Music and Sutras? (Not the sexual kind.)

“Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out.”

Over the course of this past week, this has been my non-stop mantra. (Well, in actuality, this is what it should have been.) As we all approach an end to week three as students of Converse College, I must admit that I am more overjoyed for the rapid approach of the weekend than I ever needed to be in high school. By Tuesday afternoon, I was already willing the weekend to come faster not so I could sleep or relax and be lazy, no. I need the weekend to come faster simply for the fact that I need more time. Lots. More. Time. And I feel like I’ve been very productive this week! I’ve learned tons and finally got Solfedge right on the first try in Musicianship! I’ve done my practicing, and can feel myself slowly improving, but I still feel as if I’m not doing enough. Or rather that I’m still not good enough. Or, to be even more direct, I’m still not as good as I want to be. But all in all, I am doing my favorite thing in the universe-- I’m learning. (I know you’re shocked. Don’t be too alarmed, playing horn is a very, very close second.)

One of the most psychologically satisfying bits of information I have come across in these past couple of weeks came not from monkeying around Dr. Couch in his powder blue suit, but instead from my sharp, soft-spoken yoga teacher and an all too cheery little Indian man. It was Iyengar, the very...eh-hem...flexible Indian Yogi, who wrote that it is important and essential to seek perfection in that which we love, however it is even more important to acknowledge and even rejoice in small improvements. Without these small improvements, perfection (or even getting close to it) would never be close to possible, let alone probable.

For me, this is my biggest shortcoming in both music and life. What I do and how hard I try always leads to frustration and stress as to how fast I, personally, want my goal to be accomplished. Reading this specific passage in yoga was like a tiny epiphany for me, it was as if a pretty substantial lightbulb went off and I suddenly knew what was wrong with me. I really didn’t need a doctor!! I had never before acknowledged any small improvement I would make, I was simply never happy until everything was right. It is here that the beauty of the Liberal Arts Education System became known to me.

When I began applying to Colleges, I knew that I wanted to study at a liberal arts institution firstly because of the small class sizes. Getting a more personalized education was important to me, but even more important, as I found when looking into said institutions, was the fact that within a liberal arts curriculum, there is not only plenty of room for one to dabble around in many different areas of interest, but it is required. This only made my lust for this type of curriculum, and Converse greater. This became the extent of my knowledge of the liberal arts programs until I began classes. Though being scheduled for my yoga class, I’ve, already, been able to apply the things I’ve learned from that class to my Horn Performance major, things that I believe I would have perceived differently were they explained through a music course. This, I believe is the most beneficial advantage over going to a school focusing on specialization. Where there one would always be in the same building, lumped with the same people, and only taking classes for their specialization with no chance to explore other areas. Here, I feel like because we get to branch out, we’ll have the advantage of being able to take information or processes from different areas and apply them to our majors while still getting the opportunity to be well rounded.

By taking my yoga class alone, I’ve been able to take not only the little snippet from Mr. Iyengar, but the art of adjusting your breath to help with breath support. And, for example, if one took a psychology class, they could take away knowledge of how people and the human psyche reacts to being placed in the spotlight, and how to react to it, to become a better performer. Even a course on the French Revolution can have its relevancies. The effects the revolution had on the French and music being composed at that time were vast. Learning about this through a specific course would help me to apply it to music history, where the courses overlapped and would create a deeper interest in me to learn even more about not only my field of interest. I feel that as a professional, I’d have a better understanding because of my increased interest. And one day, when I teach, I will be able to explain things in a multitude of ways to those who aren’t prodigies. Ya know, like me.

A small (off topic) snippet about Liberal Arts that I learned from wikipedia: Grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, visual arts, arithmetic, music, and astronomy are what the Liberal Arts are defined as. I thoroughly enjoy learning about all of the above. Except the ones that deal with icky math. AP Calculus in high school is the highest I hope to ever have to go. Oh, and my appreciation for correct grammar didn’t show in my listening assignment. Who decided the spelling for timbre anyway?? :)

Now! For a brief list of the things I learned at Convocation. (Relevance is... well... skeptical.)

1.) Dr. Robbins is a composer! I know a Composer! Cool.

2.) Words cannot describe how awesome Dr. Couch is. I didn’t know that an organ could play a note so low that is literally can make you chair vibrate on the floor!!

3.) Students spend 3 years of educational time planning how they’re going to attempt to distract the speakers at convocation, and miserably fail. (Which, on a side note, I really enjoyed the grace and dignity with which Dr. Mad and President Flemming carried their speeches while marbles and such rolled to wreak havoc and doom. I don’t think it would have been so at other institutions.)

4.) Twitchell has amazing acoustics. (If you’re not on stage.) It was terribly hard to understand what the speakers were saying from the back of the stage, which, all and all, was very disappointing... I have heard some pretty awesome things about Dr. Mad and was greatly looking forward to leaving with a little bit more than “TRAVEL ABROAD!!” I’m sure there was more there, and it’s unfortunate that that’s what I left with. And I always enjoy listening to President Flemming.

Alright, after 1100 words, I’m done. I truly hope all of you have a blessed week, and that you can all remember not to get too stressed out. We’re all in the same crazy, not-so-perfect boat together, but we’re all improving. Don’t forget to be happy. (And I hope everyone kicked serious butt on that theory test this morning.)

:)