Essay on A Lesson in Guitar and Perseverance

As a child, I decided to try my hand at the cello. From then, I traversed the vast world of music, and satiated my relentless

I got my first guitar when I was 11 years old. (When the addiction began) Even though I wasn't very good, each new thing I learned, pushed me to learn more. No amount of skills and knowledge was enough, and it still isn't. The more I learned, the

RH: What inspired you to become a musician? What kind of training have you had in music?

Throughout my life, I have been taken by music. However, it was not until my 8th grade year in middle school that I realized that I could be a musician for the rest of my life. Before that, music just seemed like something to keep me out of trouble. I wasn’t the best player at that time, and I still knew very little about it all. How could something like that ever support someone? Still, it was the only talent that I could find any success in, and it was still very enjoyable, so I wanted to still give it a shot.

I learned two instruments my Senior year. This experience has taught me that if you are truly committed to something, you can achieve it, even if you didn’t start young.

Growing up I was always around musicians, and music interested me, but I was always steered towards more academics. I finally got into music in High-School. It made me rather nervous because here I was sitting in a room with people who basically played instruments and sung within the womb, and I was unable to even read music. So at first I asked my friends who were all music aficionados. Every second thing that came out of my mouth was a question about music. What was tone? How do I play a scale? What is moderato? And how on earth was I going to catch up to these kids? So especially in band I took control and I took my French horn home every weekend and practiced for hours, determined to meet my high standards.

was born I was basically bound to become a musician. My parents would buy me a bunch of

In the second grade, I told my mom I wanted to play guitar. Watching School of Rock may or may not have affected that decision. A couple weeks later, my mom brought home… a violin – Guitar Center had run out of guitars, she claimed. And though it wasn’t exactly what I had asked for, I ended up liking the violin, and came to appreciate classical music. But my other musical tastes stuck with me, and quickly expanded – my iPod soon contained rock, jazz, alternative, heavy metal, hip-hop, rap, country, and everything in between. As I listened to various musical styles, I gradually picked up more instruments – electric guitar, bass, classical guitar, and so forth.

Freshman year me really, really wanted to make District band. In middle of August, 2014, the etude for my audition almost four months away

Growing up, music has always been a passion of mine. I listened to everything and anything. I would go to jazz concerts, operas, orchestra performances, or to a rock and roll music festival. But that passion bloomed into something more as I grew older. It blossomed into wanting to learn an instrument. I got to seize that opportunity when it came time to attend middle school.

Music has been a part of my life since the beginning. My Grandma Hammond, a music teacher, had me start right off into piano when I turned 7 years old. She has been my music teacher since then. I was taught all genres of music starting from classical to what is popular now. My favorite genres to learn were Jazz and Rock music pieces. I remember when I was the age of 12, I begged her to let me learn and play the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen for one of my music festivals. My Grandma disagreed at once about my idea because it was required of the piano students to play a classical piano piece. I was a good student and learned that festival piece, but little did she know I would also teach myself Bohemian Rhapsody and play it after my classical

In my house, we have always had a piano, but none of my family members knew how to play it. My mom taught me a very basic understanding including how to read the notes on the staff and how the notes correspond to each key on the piano, but that was all that she knew. In time, I grew to love the feeling of playing music from the heart. In continuing to play, I taught myself to play complex pieces because it made me feel satisfied and content. Now, I am able to play a vast variety of songs including jolly Christmas music, playful video game soundtracks, and beautiful melodies by Yiruma and Chopin. Throughout the years, music has evolved into an incredible stress reliever and source of enjoyment in my daily life.

I stayed on this journey to learn guitar because playing guitar is a special skill that I want to learn. n my free time or when I’m bored, I could play guitar while learning new and more songs to play. As a result, I will eventually and gradually get more advanced the more I learn. Another reason I stayed on this journey is because I want to want to challenge myself to do something I thought I could never do. When I was little, I always thought that I would never be able to play an instrument because it was too difficult to learn. Therefore, this is why I wanted to learn guitar in the

Music, it's a part of everyone's life. From childhood sing-a-long songs, to garage grunge music, and everything in between music is everywhere. Growing up with an extremely musical background it was in my genes that I would become a musician. Playing music has helped me become the person I am by being a release for my anger, broadening my future and make new friends..

In kindergarten I decided that I was going to run to the playground to start a game that would be the highlight of the day. I ran up the stairs and onto the bridge but, suddenly my legs had decided to give out on me and I landed with my hands on the bridge with my thumb stuck in one of the small holes on the bridge. I didn’t think my finger was stuck so as a normal child would do I stood up really fast and accidently ripped my thumb out of the bridge. It immediately snapped and my thumb started to swell and turn a variety of deep blues, purples, and blacks. This turned into a horrible mother and daughter 4-hour trip to the ER waiting in pain, trying to seek out what had