Be in the top 10% of my Class!

I made the honor roll (yes, its at a community college but heck, that’s a pretty good indicator that i’m well on my way to suceeding both at this goal and in the industry!

I made the honor roll (yes, its at a community college but heck, that’s a pretty good indicator that i’m well on my way to suceeding both at this goal and in the industry!

I need to really really work on my ‘touch’ still… i’m ham fisted like a butcher in Cornwall when it comes to woodwinds.
Things are seeming to go really well, and they are starting to have us work on things that we don’t do well so the things i would like to work on are:

-My Feeler Guage’ing’
-Soldering leaded/lead free
-flute/clarinet padding
-Clarinet/Saxophone Regulation

I want to focus my attention on my brass lab abilities and find a capstone project that will allow me to really show off what i am good at.
Ideas so far:
-Soprano Trombone from scratch
-the King French horn from disaster to smooth operator (photo progression!!!)
-building custom replacement parts for a vintage instrument that would be otherwise useless.

more to come i hope.

doin’ it!

I’m SO happy with the results of my last unit on the clarinet family.
I got an overall 96% average which is GREAT!
The thing i need to work on though is the hands on work.
I would really like to be faster and more competant at working with clarinets but that just requires me to
A: Focus
B: Practice and Repeat

Luckily i get the chance to practice clarinet work the next few weeks because my individual project is a Bass Clarinet.

Hopefully i can knock that one out of the park and mayhaps even get down into the brass lab to finish repair and re-assembly of the trumpet that i left in peices from the begining of last quarter.

Good Work ME!!!

Well… not being able to work has the advantage that i have a lot of time to study and revise my notes.

For the record, there are practical things that i have to practice (and have been) in lab time but FYI, I’m ACEING the Written and Knowledge portions of things.

I’m pretty darn proud of myself and pretty happy with the results of my studying.

Its unbeleiveable that we are a third the way through the program already.
I’m glad to be feeling optimistic about the next 6 months and looking forward to the challenge.
:)

Oh, also… the picture is of me helping to rescue a clarinet from out of my friend chelsey’s ‘texas pouf’ yesterday, it was a funny moment unprecedented in the history of our program.
WHo gets a clarinet stuck in their hair??? seriously!

I’m not doing well on the vocabulary stuff that we will be tested on. I supposed i figured i’d find out most of the words simply from doing the work, but it turns out that no, in fact, there are several words that other groups know and that i have no idea about… because my group got 5 out of a possible 10 and yes, luckily it is just bonus points on the vocab quiz, but i really really need to study starting NOW so that i don’t get left behind here and have to struggle to keep up. The playing of instruments will be hard enough without already having a lower starting point in the 2nd quarter.

I can do this.

I did my first exam in the brasswind lab last week and got our grades back this morning… ACED IT! Its just nice to feel like i know what i’ m doing there and i do feel like i want MORE PRACTICE.

Also, today i just plunged into clarinet padding and i feel like i am kicking that particular skills ass… Lets see how tomorow goes though, there’s always tomorow.

So far, so good… I’m also feeling pretty good about the social element of our program, were actually marked partly on how well we co-operate and communicate with our colleagues . YAY.

But i want to dominate.
Its the first time i’ve really felt this way, and its GOOD. I want to be proud of myself, and not negative. I won’t know what my strengths are until i start actually working at things, but i will practice my weaker points until they are my strengths. It doesn’t hurt that i can’t get a job while i’m an international student in the states, because it will give me more time to focus.

I want to excell and have the confidence in myself to be a success when i graduate and get any job i want.

Look out BIRT, here i come!

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