Author Archives: dl129896

It all started in 5th grade. I was only 11 years old in my pretty low budget school. That year we actually had the luxury of having a music class and then is when I was introduced to instrumental music. Well like I said my school was not at all funded properly so we had no instruments but one day my music teacher had the idea of sending a letter home for our parents. The letter was sent to ask each of our parents to buy us a recorded which cost about five dollars at the time. I was pretty excited but I didn’t show it. When my mom bought me one like the next day, I definitely felt like the coolest kid in school because no one else had theres yet. Sadly we couldn’t play our recorders until everyone got theirs because my music teacher didn’t want anyone to feel left out. Eventually, I fell in love with my little plastic instrument. We didn’t learn anything more than ‘Marry had a little lamb’ but it was enough to satisfy me. I played it loud and proud everyday! Soon after it was time to go to Middle School, now my middle school was nothing like my elementary school. About 1,500 students attended my middle school as opposed to about the 100 kids that went to my elementary school. When my mom found out that Wagner had a music program she automatically signed me up, without even asking me. Of course, no one wants to be known as the band geek at 12 and 13 years old so I was actually pretty upset until I walked into that room and saw HUGE cabinets full of every instrument you could imagine! I wanted them all but I had no idea what any of them did or even where to begin so of course when my new music teacher, who played almost everything from flute to drums, asked me what I would like to play, I chose the instrument that looked most like my old plastic buddy- the Clarinet. Within a couple months with insane amounts of practice, I was first clarinet and I dreamed frequently of sitting first chair in an orchestra in the famous Carnegie Hall. From that point on music just became everything to me. I studied Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and Vivaldi at home and drove my mom crazy. Try listening to someone learning to play a wind instrument every single day and I promise going death will sound appealing to you. Little did I know I would go to high school and major in music, and finally by my senior year open my first show as first chair, tuning ‘my’ band and bowing to my audience, the feeling was so intense that I will never forget it and to think it all started in 5th grade.