Music

 Hazrat Inayat Khan describes this phenomenon quite beautifully “ What the world is seeking, what the human soul yearns for, is life, whether it comes through music, color, lines or words. What everyone desires is life. It is life that is the real source of healing; music can heal if life is put into it. There is no great secret about this, if only a person is able to understand the truth in its simplicity.”

Saturday/.

Today is going quite well...my piece is coming along, my writers block has disappeared...i've overcome the obstacle and i think i'm successfully "stealing" from great composers, haha hahaha ::sinister laugh:: I've also come down with some sort of cough/sore throat situation ...i wanna be like a natural medicine expert so today i drank throat coat and some chinese tea, ginger and chamomile tea ( after which my cough disappeared) and now i'm on cinnamon and honey...idk if that's working but i'm going to get some fresh juice and maybe pomegranate, lemon, ginger tea later...i'll go to the health store and get some other stuff too maybe...it looks like i'm going to start vegan week now. 

Anyway,

off to compositionness..

Senior Recital

So I am in the process of contacting musicians for my Senior Recital...i am really excited and really nervous...I'm finishing up pieces, working things out and I know it will all go well...this is a scary process though...aah, the life a compositionist. LOL...

I don't have anything else to say so I guess this blog is dumb. Off to work.

tired.

i was pooped. now i'm over it. back to work.

hmm..

So today was a good day and then I drained myself towards the end of it and  I am now recovering...lol..Not drain as in tired but I think I overworked myself in my mind...not actually...like I made things more overwhelming than they are...

Also today, we had like a "game-show" kinda thing in student recital and the Theory team (my team) won, but it also made me realize how many things that I've learned that I have forgotten...I definitely need to actually learn and take in these things like all the way so I can know it like in my sleep...like not just stuff about theory but music in general. I shouldn't have to think so hard to recall some of these things...And, that got me thinking about grad school and the future and life and stuff...and I just need to be better...

I completely lost my train of thought just now and I've been meaning to tell somebody that I conduct electricity...like extra electricity...like I may have super powers that I never knew about because I've been seeing little sparks of light when I do certain stuff with my hands...I AM A SUPERHERO!

Anyway, I'm going to have my recital and write for my recital....
I always think of my life like a movie and I want to stop....like I'll be walking down the street..imagining myself in a movie and I'll think of what's going on in the movie in stuff...like narration in my head...I'd like to stop and just live...I just got sleepy...I thought I was gonna be wide awake for a long time...i'm going to eat my food and sit here...my arm is tired...i need to cut my nails...i wanna write some good songs and sing them and stuff..and play them with a band and guitar...

I'd like to just relax..I think I get sleepy at around 10:30 like every night.

aaaahhh!!!!

I'm really excited...my trumpet and percussion piece is coming together!!! AAAAAAHHH!!!!!...
these ideas are floating in my head really well and I keep thinking of new stuff, I just want it to be right....oh well back to work.

I really feel like this is going to turn out really well..Thank you God!

Outtie!

Tired.

I am very sleepy. My book, How to Write For Percussion - Samuel Z. Solomon came in...i'm pretty excited about it...Whenever I get a house I'm going to have a library with music and books...

Anywho, I am tired. I wrote from 3-5pm today and then I went to pick up my mother....I know that's not a long time but I am tired of writing and thinking right now...maybe I'll read something...I think I'll actually read until I fall asleep and then wake-up and practice or write again...if i wake up early tomorrow I'll get some writing in..I have percussion parts to fill-in in Section 1 and Section 2...i just don't quite know what to do...I have a little outline of some stuff though, I guess I'll do some more listening and experimenting and try to do something on purpose. I'd say this is going pretty well though. I'll definitely be finished by the end of January, hopefully before that so I can finish up my last piece for my recital...and I REALLY wanna do it...maybe I'll work on the libretto for that simultaneously...I need to by Their Eyes Were Watching God...I lost my copy, idk where it is though. maybe i left it in Italy..i didn't even bring it to Italy...so idk where or when I lost it. I need to cook something else in the near future...not spaghetti either, maybe the mushroom spaghetti thing from Rachel Ray's show....i'm gonna make mushrooms spaghetti, then veggie chili because i love it...and something else...a dessert...cake or something, maybe carrot cake cupcakes or apple pie...idk. 

not today, another day. whatever day i don't have class this semester can be cooking day.

bye.

off to read/sleep.

