Here's my story

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum. Didn't know awesome places like this existed lol.

Well anyways, I started music in 4th grade on clarinet. I'm still goin strong on it at age 17. Just last year I started a music theory course at my school. I went in knowing how to read music, but as soon as we got to writing ourselves, I realized just how dumb I was. Didn't know what a triad was, how to write a treble clef, couldn't even write notes hardly! I really developed over the months, and strived above my class. I had no idea why, until one day when my teacher was like "Omg Brian do you have perfect pitch?" And I was just like "Umm....... What?" Haha so she tested me, and sure enough I did. I didn't even know that it wasn't normal to be able to identify notes like I can. It was really cool. Anyways, now I'm teachin myself a bunch of new instruments, just got a nice Kurzweil keyboard for my birthday a few days ago and hooked it up with my computer to be compatible with Finale 2006. So long as I get accepted, I hope to major in music at Indiana University of Bloomington. Only 2 years ago I had minimal interest in music, just going along with what I was told on the clarinet, but am now striving to make it my profession! Well anyways, sorry I make you read all that (and if you didn't, that's okay I don't blame you lol).

So what's your story?

ooo story time :huh:

when i was little i wanted to learn to play piano so my mom put me in lessons. after being "asked to leave" 2 or 3 different music schools, i got fed up and developed a fear of my piano. in grade 7, i started playing french horn as part of my school music program. within 2 weeks of having it, i had left it on the school bus (but luckly got it back). by about 2 months into the school year, i hated playing it and never practiced but, i could sight read well enough to pass my playing tests. in grade 8, i got 21% in music because i refused to bring my instrument to school, let alone play it. my beloved, old music teacher still glares at me when she sees me. when i entered grade 9, i met Marius whos love for music proved to be rather contagious... because of him i wanted to learn to play an instument. so i decided on either guitar or clarinet, both which i had experimented with before. after going through 2 guitar teachers, i now only play with my lovely instrument on occasion but im sure to keep her well tuned (shes a beautiful red electric guitar and i admit, i should play more often :laugh: ).

as for now, im "learning to improvise" (an oxymoron in its self in my opinion) on piano, having mostly gotten over my fear of the instrument and with lots of pushing, on occasion attempt to compose. but i do love it here, you people are very inspiring.

:P well thats my history with music.

I certainly do not have perfect pitch, but I admire those who do. I wish I had it, but it doesn't seem to affect my composition. Also, never let anyone put you down. The piano is a wonderful instrument, don't be afraid of it. It is one of the most difficult instruments to master, in my opinion, so it is expected to be a little intimidating, especially if someone puts you down. Just keep plugging along. Persistance is the key to success.

Here is my story:

I had piano lessons at a young age. My parents just encouraged me to take lessons, nothing too dramatic, just to see if I would have an interest. I had no interest, and didn't pick up the instrument really, until 15 (on my own after discovering Chopin). I started composition at 14, when I didn't know the notes. Then one day, I heard a piece (Fantasie Impromptu) but didn't know who composed it. I tried so hard to discover the composer. I then discovered a great site at the time to download midi files of composers, this was when the internet was starting to bloom (1996 or so). So I downloaded midi files of many different composers, at a site called "Classical Midi Arhives". First Bach, then Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky......then finally a name who I heard of, but disliked when I was younger....Chopin. The composer who I had a grudge against as a kid, because his music was so boring to me at the time, is now my biggest influence.

It is amazing how the ears mature. The boring and confusing music I heard as a kid, I absolutely love, and can decipher without a problem now. I now compose with Chopin over my shoulders, aiding me in my composition.

Perfect pitch, cool! I knew someone in high school who has that, but she isn't a composer, just a fantastic pianist and singer. I do not have perfect pitch, I use my piano and Finale to aide my composition :P

My story (already told some people, but here goes):

