One month down

Okay, not quite a month, but almost. Wednesday is the first and that marks the one month of this semester. How is it going so far? I have my first midterm for Calculus that I need to take by Tuesday (Wednesday if I want to pay $5) that I intended to take yesterday. I should study for that so I can take it tomorrow. That'd be nice. My Music Education class is still a lot of fun and it's starting to get more intense. We are starting to prepare lessons that we are going to teach to a group of 6 or more. We have to teach four 15-minute lessons at different times on different days. Just to get a small taste of what it's like to be a music teacher. We turned in our initial plans on what we were going to teach, and basically everyone was too ambitious--including me. I wanted to try to teach rythms, time signatures, and subdivision all within that time. Yeah. Right. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure the majority of the group has absolutely not musical experience whatsoever--besides whatever they've done in church. I still need to re-write that plan and make some objectives for tomorrow... how fun that'll be.

Then there's the Oboe world. I had a lesson last Thursday that went well. I even had a reed that I made myself that was pretty good! She looked at it and complimented me on it. It's amazing. I might actually know how to make good reeds. The priority right now is to shape the cane that I gouged the other day (which took like 2 hours--freakin' insane) so that I can make more good reeds. Oh how wonderful it is to have a good reed to play on. :) Bad news is that the Thursday lesson was made up from Monday that she couldn't do. So everything she told me to practice that would normally be a week of practice would have to be until tomorrow, Monday. So I had to practice today (which I normally don't) to make sure I knew it. It's not as fast as I'd like it, but it'll be fine. I'll just ignore the fact that the good reed I had is really sharp... I don't have perfect pitch. Doesn't bother me when I don't look at the tuner. :P

Today was the first fast Sunday we've really had as a ward. We had a "break the fast" together. We all were assigned to bring a type of dish so we could all eat together. It was great! It was like a real meal... insanity. I love having food to eat. :) I've yet to get a real calling, though. We'll see how long that lasts. Last year I was a Family Home Evening Group Leader, or as they used to be known as--a mom. That was alright, but I'm hoping for something different. Then I don't have to worry about getting people to come and having something that people will like. I like other people planning that sort of thing. :P I'd really like to get a calling as a teacher, actually. It would take more time Saturday night (probably early Sunday morning), but it'd give me more experience being a teacher. It seems like it'd be kind of fun. I guess we'll see!

So my Dictation pace test--I passed! I didn't pass by much... but I passed. Hopefully I can do better on future pace tests so I can maybe average another B. That'd be nice. I really am getting better at hearing certain things. It'd be nice if the grade reflected that. :)

Yesterday we had our first cleaning checks. We got up at about 8 (on a Saturday morning... what the heck) and cleaned for about 2 hours. We all had different jobs we were assigned to do. It wasn't that much fun while cleaning, but it's nice to have a clean apartment. The area around my bed was getting rather cluttered.

Oh boy, I really need to get to working on my homework. I've got to do Sight Singing (which will probably end up being done in the morning), redo my Music Ed thing, Music Theory, read/study Calculus, and finish my observation sheet from my observation on Friday. Fun! I so should have done some of this yesterday... that's what I get. :)

Have a wonderful day!

Procrastinating is Phun!

I should be reading my Calculus and taking a quiz saying that I read my Calculus, but I feel like procrastinating it a bit longer. Since I've written a blog the past two Sundays, I'll make it a goal to try and write a blog at least once a week--on Sunday. So here I am! Writing another blog. Good times indeed.

I took my first Dictation pace test last Thursday--not exactly sure how it went. This teacher, who is another grad student, grades them on his own. I guess to ensure that we don't cheat. But now I don't know what I got on it until Tuesday. A little nerve-wracking since I'm positive I messed up the last harmonic dictation part. I... had some weird stuff there. At least I'm pretty certain on the bass... and he grades nicely on the analysis. Even if the analysis is wrong, if we analyzed what we wrote as the chord correctly, we get points. I didn't do so well on the mock exam... I'm positive I did better on this one. Whatever. Passing the four semesters of dictation is my goal. I was able to pull off a B last semester--which was awesome. Having a B again would be cool. B+ to an A awesome--but highly unlikely. I guess we'll see!

I always have Calculus homework to do. Luckily, I mostly enjoy what I'm doing so it's not that big of a deal. It's just every night when I'm thinking of what I need to do for the next day, there's always Calculus on the list. I either have to read the chapter and take a quiz about it, or do written homework. There are also quizzes due on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I luckily work on all three of those days and I usually just finish the quizzes then. I should try to get out of that habit though. There are going to be days that I'll be actually working the whole time and I won't have time to finish the quizzes. Not to mention the material is going to be getting harder and the quizzes will take longer. Calculus 2 should just be a load of fun. :) It is nice having a math class. I like math. In fact, I think I decided I wanted to minor in Math. Yup, a double major in Music Education and Computer Science with a Math minor. Three of the classes I have to take for the minor are already required for the Computer Science major, and one class can replace a class that's required for the Computer Science major. So really it's just a matter of taking 2 or 3 more classes. Not a big deal. I might as well, right? :) Somewhere down the road if I really wanted, I could probably get a job teaching Math. I hear those people are in short supply. That'd be fun.

