1/26 - Well-rounded

I realized today that I've been keeping up with my goals so far.

When I started this blog, one of my early posts was about whether I should pick from one of my possible majors, or to stay in the middle of all of them for as long as possible. I chose the latter, which is a lot of work, but, right now, I'm still well-rounded.

Today, I got up and got $4,710 dollars back from the University. That's what they get for making me pay out-of-state tuition. I checked out some Blind Blake, Art Blakey, Belle and Sebastian, Radiohead's "OK Computer," and Yes' "Fragile."

After Aural Skills I went to Composition, where my professor told us to listen to music without judging it, to listen and to keep an open mind, and to listen to anything you can get your hands on.

I sang baritone in Jazz Singers, then played snare and woodblock in the Percussion Group. After lunch, I played all of the parts to Tokoe and Gota with the African Ensemble.

I practiced for my lesson, and did pretty well. I remembered most of what I did last semester, and the rest I'll have to remember before I do early barriers in February.

After my lesson, I walked to Voertman Hall and listened to the Maniacal 4 trombone quartet, with the rhythm section from the One O'Clock lab band, and smiled as they played intricate classical pieces, grooved along to the latin song, and sang along to "Carry On Wayward Son," "The Ocean" and "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Now I'm going to a study group, but later, I'm going to watch the One O'Clock lab band play at the Syndicate, which will probably blow my mind a little bit.

So, in one day, I've covered all of my bases. I'm drumming, listening and experiencing the jazz scene, singing, playing world music, and I'm doing it every single day I'm in school. Except Fridays, I guess. But still, I think that's pretty impressive.

It's interesting to look back at the mistakes you made in the past; the things that you thought would be easy that were really hard, or the things that scared the crap out of you that weren't that bad. Sometimes I think that's better than looking back and realizing that you were right all the time.

M