Age 10, I learned to play guitar, but hated it, so quit at around 11 or 12. When I was about 12 or 13 I joined band in junior high school. I started out on trumpet, picked that up, then learned saxophone, got bored, my best friend at the time played flute, so I decided to learn that too. I loved the flute, that was my best wind instrument. 9th grade I tried violin, my teacher said I could be great at it if I practiced a lot, but I did not have the interest. Beautiful instrument, I just do not like playing strings. I also learned clarinet, but hated playing it, so quit after about 6 months. I stopeed doing music for a while until 10th grade. I had been in home schooling for 9th grade, and then most of 10th grade, and when I joined public high school I had to choose an elective for the semester I was comming into (I was about 2 weeks late). All of them were full except advanced piano and home ec. I was like, heck no I am not taking home ec! So I said I would try the piano even though I had never played and I was walking into the advanced class. I ended up dominating that class because I caught up to everyone in the class after only a week. Also in 12th grade I joined chorus. Yeah, I can sing, but I am no Madonna ;) After high school graduation in 2002 I quit all music, until December 23, 2005 I was digging through some of my old high school stuff and found some music I had jotted down, scribbles, I didn't know anything about theory. I learned basic theory and just started composing in December, then I found this site met Nico and some others that helped me learn more about composing. For the future, I hope to study music at a university and learn more about composing, then maybe teach music at an elementary school, I love kids :)

Anyway, that's my lovely story :huh: I enjoyed reading the ones of the people who have gone so far, very interesting. Nico, why didn't you write yours :laugh:

- Jen

cool story, Brian! I'll tell mine later, but as for now, being a fellow perfect-pitch holder, I must tell you that having perfect pitch is not uncommon :laugh:

My story is not nearly as cool. I've been playing guitar for as long as some people's age here. To say the very least, I was a fast learner with my guitar. I went to Julliard school of Music for a while before having to move back to Texas. I loved public school, so it didn't bother me too much. Plus, I found a teacher who studied with Andrea Segovia, so it worked out for me. I then audition for music schools(including the one you named). Got into all of them but choose UT because I learned I have CTS. I have only next learn left to be a music major, so i'm switching to something with science.

I started playing piano because my mom got me involved, however I did want to start so it wasn't against my will or anything. About 8 years later, I started fooling around, it started mearly merely by playing things that sounded cool but weren't actually songs, things like chord progressions and arpeggios (although I didn't know they were called those things). Then one day I went to piano lessons and my piano teacher pointed out to me a mistake that I was doing (as always lol) but I liked how the mistake sounded better so I started playing around with it and it evolved into a song (the piece I was making a mistake on was Winter Wonderland). After a few months I added a second idea to the first and then a third shortly after and so my first song was in ABACABA form although when writing it down I shortened it to ABACA form. After that I didn't write anything else for about 2 and a half years and then started back up again by writing a song. About 6th months later when trying to remember the song so I could write it down I couldn't remember most of it and formed a new song from what I remembered and wrote that down instead. A month or so later I composed my third piano song and so I really started composing. Now I have composed 12 piano compositions and 4 computerized compositions and I'm composing something on paper now. I know I haven't composed a whole lot yet but almost every piece sounds better to me and I continue on hoping to compose amazing stuff and improve and possibly make a career out of it because I love composing so much I try to make sure I always have some free time for it (however I haven't had any time for it for about 5 days so that is a bad thing). So yeah there is my story.

Extreme backround, I may have never loved the piano had my mom not played hymns when I was little and the only reason why she played hymns was because a Kind lady gave her a hymn book while she was employed at a doctors institution. That lady died this past year of cancer. It seems I owe quite a bit to her in a extended sort of way.

Awesome stories guys.. I want to read these all day lol. I'm not used to a forum being so slow, as my first forum was at Playstation Underground, where you get about 20 posts a minute per board. I'm gettin used to this though lol. Keep the stories coming, I love reading them!

By the way, do any of you guys have experience with the Kurzweil PC1xL? That's the keyboard my parents got me, and I love it so far. I would like some other feedback though, just a confidence-booster ;)

8 years ago, in 1998, at the age of 8 (lol), I moved to Cape Cod. In the old barn next to my house I discovered an old, hopelessly out of tune, crapbox of a piano. Naturally, I would spend lots of time sitting before it, testing out every note. The first thing I ever played on a piano was also my first composition. C major, 4/4 time. ;) It was pretty bad, but what do you expect. But anyway, seeing my interest in the piano, my parents signed me up for lessons with a local teacher and bought me a Yamaha PSR-195 keyboard, getting rid of the crapbox upright. I still own this PSR-195 today. It's not much: no touch sensitivity, 61 synth-style keys, no record mode. But it had a decent piano sound, and that was enough to get me through about 3 or 4 years of piano lessons. As for school, I took percussion in 5th grade, and played piano in the band and jazz ensemble during 6th-8th grade. After I outgrew my first piano teacher, I began to take lessons with my current teacher, Misao Hoagland, an excellent instructor. She's a Berklee graduate and teaches both classical and jazz *hugs piano teacher*. As for pitch, I have excellent relative pitch, but no perfect pitch. There is basically no other significant musical gene in my family, so we all consider my gift to be from God. But I'm still not as good as God at the piano. (Darn! :glare: )

I really didn't have piano lessons as a child. I loved to pick out melodies on the piano because I could find them instantly. After this, it evolved to playing things by ear to accompanying while people sing. As a teen, I began to arrange and compose, with no teacher, yet I always knew the key of my compositions and I could take dictation without using an instrument, not even for the starting pitch.

