I fainted right in front of the teacher.  Also my piano teacher quit on me because of family issues. Another event that happened was that I froze up and had to stop playing the piano during the winter concert.  Those two events happened in elementary school so in middle school I was hesitant to take band, but I took it given the fact that my other choice was interest block.

            When I was in 1^st grade my father, who plays the viola, encouraged me to try taking lessons and start learning how to play the violin.  My dad set up lessons with a friend of his and on the next Saturday we woke up in the bright, early morning and drove to the instructor’s house.  The house was warm and as stuffy as a gym locker room.  We went in the basement and began the lesson.  I was overwhelmed by all of the music talk and working on how to hold the instrument. The teacher was talking really fast and she was yelling correct techniques. At one point she said “Stand up straight, get your feet together, and no slouching.”

I was feeling light headed, so I set down the child size violin and in a few moments I had fainted on the floor.  Once I had woken up to the cool refreshing feeling of ice water, my dad took me home.  I continued to play for another month, but after the first concert I quit and thought about trying the piano.

My piano career was also short lived.  After failing at violin, I tried to pick up the piano.  After we inherited my grandparent’s old piano, I thought out loud, “What would be better than starting up piano?”

 Besides, most my classmates play it, so why couldn’t I?  We drove to a local piano teacher who lived a few blocks away from my house.  When we got to her house it was very friendly and welcoming. When I was shoved into the door by my parents, I heard the beautiful rhythms of one of her advanced students.  When I walked in the piano room it smelled of candles and old lady perfume.  I could hear her cats meowing from outside the room that we were in.  I stayed in piano for about two years until my first piano recital where I froze up and had to stop playing.  I was so humiliated and I could feel the stares of the millions of people as they waited for me to continue.  I continued on playing for a couple months but I refused to participate in any concerts. 

The reason my piano playing came to an end was because my teacher was moving and did not have time to teach students.  I cannot say I was too disappointed about this announcement because I never felt a connection with the instrument.  The Piano teacher would always say “You need to feel the piano come to life and move in your hand,” I never felt this connection.

In middle school, I took band because my parents were encouraging me. My father would always say, “You should really try band. It will be fun.”

At first I just stayed in band to be with my friends, but they all dropped out after 6^th grade.  In 7^th grade I started practicing a little more and I made it in to district band. The concerts and performances helped me get over my stage fright and helped me now perform in front of audiences a lot better than before. Even though I am still not a very good musician, middle school band helped me get over my fear of performances and it gave me a little knowledge on musical concepts. I look back and see that even though I have never been musically inclined, I continued on trying and now I can enjoy and start playing music. I do not know if I will continue band, but over the years band has helped me overcome my fears.