Why I chose music...

        Why? A question I expect many people to ask. Out of all the topics I could blog about, why music? In short, music is very special to me.  It has the ability to pick me up when I’m down and express my feelings and thoughts for something that I cannot put into words.

How did this love for music start? I’ll start at the beginning.

My family loves music and is very gifted in that area; this love for music has continued down to me. At a young age, I started taking piano lessons. This began a journey that led to learning many other instruments and serving others with my new found skills. I began falling in love with the sound of black notes against white pages and the satisfying feeling of creating melody through my fingers.

At first, I didn’t have a strong interest in music in any way, but when I started taking piano lessons I quickly learned that I had an opinion on the music and instruments I liked and didn’t like. As the months went on I struggled more and more with reading music. Having to tell which dot on five lines was the “C” sparked no interest or enjoyment inside of me at all. But my parents said I had to finish at least one more year of music theory before I could move on to something else—little did I know that I would use that knowledge for years to come. 

Instead of continuing on with piano, I made a request to finish my “one year of theory” not on the piano, but on the recorder. Yes, the recorder. The instrument that everyone had as a child, but no one ever seemed to actually learn. There was a class at a homeschool co-op I attended, and through that class I fulfilled my year of theory. Then I retired down my recorder, but I did not stop playing music.

The next adventure in my musical experience was hidden away in my basement. Mom pulled out her flute she played in band when she was in high school, and I began thinking it would be fun to learn. A friend of mine had taken flute lessons and had been involved in a homeschool band. I thought that sounded fun, took a few flute lessons, and signed up for beginner band. I loved band so much I continued playing for three more years and skipped right into advanced band with several friends. As much fun as band was I really had a desire to learn how to play the guitar. After completing a handful of lessons I continued teaching myself how to play. Having stuck with playing guitar to this day, it’s become a true passion of mine. I haven’t found another instrument quite like it.

I realized as the years continued that I loved music and it was something I could pick up easily. I learned and played a lot by ear, which has been a gift and a difficulty, but I’ve grown to embrace this talent and enjoy it in different ways.