I heard someone talk about perfect pitch and the way that he described it sounded like me, but he said that it was extremely rare and that no one usually has it - so I dismissed the thought.

I used to practice the violin and I would repeat sections of music over and over until I felt that every note was "perfectly" in tune. Sometimes, my parents would have to tell me to stop because it was getting late in the evening!

I did not understand my abilities - why did I know how to play pieces instantly by ear? Why was it that I could tell if pieces were being played in the correct key? Why did it irritate me when someone would sing something in the wrong key?

It wasn't until I was 19 years old that someone told me that I had perfect pitch and explained what it was. After this, every thing that I thought about music made sense!

well this is my little story:

I was like in 7th grade when I had the chance to choose music or soccer for my extracurricular activities at my junior high school. I choose soccer , and I remember it was a Friday and my dad told me to choose guitar instead...so I put it as my third option. So I got my first day of guitar lesson and I saw this guy surrounded by all this chicks , and then totally became intrigued by his talent. I started playing like every day ever since picking up tunes and local songs of the time and started to improve. I remember I wrote my very first composition the very first day I started my guitar lessons. It was like two notes I think, e and a , a perfect 4th.lol , well , and I felt in love with everything aferwards. I played like everyday and got good at it.

I wrote like more than 100 songs..which I recorded with my little tape till this day. So , my fother introduced me to music and my mom introduced me to classical music when she brought this cd of piano music...o je... I was so in love with it and decided to move to the classical thingy. So this is my story...

My first experience with music was being bored out of my mind siting at the back of my primary school reocorder class and improvising over the endless B-B-B-B-A-A-A-A-G-G-G-G-A-A-A-A without realising i was using a major scale :P [editor's note] I've recently picked up my (descant) recorder again and started playing around with it and it's actually sounding quite good, well below the lowest B![/editor's note]

When i was 11 i wanted to start playing guitar because it was 'cool'. As everyone else stopped playing guitar because the couldn't quite nail that 'Sum 41' riff it went gradually out of fashion but i kept playing it, having discovered Iron Maiden.

My first guitar teacher taught classical guitar but he had an electric and i had lessons with him for about 6 months. Although i felt at the time i wasn't getting anywhere he was teaching me to count to the music which i believe is soley responsibly for my excellent sense of rhythm now, however, this turned out to be not that great as when playing in my old band i would get really pissed off when the drummer strayed slightly out of time (well that's what he said but it was about 20bpm through the course of one song)

After leaving my first guitar teacher i started reading total guitar magazine which then got me interested in shredding (damn thing). i started practising for hours on end learning paul gilbert licks and so on. However, I don't thing that phase was a waste time as it left me well equiped with fairly good chops to start playing more tasteful music, my electric guitar interest lies only in jazz/fusion and still a good bit of NWOBHM now and again.

I found another guitar teacher, this one does grades and i did my grade 4 electric last november, my grade 8 this june and I'm doing my teacher's diploma next november. About 8 months ago i got hold of a cheap (

O yeah stories. Just in time for my bedtime. xD

Well I started music when I was a tiny kiddo, like maybe four or something? Can't remember. The thing I remembered was that it was a class with about 10 students, each with a parent accompanying, while the programme uses an organ to teach. Also, every year there is a test to see if you passed on to the next level. If I didn't remember wrongly, I was one of the top students in class :P.

I dunno why I stopped the lessons, I think my parents didn't have the time, and they sent me for piano classes, when I was like 6 or 7 I think. I learned the beautiful instrument until I was 11, then suddenly lost all the interest in it.

It wasn't until 2004/5 when I started loving piano again. Got a teacher and thank god it wasn't too late. Started to like music more and took up the classical guitar too. Well, still ain't very good in these teo instruments tho.. But who cares, I'm not gonna compare myself with others.

