It’s been a bit over four months since my last blog post, so I thought I would start out my blog-posting year by writing one about my year thus far!
This year, I am excited about my classes, and the ones that I’m taking this particular term are Psychology of Music, Trumpet Lessons, and Conducting. I would like to become a music therapist for my career in the future, so I was really looking forward to taking Psychology of Music. It’s been going well, and I have learned a lot about both psychology and music and how they link together. As a trumpet performance and psychology double degree, the class fits right in with both of my majors. Learning things about why humans enjoy music and the way that music works with our ears and brain is fascinating to me, and I’m excited for the rest of the term to learn more! Conducting is a class that is required for my major, although I was looking forward to taking it regardless. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into it, but I have learned a lot about conducting. I’ve seen that there are a lot of things that a casual observer would not notice about conducting, and it’s taken a lot of practice outside of class to work on different aspects of conducting. Overall, I’m looking forward to the rest of the term in terms of academics, and I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to learn all of the things that I have so far!
Jumping back a bit, I also did a lot of fun things and learned a lot this summer. I got my third job in a bike shop this summer, and that was a great experience, and I’m looking forward to going back over winter break again. Although I was informed about a lot of things regarding bikes before, it seems that you can never know enough about them, and there are always new things to learn. Compared to before working in the bike shop this summer, I feel like I knew next to nothing before, looking back on it. The first bike shop that I worked at was a bike and coffee shop, and I worked as a barista, so I do know a lot about coffee, and it did help me get interested in cycling. I worked with customers and retail in the second shop that I worked in, and that one moved too far away for me to commute, unfortunately. So, now that I’m on my third job in a bike shop, I am really starting to collect a lot of knowledge about everything bike-related. I am always interested in learning more about how bikes work, how bike repair works, and anything in the world of cycling. This past summer, I got into bike racing as well, and that was very exciting for me. I found that I really love road racing, and I plan to try to keep in shape for the next season, and do even better getting to begin at the very start of the season. I practiced a lot of trumpet during the summer, and that was great to be able to do, and I definitely saw improvement in my playing. Like cycling, there is always more to learn in music, and I find myself constantly changing and growing as a musician, and the summer is a great time to grow and learn! Also musically related, it was great to be able to see one of my favorite bands play at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illionis this summer. The summer is so nice for travel, and I love going to see the bands that I enjoy listening to with people that I enjoy spending time with. They sounded great, as usual, and Ravinia was a new and exciting experience in one of our neighboring states. Overall, I definitely worked hard this summer, but I still managed to have fun and relax a bit as well! I was glad to have the break to see friends from home and spend time with my family.
The summer was great, and I have been off to a good start to a school year, but I am also looking forward to the future this year. We have been looking into doing different things for the club that I am co-president of, Greenfire, and that is always exciting. We have hosted so many wonderful speakers in the past, and I am eager to have an idea of the incredible people that we will be bringing to campus this year. I also look forward to seeing the improvements that I will be making in both the trumpet and voice. I have been taking jazz voice lessons since the start of last year, and I have learned so much. I’ve found out about a huge amount of new artists that I didn’t know about before, as well. Of course, I’m looking forward to the things that I get to do during the summer, but it’s really easy at Lawrence to live in and enjoy the present, so that is what I am focusing on now!