"Welcome to College"

Music in College is hard. Coming to North Park, I originally expected an under-challening program. Sure, its college music, but its not Eastman or UIC-U. Its a small school with a small program with a number of musically- passionate students (like me) who probably never aspired to Julliard heights, but enjoy what they do, and may or may not go pro with it. Well, I was wrong. My peers here are quite talented. Yesterday at Jazz Band, Mr. Lill cited the trombone section as the best its ever been in 19 years and the trumpet section as equally great as some spectacular ones in earlier years. The music is intense and, to a limited-experienced jazz musician like myself, quite difficult. I'm learning the importance of focus. In high school, little mistakes, misses, and modified articulations were always forgivable or overlooked. That's not the case in college - focusing on every. darn. correct. thing. IS hard.

I think that a lot of people from WCA/St. Louis had high expectations for me in college because of how "stand-out" I was in the environments in which I performed. But here, all the music students were like me, or better, in high school. Aside from All-State/All-District, this playing environment is my first challenge in about 3 years. I need it. It's humbling. And its hard. I'm starting to discover if my passion for music is such that I can dedicate my life to it, or if it's such that I can enjoy it for the rest of my life, in my off hours. The verdict is to come. The faculty here are very encouraging and very fun, so that's not a deterrent.

I signed up for Fantasy Football. We'll see if this attempt outlasts my attempt of last year; I don't think I even looked at my team. There were only three in the league, so it was a bust to begin with. By the way, PANDORA is pretty darn awesome, and I've known that for a while, but felt compelled to share it with you, the world, now.