Music
Lately I've rekindled my love for an old flame: music. In elementary school, we had an amazing music teacher, Mrs. Judy Garcia. There were a lot of mixed feelings toward her from the students, but she did amazing things to introduce music & music theory to kids.
Her most outwardly impressive feat was our choir. Thanks to her training and we had the opportunity to perform for the National Literacy Honors, Kennedy Center Honors, and for Clinton's first inaugural gala. She also had the recorder class that helped my interest in instruments along. I picked up flute around the same time, and her training helped me learn that, too.
When I got to middle school, I was similarly blessed on the musical front. Our band director was amazing. Mr. Drake had a tendancy to help middle schoolers get all 1's on grave IV (best marks on music more difficult than many high schools played). My 7th grade year was no exception. We scored best in state on grade IV and it was exhilarating.
At the end of 7th grade, Mr. Drake announced he had accepted a position at the high school we'd be attending, so he'd see us in a couple of years. His replacement was a nice guy, but he wasn't as picky with us at Drake was, and he certainly didn't challenge us to strive for perfection. That year we competed grade III, and didn't earn 1's.
Most of high school band blurs together for me, only separated by years because of who hadn't graduated yet. During the time I spent there, I learned to sight-read grade V and VI music, play at least a scale on almost every instrument we had (clarinet, sax, trumpet, etc.). I never really had to think about it, music just flowed.
During the last half of my senior year (and halfway into freshman college), I had a nasty series of ear infections which left me with hearing problems. As a result, I had to focus intently to hear things the way I did before, and even then it didn't seem quite right. After that real life got exceedingly distracting, and I apparently forgot how much I enjoyed playing.
So a few weeks ago, I picked up my flute for the first time in some years, and I mean, really picked it up and played. I played with energy and emotion, and loved every minute of it. I was about to stop again when I discovered I can play harmony with myself using the mic on my computer now and the built in sound recorder.
It's been a couple of weeks since my rediscovery, and I've been busy with other things in life. But I can still feel the music running through me, and I plan to play again, once more with feeling.
