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Your music
Aug. 17th, 2010 12:24 am( The list )
This is probably meant to mean the music I listen to, but really, my musical tastes aren't that interesting to talk about, so I am interpreting to my satisfaction.
I think I was about six when I decided I wanted to learn to play the violin. I have a rather impressively scattered history of teachers from all over the map stylewise. I started out learning from a UC Davis student looking to earn some cash who taught me whatever sheet music she happened to run across. This meant I kicked off my musical career with "Hall of the Mountain King," a few random classical pieces, an Irish jig, and the Star Wars theme song. I had a few lessons in the back room of a local music store with a guy I don't remember at all, then I moved on to Florie Brown. I knew her from the Celtic band Golden Bough, which I'd seen play at ren fests, and I was really excited to learn that style of music, but she turned out to teach by the Suzuki method. By that time, I'd learned enough of a variety of music that I had no patience whatsoever for Suzuki--you only got to work on one song at a time! Ridiculous!
Around then, or perhaps a few years later, I started taking community college classes. I happened to start the first semester that a particular class called World Music Ensemble was offered. It turned out to be the least structured and possibly the most fun class I've ever taken. We all showed up every Sunday, sat in a circle, and jammed for five hours. We played traditional music from around the globe, all painstakingly written out from memory by the teacher, an extreme hippie and very cool guy named Bob Wren. Halfway through the semester, we got our first paid gig. I kept playing with them until I left California--we usually used the money from gigs for pizza parties and so forth. I just googled for them, and it looks like the Sacramento Press did an article about them this year, so I guess they're still going after more than eight years. Which is totally awesome.
In Kansas City, I was led deep into several varieties of trouble by a girl named Leeanne, whom I met in French class. One of the many hijinks we got into was a "band" named Seoul (get it? Soul? Yeah, that was her idea) which consisted of her on the guitar and me on the bass. We formed the band because Leeanne wanted to enter a talent competition. I had never actually played the bass, but she assured me that this would not be a problem. I got in one ten-minute practice session at her house before she dragged me onstage and into what I'm sure was a truly awful rendition of "Cold Feelings" by Social Distortion, a song I had never even heard. I was hooked, and begged for a bass guitar for Christmas that year, which I received and named Milo.
The violin is currently in California at my grandpa's house. Milo is in Chicago with Clayton, who has been using it since I moved out three years ago and looked absolutely devastated when I mentioned the possibility of bringing it to Seattle now that I have room for it. I'd like to play music again; I'll probably retrieve the violin next time I visit CA.
This is probably meant to mean the music I listen to, but really, my musical tastes aren't that interesting to talk about, so I am interpreting to my satisfaction.
I think I was about six when I decided I wanted to learn to play the violin. I have a rather impressively scattered history of teachers from all over the map stylewise. I started out learning from a UC Davis student looking to earn some cash who taught me whatever sheet music she happened to run across. This meant I kicked off my musical career with "Hall of the Mountain King," a few random classical pieces, an Irish jig, and the Star Wars theme song. I had a few lessons in the back room of a local music store with a guy I don't remember at all, then I moved on to Florie Brown. I knew her from the Celtic band Golden Bough, which I'd seen play at ren fests, and I was really excited to learn that style of music, but she turned out to teach by the Suzuki method. By that time, I'd learned enough of a variety of music that I had no patience whatsoever for Suzuki--you only got to work on one song at a time! Ridiculous!
Around then, or perhaps a few years later, I started taking community college classes. I happened to start the first semester that a particular class called World Music Ensemble was offered. It turned out to be the least structured and possibly the most fun class I've ever taken. We all showed up every Sunday, sat in a circle, and jammed for five hours. We played traditional music from around the globe, all painstakingly written out from memory by the teacher, an extreme hippie and very cool guy named Bob Wren. Halfway through the semester, we got our first paid gig. I kept playing with them until I left California--we usually used the money from gigs for pizza parties and so forth. I just googled for them, and it looks like the Sacramento Press did an article about them this year, so I guess they're still going after more than eight years. Which is totally awesome.
In Kansas City, I was led deep into several varieties of trouble by a girl named Leeanne, whom I met in French class. One of the many hijinks we got into was a "band" named Seoul (get it? Soul? Yeah, that was her idea) which consisted of her on the guitar and me on the bass. We formed the band because Leeanne wanted to enter a talent competition. I had never actually played the bass, but she assured me that this would not be a problem. I got in one ten-minute practice session at her house before she dragged me onstage and into what I'm sure was a truly awful rendition of "Cold Feelings" by Social Distortion, a song I had never even heard. I was hooked, and begged for a bass guitar for Christmas that year, which I received and named Milo.
The violin is currently in California at my grandpa's house. Milo is in Chicago with Clayton, who has been using it since I moved out three years ago and looked absolutely devastated when I mentioned the possibility of bringing it to Seattle now that I have room for it. I'd like to play music again; I'll probably retrieve the violin next time I visit CA.