Vocal Pedagogy

I have rehearsal tonight with the kiddies and I was thinking if I have to do warm-ups what are cool ones to do...

Of course I know of some warm-ups but I always forget what they're for and which ones to do and why and all of that...so i began to look up stuff online but with all of these amateur voice teachers who may or may not be professionals and randoms posting anything on the internet...i don't half-way believe these people...

I am really interested in vocal health...actually, I'm interested in whole body health and healing through music and natural resources like food and herbs...i really do wanna study these things. I think first I should start doing them...so I'm going to start exercising and cooking.  i should try a bunch of different stuff..i like yoga, pilates, dance aerobics....i've been meaning to do zumba but either way, if i became a pedagogue...piano, voice, or composition...i'd teach my students about health and the importance it has on you as a performer and composer....

I guess I'll get a book on vocal pedagogy..

btw...i got  2 books for christmas 

"1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die" - Tom Moon

I think this is a great book to own, its a helpful guide to exploring music of all sorts.

"From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music"

I haven't opened this one yet but when I do I'll give a lil review...something slight..lol

And, today I ordered

"How to Write for Percussion" - Samuel Z. Solomon

Hopefully I get that book tomorrow. 

I also wanna read Eat, Pray, Love...i saw the movie but i feel like the book will be better.

If anybody has any books to recommend please do...i need it!!!

No Plan

I don't know what to do with my life. I don't have to have a plan. I wanna go somewhere for the summer but I'd have to apply now...I don't know what to do or where to go.
I'm gonna go work on my recital music now.

Funny feelings...

So, sometimes when I'm writing or thinking about going places for writing I get scared...like I'm not going to be good enough or other people are going to know a bunch of stuff that I'm supposed to know but don't.
I began to write this and then I thought...

HEY! I was scared when I was going to Italy and it turned out to be fine, I wasn't behind and people liked the stuff I wrote...so therefore...I am over it..No, i'm not the best composer or musician out there but I'm not terrible and it's good to be around people who know more because then you'll learn more...

I no longer feel funny...i hope these feelings go away for ever...i always have waves of fear and lack of confidence come over me...and then they go away...Music is fun, it's not about who's better...lol

Ok. I'm done.
Outtie.

First Blog

So today is my first time blogging. I don't have anything cool to write but I decided I wanted to write a blog so that when I'm composing/researching at my computer I can write down some of my thoughts.  I also misplaced my notebook last week and have not looked for it yet and don't want to take up time.  So i got a record player yesterday which I thought was cool...now I gotta get some more records, but it sounds good.  Anyway...

So I'm writing this composition for trumpet and percussion and my knowledge of percussion is rather limited.  I'm not like an expert when it comes to trumpet but I took a class and played a scale so at least I know what it feels like to some degree.  Anywho, I am just excited because this seek and you shall find thing is amazing...I keep finding articles and composers to listen to and I am really beginning to learn more about this percussion thing...some of the challenges other composers face, some ways that others have approached it...

I tend to be a see what somebody else did and then do my own thing kinda person...sometimes when I have absolutely no idea my creativity seems blocked...Maybe because I'm competitive I always want to do what somebody else did better...LOL...well not necessarily but its just easier that way...i have something to build off of...which is useful to a composer who is staring at a blank page that has to be full of notes by the time you are done...unlike arranging or something you don't have anything to work with outside of your own experiences and things you've listened to,read, or researched...Well anywho...
back to my researching and listening and writing....

I'm excited though, I don't need to be in the percussion studio to play around...All I need is a little brain silence.

BTW...i didn't have time to make this thing look pretty, the idea to blog came upon me suddenly so its not going to look cool but whatev.