Music Maniac

I thrive on music. There is not one day that passes that I do not indulge on music in some way.  I feel like I have always been this way, but in the last few years, love for music has grown into a magnificent fire that I constantly have to feed.

My freshman year, I had the chance to travel to NAU one weekend to go to the All-State choir with a cool senior that knew I would enjoy the trip.  During their hours of rehearsal, I would sit in the back of the two-hundred person choir and hum along to the beautiful songs. I intently listened to the magical sounds that the choir created. My love for classical music blossomed, and I wanted to part of creating it.

Throughout the next year, I worked my tail off in sight reading and classical music preparing for the audition in the spring.  The audition date came around and I felt confident in my performance, but I didn't know how likely it was that a sophomore would make it, so I didn't expect much.  The next day I was thrilled to find out that I made twenty-fifth chair out of fifty altos in the whole entire state of Arizona! I received and learned my music, struggling here and there, but still did my best to prepare.

FINALLY the time came! I traveled to the valley with my sister, Cierra, and my awesome choir teacher, Mr. Gardner.  The weekend flew by, but somehow, I held on to every amazing moment, no matter how small, and I still look back and I am grateful for all the things I learned in that short amount of time.

A few times during rehearsals, I would just stop and listen to the melodic sounds of the choir I was finally part of.  I found myself smiling, or even laughing, when the words could not have been any more beautiful and the notes were perfectly harmonized.  It was more amazing than I ever imagined.  The concert came too soon, and just as fast as it came, All-State had left me wanting more.

My junior year I was lucky enough to make it again! The only problem was that I got my music about six days before the festival and I felt like there was no way I could learn all the music that fast (especially all the foreign languages!!)  So, sadly, I missed that chance, but it increased my desire to make it my senior year!

Auditions for All-State were last Friday and I spent weeks preparing for the short performance I would give in front of a judge who would decide if I was good enough to make it into such an elite choir.  I felt a lot of stress coming from many sources to make it, and I think I psyched myself out a bit. Long story short, my audition went horribly.  I forgot the words to my solo and I completely missed the notes on the sight-reading.  Monday rolled around and I got the awful text, "Sorry guys.  Nobody from Holbrook made All-State this year."

I was crushed! I had been looking forward to this for years, and now my dreams were smashed.  I can’t adequately describe the feelings I had and the thoughts rushing through my head.  I wanted to make it so badly, but after a short time, I felt a kind of relief.  Already, I have been preparing music for Mary Poppins, my EAC music scholarship audition, and a church performance I have, all coming up in the next few weeks. I still have to learn to fly!

During Spring Break I became truly grateful that the load on my plate had become lighter.  Don't get me wrong, it was very hard at first, but after taking a step back, and broadening my view, I realized this honestly will not matter in a few years and it is such a simple problem compared to things others are experiencing right now.  I know that everything happens for a reason and because of all I am involved in right now, I would have been so stressed out that I probably would not have been able to function!

Sometimes things don't go the way we planned or the the way we thought they would, but it is important to remember to take a step back and recognize the blessings because of the way things turn out.