Aces...

Spring 2020: Year 1 Complete.

Semester started off great. Eager to see how attending 12 classes was going to be a bit tiring. It was very tiring. I found myself arriving back home some days at 6pm other days 7:30pm. Some classes were very similar to the fall semester like Jazz Lab, Percussion Ensemble, Applied Lessons, Recital Hour, Percussion Studio, and Music History. But this semester introduced new classes like Intro to Education, Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Computer Application for Music(notation), and Piano IV.

Being a part of Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony was a real push in the right direction. Another semester where jumping in the deep end face first is required. It was a challenging and rewarding experience to not only be able to do the performances we were able to do, but a learning experience in really finding out my where my weaknesses lie. It's important that the things we do during this time challenge us and open our eyes to the things we need to work on that are important for our improvement and growth. Especially during Percussion Ensemble, when we were given some amazing pieces to perform. Collectively all of these Performance Ensembles came to a screeching halt do to the Coronavirus. Cannot express my disappointment.

With classes like Piano IV and CAFM, it was a different story.

Piano IV was a very "oh crap" moment. I hadn't touched the Piano for ages. But I worked stupid hard on the material, and thankfully passed my Proficiency Test.

CAFM or as I call it "computer notation class" was pretty simple. Learning how to use Musescore was great and I'm happy to say I'm still learning little tricks from other people as well. I had experience notating with Finale, Noteflight and Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, This was a bit different but rewarding in the end.

Intro to Education was interesting to say the least. Still on the fence on whether or not I want to continue, but to keep this short. I'm not sure why we needed the booked when we didn't even open them at all. I'm just glad I did a lot of sociology and psychology classes prior (when I was a psych major) because it made this class a breeze. No comment about observation hours. 🙄 Oh and I have to retake my ACT to get a 22 or above to continue... (That should have been stated the moment anyone decides to go into education program - )

Finally, the transition from structured classes in person, to the unstructured online mess that became what it was, led to a few calls with the student counseling center.

Never again.

At least I passed, but I feel like I didn't earn it.

Just glad it's over with.