Monday, October 18, 2010

Music Lessons - I Grew Up On A Clarinet

By Mia Copperhead

For the most part, I loved my childhood. I loved growing up in a house packed with brothers and sisters. I always had a playmate and there was never a boring moment. We had fantastic family time and my mom was the most impressive cook. We all needed to take lessons of all sorts from the time we were truly young. I remember being compelled into trying piano and clarinet from around the time I started elementary school. At first, I was quite thrilled about the piano and quite hesitant with regards to learning the clarinet.

My feelings altered rather quickly, however, when I started showing a natural talent for the clarinet. I had difficulty mastering the ivories of the piano and my mouth and fingers simply naturally worked together on the clarinet in a way that my mother said sounded just like magic. I believe she might have stated that mainly because she wanted to motivate me to stay with the instrument for her own listening pleasure.

I am not accurately sure when it happened, but ultimately I came to delight in playing the clarinet as much as my mom loved hearing me play. I suppose I loved it because it was the one way I stood out from among my siblings. In a big family, I needed to take any opportunity I could get to stand out and make a name for myself. Clarinet was my opportunity and I grabbed ahold of it with all I could.

I opted for private lessons after school and I became a part of every local band and orchestra that would accept me. I speculate my perfectionism was apparent even from these early years. All of my hard work reaped rewards when I was offered a scholarship to a famous music conservatory where I went for 3 years after high school. My parents couldn't be more pleased with me, except I believe they were a little worried that I would not make a career out of clarinet and would be stuck poor and leaning on them.

My time in the conservatory brought me to get a master's in music education and I've uncovered my calling as a teacher of clarinet at a local university. It is my privilege to use my love for the clarinet and my talents to help other students obtain their dreams with the clarinet as well. So follow your dreams, whatever they are. For me, it was the clarinet. I am so happy that I grew up playing it.

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