This weekend I had the honor of going to a state contest for a Clarinet solo that I had gotten a one on at Districts. 

(you can listen to the District performance here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dgIjHrlQ6g )

 I met up with a friend (Kara) that I haven't seen since 8th grade. She sings, but I had never heard her sing. She introduced me to her friend (Danielle) and they both sang for me. Her friend sings opera and I believe they'll both be famous one day. I shared with them about my kpop love and they didn't look at me strangely or anything, they thought it was cool. I also asked if Danielle knew Nessun Dorma and she did. I only know of it because of Onew but I fell in love with the song. She did and listened to him. Remember he had a cold during it? I had that one on there and she thought he did absolutely amazing and wondered what he sounded like without the cold. Kara's voice is like silk. She can bolt out notes really well but can be really delicate and both of their vebrato is STUNNING. 

I played my solo and thought I did fairly well. Of course there's lots of room for improvement and I got a 2. (Out of 5, 1 is the best.) The other girls both got ones and they really deserved them. This is something that I won't forget. It's part of my journey in my life and since music is a big part of it, this is a big deal for me. The fact that i decided to improve my playing is enough. Then to improve my tone is another.

I had a big jump from 7th to 8th grade with my clarinet. I in 7th grade. I didn't even care about it really. It was a hobby and something I liked but I saw no point in it once I got past 9th grade at that time. I just wanted and easy A, be with friends, and get HS fine art credit in a couple years. I mean, I could play. But not that well but I wasn't absolutely horrible... Kind of.... Then in 8th grade, i watched this anime called 'La Corda De Oro' and a girl in there played Clarinet Polka. I loved it and i wasnted to play SO bad. So I got it, practiced it for over a half of a year and went to contest with it. Between the time I got that it and 8th grade contest, I improved a lot. My tone and playing both. I would not put my clarinet down unless I had to eat or go to the bathroom. Even then I'd just jam the food down my throat, brush my teeth and go play again. I didn't stop. I wanted to play better. I started to care and love it more.

Then it was 8th grade contest time. My teachers started to notice that I could play and that my abilities had improved. When I showed/played them the piece I'm sure they thought I was insane to want to play it. But when I went to contest, a lot of them were there to listen to me. I played it under a huge ammount of pressure. But when I finished, I got a one. 

During that 8th grade contest, a guy named Mr.Swann was in there, listening to me. I had our best players in there and he was one of their private instructors. You have to audition to get him as yours. He had that be my audition. My directors talked to my parents and told them that I needed lessons because of how much I had improved and right after that, he was talking to my parents about giving me lessons. 

I've taken lessons with him since then. He means a lot to me and he can be both a friend and a strict instructor. He's helped me improve a lot since then too. Although I don't play or sound like a professional yet, I'm on my way there. And he's one of the people I need to give a big thatnks to.

Here is my state's Aria and Menuett http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_pNw7npvPw

Thanks for reading this, and even if you didn't, I'm glad I got that out of my system. ^_^