As to composing, I remembered when I was 9, I made up some chord progressions, which I sorta "copied" them from a song I heard. Played it over and over again. Then I got some notes and attempted to mix it with the chords. Oh yes and a few weeks after that, my music teacher at my school told me to play a piece for the class to hear. I remembered back then I played "Ballade Pour Adeline", a piece performed by Richard Clayderman, composed by Oliver Toussaint I think. That was my first time playing in front of an audience. Oh and by the way, my dad's a great lover of richard clayderman, and so am I.

And as for real compositions, it wasn't until 14 that I had one. There were some improvitional pieces before tho..

This is my longest post at YC. What a milestone. :)

About 6 years ago my mom made the unfortunate decision to move to Indiana, which has to be the most boring state I ever ever visited. Anyhow, the guy that was showing me around school was a percussionist, so I folowed him in band class to the back of the room. I went through 3 years of concert band playing by ear, and by the end of 8th grade I was the best mallet player in the school, even though I couldn't read a note. Thenin 9th grade I was stuck watching our drumline day after day, and I was mesmorized that they could play with four mallets, I never knew that was possible. Luckily, one day our band instructor got made and wrote out step by step how to read anything in music, cuz the snares weren't counting or something. So anyhow, I got my hands on the marching bad score, learned to hold four mallets by watching, and practiced.

Indiana still sucks

~Kal

About 6 years ago my mom made the unfortunate decision to move to Indiana, which has to be the most boring state I ever ever visited. Anyhow, the guy that was showing me around school was a percussionist, so I folowed him in band class to the back of the room. I went through 3 years of concert band playing by ear, and by the end of 8th grade I was the best mallet player in the school, even though I couldn't read a note. Thenin 9th grade I was stuck watching our drumline day after day, and I was mesmorized that they could play with four mallets, I never knew that was possible. Luckily, one day our band instructor got made and wrote out step by step how to read anything in music, cuz the snares weren't counting or something. So anyhow, I got my hands on the marching bad score, learned to hold four mallets by watching, and practiced.

Indiana still sucks

~Kal

LOL, last sentence is comic genius :P

i do agree, oh D is M *ducks and runs*

my first experience with composition was in the fifth grade, where we all had to compose a song for the recorder and play in front of the class. ( i was the only who did that).

that same year i got introduced to band. i had three choices for it so i picked clarinet, trombone and french horn. i got stuck on flute, and hated it. i even cried. but, i stayed in band and was realyl bad (i couldn't play middle G after a few months) and actually started likeing the flute towards the end of the year.i realized that i was the best flute player in the band the next year, when i could play up to high F, and I could play the scale perfectly. istarted loving my instrument. grade 7 passed without anything interesing events besides actually seeing a bassoon in halifax. in grade 8, i convinced my band teacher to let me learn tenor sax, and had that down after a week. then my brother got in band, got put on clarinet and quit, i kept it and learn that too. my uncle happened to have had a trombone lying around that he never used, so he let me use it and i learned it after a few weeks.

and about 2 years ago on june 30th i really, really wanted video game sheet music. so i went online and found the music, but i needed noteworthy composer to do it. so i downloaded it, and printed off all the music. I then got bored with the tunes, and the next day (which i remember was canada day) i sat down on noteworthy composer and composed 2 pieces that i was very proud of for flute, clarinet, alto sax, bassoon and tuba.

it was really long after that that i actually realized that i really, really liked classical music and writing my own. so i googled nwc files and found the scriptorium. which had like 20'000 files there for nwc.

every since then i've been composing almost daily.

ta da

When I was in 2nd or third grade, my parents wanted me to start taking piano lessons, I was nothing special, but kept at it for until I was in fifth grade when I put it aside to learn the trumpet. Once again, I was nothing special, but enjoyed playing it and kept going throughout middle school, also getting involved in the choir, as well as a few musicals.

I continued playing trumpet in high school, doing less singing since the choir and band met at the same times, forcing me to pick one, I slowly got better and better at the instrument. I took my first music theory classes as a junior, and continued on my senior year.

Now, I'm a sophomore in college at SIUC in illinois, currently studying Music Theory and Composition, I still play the trumpet, and have also started taking lessons on the French horn this year.

Thats my bit.

im the fat kid in black

Lets start :

i went to a japanese imersion school in Menasha wisconsin where i learned my japanese instruments, i moved and picked up chinese music... theres more to it, but ill do it later

okay, here you go

Really, im just a kid who digs Chinese music- i got the right connections and now im on my way to becoming a star!