I'm slowly getting better and better at the Viola. I got another oboist who also played Violin/Viola in high school to show me how to bow correctly. Now I actually play the instrument better! Now I just need to try and train my fingers to find the spots on the Viola for the notes so I can be in tune. Supposedly lots of string players are out of tune, even some string performance majors. At least that's what some people tell me. I'm not going to be one of them. :P I can try at least. I figure this is the time to try and get my fingers in the right places and train my ear to be in tune. I'm probably dreaming. Oh well!

My lesson last week went fine. Besides the fact that she asked me to play my E scale stuff. Which that just happened to be the one scale that I hoped she wouldn't pick. Literally, every other scale I worked on until it was back to where it was last semester. But 30-45 minutes later when I finally got to E, my mouth was getting pretty tired. I just ran through it until I played it right once. I didn't really get my fingers to remember sufficiently. It kind of came out with my fingers got confused up high. But, it's all good. I did practice it again so my fingers remember now. She'll probably pick another scale tomorrow--or forget. That'd be nice. :P I can play my freakin' scales. I practiced them to death my first semester. Literally, I played them an hour a day. For the first 20 or 30 minutes each hour that I practiced I would run through all my scales. I remember once spending an entire hour on just scales. It was rather boring and monotonous. Thus why I kind of am losing the will to practice them as much. I should try and be better about practicing. I scheduled practice rooms--but lots of them are in the evenings. Which means after I've already gone home and eaten and settled back in, I have to walk back to the HFAC and practice for an hour. It's not that big of a deal--it's just a matter of getting myself up and doing it. I need to get in the habit... habit... I just have so many classes this semester. Well, not really classes, just lots of classes that take up a lot of time. Then if there's anytime before 6, I'm working or practicing or something. I'm not like really stressed out, just have a lot to take my time. In fact, I'd say I'm pretty happy right now. I enjoy my classes for the most part, and I know how everything goes. Regardless, I'll be happy when this school year is over. :P I'll be done with the silly music core! (Music Theory, Sight Singing, and Dictation) I really like Music Theory, but I could definitely do without Sight Singing and Dictation. Oh... I just remembered. I have Sight Singing homework to do tonight. Blech... that'll be fun.

What else? Oh, I finally did my wash. Good for me. It costs so freakin' much here! I wonder if the prices went up at Helaman Halls, too. It cost $1.25 per wash, and $1.00 to dry each wash. I had three loads--it cost me a freakin' $6.75 to do my laundry! Insanity. Especially when you're used to umm... free. Oh well. I'll just remember to have more naked days. Anything to save money. Ooorr... I could just never do my wash. Be smelly! Totally worth the money.

I hope you all know I'm kidding.

I suppose I should end this post and do my homework. Fun!

A New Week!

A new week is about to start. I have a private lesson tomorrow, and I'm not sure what to think. I always get nervous about them, and it always turns out just fine. I did practice what she wanted me to, and I have a fairly good reed. It just takes a bit to break in... so if I just warm up on it before the lesson or something, it should be okay. Right? I don't know. We'll see! :)

Calculus is turning out to be fun! I missed having a math class, and it's really not too hard of stuff. We just started limits, and it's making perfect sense. A nice review of what I once knew. I just need to make sure I have all this trig stuff down that I never truly had down in the first place. Let's hope I can pull off an A! That'd be awesome. Then there's just Calc 2 to worry about... but I'll worry about that next semester. Double majors are fun! :P

I taught my first help session for CS 142 last Friday as well. It was fun! I hope I didn't confuse people too much and that I actually helped. I'm pretty sure I did. They were all so quiet and attentive! Listening to every word I said and writing stuff down I said/wrote. It was crazy! I know when I actually get a teaching job (wow... that's so cool to think about :)) it definitely won't be that easy to have them listening. The help session is a special group of people. They aren't coming because they have to, they are coming to listen to get some help on the lab. So of course they are going to listen attentively and be quiet. It's nice.

Speaking of teaching, we've been going to schools and observing and I've officially learned the D major scale on Viola! They just taught us how to use the bow. Man, it's so many things to think about at once. Though, I don't think it'll be hard to get the hang of it. Just at first there's how to hold the bow, how to move my arm, where exactly to put my fingers/be in tune, what note is what fingering, and the freakin' clef! That took me by surprise. We first walked in and joined them and they were reading through this song. I look at the music... "What is an E# doing in here??" Oh! It's the freaking alto clef! Surprise! Okay, so a C is really a D... it's different. That's for sure. But it's oh so fun! :) If I could just get GOOD at it, that'd be even better. But I have a feeling it'd take a while to get good at it. I could just get proficient at it by the end of the semester. At least I have String Workshop to look forward to so they'll go over in more detail how to play a string. It seems like fun. You can eat while you play! Insanity! And there's to stinkin' reed to worry about!

