My Musical Journey

     There are so many beautiful, unique styles and genres of music. From classical to sacred and contemporary to Brazilian, each musical style has a beauty of its own.
     I have always loved music. I have loved it since before I was born, in fact! When my mother was pregnant with me, our church at the time was singing the Messiah. I loved that music! I would squirm and kick. Apparently, I had a particular fondness for “For Unto Us A Child Is Born.”
     When I was small, I hated the church nursery, and thus I was in the services from a very young age. There was another child that played violin for offertories, who made me want to play. As soon as I could form sentences, I was asking to do violin, but alas, my mother made me wait until I was four. Then we rented a violin and found my wonderful teacher, with whom I studied until this fall, when I came to Converse.
     I am a double music performance major now and am filling my days with music and more music. I enjoy playing in many musical styles including classical, classical crossover, sacred, Broadway, Celtic, Spanish, and Brazilian, and I have fun composing and arranging pieces that mix and match them. This Christmas, I arranged the hymn “O Come O Come Emanuel” with Bartok music I was studying in my private lessons. I already work with a lot of classical music, but I love playing and playing around with a variety. I have gotten a lot of my musical experience through church music.
I started playing with the congregational hymns at my church when I was seven, and throughout the past 11 years, it has taught me several things including improvising, not being afraid of playing in front of people, and learning how to share music in a non-performing way. As I got older, I became heavily involved in the music ministry, being part of anything anyone would let me be in, and I learned many valuable things.
     At the moment, I am working an arrangement of the “Danse Macabre” in the style of Brazilian choro. I was recently introduced to Brazilian choros through my sister, a violinist turned mandolinist, due to a health condition. She enjoys playing choro music; she always wanted me to play it with her; and one day I thought “Ooh, this would sound really good with this other piece.” That arrangement turned out to be really fun, and I am enjoying the possibilities of this style.
     Through Carrera (my sister), I have begun to learn about the possibilities for mandolin. In America, when people generally think of mandolins, they probably think of bluegrass and tremolo. It is by no means limited in that regard; mandolins can play Bach beautifully, be guitar-like accompaniment, or sound like a gentle harp. In different countries, there are orchestras of mandolins. There are universities in Germany and Israel where people can study it. It is interesting how players from different countries use different techniques and have unique versions of the same instrument.
     As a singer, I love similar genres (less of the Spanish and Brazilian). I have been taking voice lessons since I was 12, but I have been singing my whole life. I love opera, Broadway, and everything in between. (Well, not everything, but a lot of things.) I also adore acting, so when I can, I enjoy being part of musicals productions, when I get to both act and sing.
     I could go on and on about this, giving details about orchestra, choirs, string quartets, and other musical adventures, but I will stop now.
     There is so much music to explore and enjoy. Each genre is unique in its own special way. It is important to learn to have an appreciation for these different styles and the cultures of whence they came.