My Journey in Music
By Angie
My journey in music starts off like any other. I was recruited in fourth grade when a group of older orchestra students visited my school. I had no pressure from my parents to learn an instrument and I did not have any family members who played instruments. For whatever reason, I chose to play the cello, and since then, I have stopped playing the cello in school, and picked up the clarinet. Why? Let me walk you through it.
Learning is not linear. My first year of cello felt incredibly slow! The plucking phase, on top of learning how to read the bass clef felt like forever, and if you’re in that phase, it gets better! I know this because once I got to bowing, my next few years flew by quickly with the handy help of the Essential Technique book provided from my school (shout out to all the Essential Technique kids out there). Soon, I started checking out and renewing Suzuki books at my local library and looking through IMSLP. By then, I had committed myself to playing cello at my church orchestra every week and had developed a love for classical music to the point I would listen to it exclusively!
Flash forward, in the spur of the moment in sixth grade, I decided to try out the clarinet because a friend had been doing it. After going through the introduction in the summer, in seventh grade, I realized I may have loved something even more than playing the cello…
In my first year of playing clarinet, I realized that I loved playing the melody more than I did playing in the background or the bass line. Learning how to play the actual instrument and read a not-so-new clef came easy to me, and that’s what I loved about it. It’s so simple, yet it is one of the most diverse instruments. It’s found across many cultures, styles of music, and has an amazing range. After consistently landing first chair in my band, I decided to audition for my local youth orchestra. Once I got in, I discovered repertoire new to me and have met many contemporary composers! Even as someone who’s started later than everybody else, I managed to pick up with my peers. I believe playing the clarinet has challenged me as a musician more than cello has.
That’s why when I had to choose between the two in high school, I chose clarinet…
And there’s no regrets!
I love the cello and continue to play it at my church, but band and playing clarinet in an orchestra — it’s just something that makes me feel like time goes by fast. If there’s anything I want you to know, it’s that it’s never too late to find your passion. Try new things! If you ever feel yourself thinking time goes fast, try finding more opportunities for you to pursue this passion. I promise you, it’s worth it.