Yesterday (Saturday) BYU had a football against UCLA. Which, I'm pretty sure is the team that we barely beat last year at the Las Vegas bowl. Yesterday, we smeared them 59-0. At the half we were ahead 42-0!! Insane! They just were fumbling and throwing interceptions everywhere! We just couldn't be stopped. It would have been more, but I heard we were playing all of our second and third string players during the last two quarters or so. Had to give our offense a break since they were playing basically the entire first half. We played the freaking "Cougar Cub" song that we always play during a first down so many times! That and the fight song for each touchdown and field goal. It was exciting. We have such a good football team this year. Yay!

Oh yeah, last Wednesday I had Master Classes and I performed my song for everyone. It went pretty well! Everyone seemed to like the song and Jesse played the piano part very well for not having it for very long. It had the tendency to go too slow (as opposed to too fast like in Sacrement meeting), but it was still good. Geralyn seemed to like it too and had some suggestions for me. But that's all they were, suggestions. She was encouraging me to keep adding to it and write some more pieces to perform in class. Yikes! We'll see how far that goes. :) Either way, I'm glad it's over and went well. Yay!

Well, I should try to finish up my Sight Singing homework before I head off to bed. Though before I do, I'll go ahead and post another video of a little snippet of something I wrote a week or so ago. On a whim I named it "Mixed Feelings." Just because of the switch from major to minor. Like I couldn't decide what it was supposed to mean. I don't know. Go ahead and listen or something. :P

P.S. I love getting comments. :) If you read this blog, please comment and let me know! It makes me feel like I'm not writing to a wall/myself.

So... school

I've finished my first week of my sophomore year in college. Yup, sure have. I did my audition on Tuesday, which went just fine. I ended up making Wind Symphony playing English Horn! I'm so excited. I know that Wind Symphony is also going on tour to Japan after next semester... but I don't know I get to go on that. But, you know what, it's all good. It'd cost like 600 or 700 dollars to go (for a foreign trip... holy cheapness) and it would cut into the Spring term that I want to stay for. I'm just excited to be in a band that meets on Tuesday and Thursdays because it works out much better for my schedule. Oh, and being able to be in the same ensemble as Natasha... again! I can't believe it! We'll have a blast. :)

My Music Education class seems like it's going to be pretty fun. We get to go to middle schools and observe the teachers and take notes and such. Oh, and we get to learn two instruments: one string and one wind. We've basically split into two groups for the two middle schools, and one starts with the orchestra and the other with the band. I'm in the orchestra group first and I just found out that I'll be learning the Viola! So, that'll be fun. It doesn't seem like it'll be too terrible. Just takes up a lot of time since it's every morning for two hours, and for when we go to the middle schools we have to be there by 7:20 or so. But, it's fun. Great fun.

Calculus so far isn't bad. Just a review of trig and algebra, really. We'll be getting into the good stuff soon, which should be a review of the Calculus class I took in high school. So far I have an A in the class. The whole two online quizzes that I took that you can answer until you get it right. Yeah... we'll see how long that A will last. :P I shouldn't be too hard on myself yet. I could pull it off if I work hard enough.

So my song that I wrote this summer for sacrement meeting... I brought it up to my Oboe professor during my audition as a way to not talk about the fact that I didn't really practice that much this summer. She asked if I would play it at Master Classes this Wednesday. In front of all of the other oboe players and herself. So, I am. I just finished adding in all the dynamic markings I should have added in the first place, and I re-wrote a couple other parts. There were some parts that could sound basically the same (if not better) and be easier for the piano, so I changed them. And the end. I changed the end a bit. I'm probably going to end up showing the music to my professor tomorrow in my lesson. Nervous? Yes. She only has a doctorate in music and has analyzed a bunch of music written by real composers. We'll see what she thinks. I don't think she'll be too hard. It'll be interesting to see what she has to say. I'll guess I'll just wait and see!

So right now I'm in my room writing this blog while Ashley is off with her brothers and such visiting their grandparents and having dinner with them. My roommates and some of their friends are over talking and having a great time in the living room type-room. This is fairly typical. I tend to just kind of be in my room doing whatever on the computer or working on homework while they are out socializing. Interesting. I swear I'm not that anti-social. Every once in a while I semi-awkwardly walk out and just say hi or try to be part of the conversation somewhat. I just don't really know them very much. I guess if I just interjected myself into the group I would get to know them. Whatever. I like having the time to myself. My introverted self likes having that alone time to not have to talk to people.

Speaking of being social, Anthony and Curtis have come over every day for the past couple of days to play games and just hang out. It's been great fun! Too bad it prevents me from getting things done such as homework, practicing, or sleeping. But it's still a lot of fun. 

I have little songs for each of my two nephews and now my neice! I'll go ahead and make little videos of them and let you all listen to them! Awww... they are all so freakin' cute. :)