Personal Narrative: A Career As A Music Education

Time is a valuable resource, and in fact, some people get more out of their time than others. Time is a scarce resource meaning that there is not enough of the resource available to satisfy all of the ways I want to use it. Due to the fact that it is scarce, this means that my time must be allocated in such a way that I can get the most out of it. Being a full time student, working part-time, and playing college athletics is a tough feat. In fact, most of the time I struggle in deciding what to do and when. What I choose to do is a demonstration of my value system and some things are valued more than others.

From the day we’re in our mother's stomachs, to the day we die, we have always been listening to music. For me, listening to music all my life helped me develop a passion for it. When I was around the age of 6 my dad introduced me into the world of Rock. The very first band I remember listening to was System of a Down and ever since then, I fell in love with rock music and all its possible variations; for a long time this was all I listened to. It wasn’t until high school that I started listening to all sorts of genres and realized that I wanted to have a career in the music industry. That's when I learned about producing music.

Before I became interested in Spelman college, I knew the type of education that I wanted to receive. I wanted an education that would cater to my many endeavors. I wanted to learn wholly, passionately and creatively. During NSO, when Dr. Burnett spoke, I realized receiving a liberal arts education is more than learning it is an act of resilience, and an act of courage.

Music has always been one of my greatest passions. However, the most difficult challenge I have ever faced has been participating in jazz ensemble.

Have you ever had this kind of experience: You work very hard approach to your goal, and you think that you are ready to face any potential issue, but it unfortunately turns out to be very different than what you thought it would be than what actually happened. This is a lesson I learned from my entry-level music class while I was still a John Jay student.There is a big different between who I am and who I was in few years ago. Unlike now, I am very relaxed and I tend to be more productive and confident when I have to handle multiple things. I used to be very impulsive and a little bit of disorganized. My time management skills were extraordinary terrible, and I could not properly handle the problems by myself. I had a bad temper because I

My transcripts show that I only participated in band my freshman and sophomore years. Band became a necessary sacrifice because I still needed to fit in graduation requirements and a load of AP classes to my junior and senior year schedules; however, my music career did not end! I found a way to continue playing the bass guitar in my church praise band, and I am currently going on my sixth year of playing. I will be flexible in continuing my music career, whether it be in a class or a club, because it is definitely an activity that has become important to me.

I realized I wanted to get into music and producing when I received feedback from friends, and family that I had talent after the first song I released, and after time passed all I received was just good feedback, of course, there were some negative opinions but I keep my head up. When I started writing/recording music I just saw it as something to do for fun, it became one of my serious hobbies after a while. That push I was given by friends and family has led me to believe I could make it in the music industry. That’s how the idea of getting into music came about.

I am impressed with the level of collaboration that the music teacher in your district share. In my district I am the only beginning band teacher so if the students fail to meet a concert deadline the blame falls on my shoulders. Teaching by ear is not part of my district’s curriculum until they reach jazz band which is many years later in high school. We have to immediately prepare for our winter concert that is always held in December.

For me it is important to reach my goals in order to be happy with myself. I have two career employments that interested me the the most, and they are. Music Producer and Sound Engineer Technician. Both of these careers have a lot of similarities and quite a few differences.

From a young age, I was always fascinated with the profession of teaching and knew that I wanted to grow up and become an educator. As I reached my senior year in high school, I determined that I would focus my undergraduate studies on music education and become a middle school chorus teacher. I studied the craft of music teaching and dedicated myself to become the best music educator possible. While I completed my studies, I began to have a fascination with instructional technology in the classroom and researched the implications of including technology into choral and band music instruction. I was also given the opportunity to present multiple workshops to college students and in-service educators about implementing new and exciting technologies in their classrooms. While at Wingate, I assisted in the founding of the Center for Teaching and Learning where I helped design and implement a training program for professors to implement the use of an iPad in the collegiate classroom. Natalie Ayambem, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, said:

As the third black child of six and the daughter of a single mother, I was raised with my extended family. It was not until I was seven years old, my immediate family moved to Orlando, Florida from Chicago, Illinois. My mom, like most mothers, wanted the best for her children, and what she deemed valuable were to raise children with a holistic mind of the world. Because of this, my middle and high school years were full of diversity. One the most memorable years of my life was when I was accepted in Osceola County School for the Arts. This was a combination middle and high school that I attend for five years. There I learned many ideals and techniques about the fines arts. From technical theater to creative writing, I was taught how the arts

I chose being a music educator because I have always wanted to be a teacher. When I was younger, I used to play “school” with older siblings. I never enjoyed being the student, but I loved being the teacher and teaching them things. They always acted like they did not know what I was talking about even if they did. I have never been able, however, to decide on a subject to teach. Music has been the only subject that, over time, has remained a constant interest in my life. For a period of time, I thought maybe a math teacher, or even a science teacher. Teaching english however has never crossed my mind because while I am good at english for the most part, there are too many parts of english that are hard to me. Band was a whole new world for

Music teachers are the backbone of all real musicains. Although it may the not be the most intriguing job, it eventually pays off. While a music teacher may not get the most pay or the best hours, but to be able to watch students become adept in music makes it worth it.

I have always been indecisive and overcautious when it comes to making any big decision, especially when it is going to affect the rest of my life. The decision to be a music educator is a prime example. Even though music is my biggest passion, I have doubts if I will actually be good at and enjoy teaching. It is a lot of responsibility to shape the lives of future generations, and I do not know if I can handle such a tremendous task year after year for my entire career. I always wonder if there is any better career path out there for me that I will enjoy more or will have better opportunities for me. Regardless, I feel that spending my days sharing my love of music, and equipping the future generations of musicians would be a rewarding career.

My short-term goal to become and musical director/musical educator is practicing music theory. When I had researched ways to try and become a professional at practicing music theory I had three goals in mind that I should complete. The three goals were learning to read music notes, learning to conduct, and practicing getting better at acting. In order to learn how to read music I will have to take classes with other teachers and continue to do so until I feel like I have accomplished that goal and then move on to the next. In order to accomplish my second goal which is learning to conduct I would also have to participate in classes and camps to soon become a professional. My last goal is learning to act which I already have a little experimenting