But to tell you the truth- MY LIFE STORY (THIRD PERSONISM IS COOL)

Austin Jackson Hicks, born 9/19/91 in Rhinelander, WI, was fortunate enough to have a very musical family-

Father (Ron Hicks- Guitarist and vocals)

Mother (Randi Vetter [remarried, but ill get to that] bass and vocals)

Brother (Drew Hicks- bass, guitar, and vocals [deemed "Wisconsin Idol" spring of 2003])

Sister (Amie Hicks- not much really, she's just there)

When he was 4 years of age, his parents split up- Ron toured bars throughout northern Wisconsin and played many gigs just to get by, and Randi met Ken Vetter, a carpender, and soon began dating. After about a year, They married and Ken, Randi, Austin, and Amie moved to Menasha, WI; most of Ken's family lived there, and Austins aunt, Crystal Branstiter, and her three kids, soon moved there after them.

This was a turning point in Austins life. Austin lived next to his school, so it was easy for him to get there everyday. Fortunately for him, Clovis Grove Elementary was a Japanese immersion school- everyday for six years, he attended Japanese class. Although, he did not learn much of the language, he understood and appreciated their culture. So much that he began listening and playing Japanese music. Austin excelled in Koto, the Japanese lap harp. Time passed, and the summer after 5th grade ,he and his familly moved to Grafton, WI, where the culture he knew, loved, and often practiced, was no longer available for him to learn about.

He went for a year in Japan-o-seclusion (dont ask)- nothing could relly make him fell quite like he used to, until Christmas, 2004, his mother made the attempt to find him something he could cerish as a reminder of his past- Randi isnt really the brightest of all people and bought a CHINESE cd instead of a japanese cd. At first, he was a little iffy, but he got to listening to it- Austin really enjoyed it! He kept listening and listening; Chinese music had consumed his life by this point, he felt listening to the music just wasnt enoough... he wanted to make it...

Austin was never been able to read music- any teacher who new him would tell my parents the SAME DAMN THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN! "Some peoples ears are so much better than others, that their need for written music is practically very seldonm to never" To this day, he stil cant, but is trying every day to get better (trust me, i'ts not working).

But one day, he finally got enough money to buy a Xiao, a Chinese end-blown bamboo flute. Now he practiced this flute over 3 hours a day until he got really good. His grandfather knew he had a big interest in chinese music and decided to help. Fortunately for Austin, old grampa Zane has a shopping addiction (one that you will here more of later) and bought him a Yang Qin (for those of you who dont know, yangqin are the chinese equivalent of a hammered dulcimer). He couldnt be happier! in the coming months, Austin practiced all of his instruments and felt able to enter a talent show.

Austin Hicks performed in the John Long Middle School 2006 anual tallent show. He did not win, but ofcourse was overjoyed for Lauren Eidmen the winner (i tell 'yeh, she's gonna go places! look for her name on broadway soon, yall!). That summer, Austins family was forced to moved to a small, Dutch reform christian community outside of Sheboygan, where he started a new life under the nickname Zhou.

Let me back up here for about a year or so... Austin did have a guzheng at this time,... i know some of you were wondering where this was gonna come in... a very tiny guzheng, one that has been affectionally dubbed "the fetus guzheng". Well, austins teacher, and now really good friend, was very into chinese music and gave him the nickname "Zhou" after Zhou Jian Nan, her favorite Guzheng player.

Zhou Started school in Cedar Grove (the afformentioned town). He knew nobody, and nobody knew him- he was just the new kid with the long hair who liked asian stuff- but one week into the school year and everyone knew his name, not only as the wierd kid, but the fun, bubly personality that is only matched by his skill in the arts of chinese mucic.

Zhou's birthday came along and he almost had enough money to finnaly buy a real Guzheng,... but he came up 70$ short.. just my luck, right?! Grampa Z-Dog, the man who's pockets burn themselves beofre the money is put in them, once again decided to fund Zhou's endevours by giving him the rest of the money. Zhou Now has his first professional Guzheng and is currently playing for the CGBHS band.

.... See, talking about myself like that makes me feel cool... YOURE JUST JEALOUS!

big block of text = hard to read.

sorry

ill edit

Pretty cool! As Homer Simpson would say, "I didin't want your life story," but still, pretty cool. I'm a mallet percussionist, but over the past year I've been learning some unique African and Latin percussion instruments. Just when I thought I had an instrument from far away you came around. Darn.

~Kal

ha! i win >^_^< didnt mean to steal your thunder