Personal Narrative: A Walk Into The Music Store

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend a real concert, since it usually requires transportation and I do not have a car (or friends who would be willing to drive me there and enjoy some classical music). Instead, I listened to the Brahms Violin Concerto (my favorite composer) performed by Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Bernard Haitink with violinist Janine Janses as soloist. I enjoyed it almost as much as if I listened to a life performance, I promise.

What I would call the perfect day is going to a twenty one pilots concert. In the afternoon, my dad and I would drive to Denver to redrocks, where the concert it is going to take place. It’s very hot and damp on the drive to Denver, and the sky was a cloudy gray. We finally made it to Denver and there’s only two hours left until the concert, I could hardly contain myself. We make it to the venue and there is a big line of people stretching around the building. Its five o’clock and they open the doors and I find my seat and it’s in the pit, the closest spot to the stage. The show should be starting in a few minutes.

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.

Working with music takes a certain type of patients. That’s why when I knew this project was present, I had the perfect person in mind because I worked so close with this person once before. So, I decided to gather my resources and get in contact with our family friend Dr. Snodgrass who is the superintendent of the Fort Osage R-1 School District and ask if I could receive her email so I could set up a facetime call with her and get this interview on the road. Her name Is Erica Gregory and she is a high school band teacher at Fort Osage located in Independence Missouri. The reasons I decided to interview her were simple. First, she was my star time teacher which meant she was my study hall teacher. As a freshman coming into high school and being placed in a study hall class

I found relaxing bamboo flute music on YouTube when I was doing bad in school. This soothing flute music helped me to control all my built up energy. I feel like this music helped me to concentrate and it also helped me focus. It was during the middle of freshman year I realized that I had a lot of trouble concentrating so I looked up relaxing music. Once I heard the bamboo flute I felt it calm me down. Like when I listen to this music I can concentrate better. When ever I am upset or angry I put this song on and my feelings just go away, it's like the music puts me into a dreamland. Growing up I always would have a hard to paying attention and concentrating but when I heard the bamboo flute I felt like it changed me.

Soon after I had arrived at St. Timothy’s, Reverend Fran introduced me to the incumbent choir leader, Barb Knotts, and her husband Frank who was a Parish Councilor. I was hoping Barb would help me usher the choir through the upcoming reforms; however, both she and Frank were about to go on a two month vacation at their lakeside cottage. Until she returned home I had to work alone.

Fifth grade was the year, the year everyone at Oak Ridge Elementary School looked forward to. This was the year we got to ditch the recorder, and pick up a real instrument. A violin. As expected, we learned the basics; nothing more than the names of the parts of the instrument, and how to play the open strings. But ever since that day in 2011, I have been irrevocably in love with playing the violin.

On Sunday, June 7th, my friend Janie and I were at the Foothill College Music Center at 3:00 pm, getting ready for our final symphony concert. She was playing the piano for the Intro Winds, while I was playing the flute for Wind Ensemble II. Janie was a thin, petite, Chinese girl of only a 5’2” stature and of a mere 108 pounds who was dressed in all black - a black top, black slacks, and black flats. Her eyes were shaped like little crescents and she had a short nose. Her teeth were slightly crooked on one side, but looked fine on the other, with her big buck teeth taking up most of the space in her mouth.

I have loved music since I was born, it has always been there for me. Although I love all genre of music my favorite has to be country music. You can interpret so much from one verse of music. From kindergarten to fourth grade I was in the school talent show singing. I loved getting on that stage and showing people what I could do.

No sooner than we came back with the drinks than one guy who I found was named Dan pulled out a baggie and rolled a couple of big joints. Those were passed around and it seemed like Jazz always had one in her hand as the guys kept passing them to her.

The events that took place on June 1st, 2013 is almost a blur, although, the sensation has always been ever so clear to me. I felt alive. I felt enchanted. And I felt wanted. Almost every little problem vanished for that one specific night. Who would’ve thought a single person can make you feel invincible? Cristian, was nearly the opposite the person I was. He was true rock and roll, and I was merely the product of the mainstream rock phenomena. He almost seemed very opinionated as I had always kept to myself, It was odd and a little unexpected. Although we both are very timid from the naked eye, to my surprise he was actually very witty and humorous. One lonely night at a park was the beginning of a very long and faithful friendship.

I feel like the music industry today is a far cry from the music industry of old. I feel like only within the last couple years, where being a songwriter has come back to being more popular, has the music industry, as a whole, taken a turn for the better. It has become more about the music for some artists and less about the money they could potentially earn. I feel like the genre of music that has the most amount of artist not making their own music is the pop genre. Sometimes, I hear songs sung by some of these boys and girls about love and relationships and I wonder if they’ve ever truly experienced what they’re singing about. Or, if the song was handed to them by one of the label executives and told “That will be a hit!” I feel like most

My Singstunde choices depict some aspects of my ongoing journey of finding meaning and finding my place in this life. Recently, I have been faced with uncertainty concerning who I am and what I want to contribute to this world. This is my last semester of my Senior year at Regis and I feel so thankful for the specific purposeful educational opportunity that I have been granted. Now, it is my turn to figure out how to live a meaningful life and how to best use this amazing Jesuit education. I hope that the Jesuit ideals, that have grown so close to my heart, can help inform a path to helping others in the most effective way that I personally can accomplish given my personality, strengths and weaknesses. While I know this searching for the right

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 met the love of my life at the Disney Store. As disgusting as it is, I have been drinking out of one cup for the past decade. This cute, pink cup crafted from engineering genius is able to hold exactly one cup of water without spilling over making for quite a useful substitute measuring cup. It features Marie, the little sister kitten from my, at the time, favorite movie “The Aristocats” encased in a sparkly, semi snow globe type contraption. Unless offered a disposable cup, I simply refuse to drink out of any other glass.