Journey onward

Have I mentioned that I didn't start in college as a Psychology major?  I went to The University of Missouri in Kansas City to go to the Conservatory of Music.  I actually (this is bragging) got a full ride scholarship to play the cello in the orchestra. I was supposed to play in The civic orchestra of Kansas City, too, but I conveniently forgot that part.  Several of us had the same scholarship, and when they would go to Civic rehearsals, I would wonder why my scholarship didn't stipulate attendance.  Years later I was looking through the scrap book my friend Carole gave me as a graduation gift after high school. Lo and behold, the letter did mention something about membership in the /civic orchestra being one of the requirement.  Oops!  Can they take back my degree?

Just like everyone else in their first venture away from home full-time, I discovered a lot of things about myself that year.  I discovered that my endless pursuit of popularity in high school, held very little panache or prestige in college.  I wish  I could say that these things were profound and included a lovely coming-of-age moment.  It was really things like:  It is really nice to sleep in on Sunday morning;  I was a lot cuter than I ever thought I was; I was better at a lot of things than some of the other kids; I was worse at a lot of things than some of the other kids; it could be much cooler and more fun to hang out with the kids I would have considered "hoods" (that's what we called the bad kids at my high school) than with the kids I usually hung with.  And the most important thing was that I had no desire to spend 4-6 hours a day in a practice room in the basement of the Performing Arts Center.

I have come to understand that, just like real writers enjoying the process of committing words to a page, real musicians enjoy the process of perfecting the musical phrase exiting their instrument.  I liked the process of rehearsing with the whole orchestra, and I enjoyed playing concerts.  But I was more enamored with dressing up to look fancy and being on stage than I was with knowing that I was contributing to the glorious whole of creating a musical experience.  I really do like classical music and I love those sound of a well-played cello,  But I am not committed enough to making myself create that sound.  Plus, I never really had the chops. I was competent, but not inspired.

So, I discovered, that I was a lot more interested in the people playing the instruments than how rthey played their instruments.  So I switched to a psychology major after my freshmen year and breathed a sigh of relief.  In order to keep my scholarship, I had to continue to play in the orchestra and take some music classes, so I actually ended up with a double major.

Here are some of the thing I learned during the course of my undergraduate education.  some of the things were in class, and a lot of it was just during life.

1,  Most of college is about showing up and being able to stay the course.  You have to be competent enough to complete reports and take tests at an expected level, using correct grammar and punctuation, and knowing how to format correctly.  I'm not trivializing how hard it can be, it's just that much more of success in higher education is about committing to it.  Question:What do you call the guy who ranked last in his medical school graduating class? Answer : Doctor.

2.  It is okay to not be perfect (see above joke)  But, it does not punish your professor to do poorly in his or her class class just because you think he or she is an ass.  You're the one who gets the bad grade.

Which leads to
3.  There are some crappy teachers and there are phenomenal teachers.  Find the ones who are great and get as many credit hours as you can from them.

I think that enough for now.  But as I write I am having some actual insight (imagine that) about things I discovered during my education that I will explore next time.  For now, peace out, baby!