As part of the insane preparation for my Furman life, my mom and I have established two things: 1) I'm going to need my bike to Furman to navigate around campus. 2) In order to make #1 happen, I'm going to have to remember how to ride a bike. Listen carefully. I'm not saying that I can't ride a bike because once upon a time I could. Instead, I'm saying that once upon a time I rode my bike all the time and then I took a short break of about four years from bike riding and then I was gifted with a new bike that leads me to another story of once upon a time I relearned how to ride a bike in a matter of two days and on the third day I had a most beautiful and horrendous bike accident and since then my bike and I haven't really seen each other eye to eye if you know what I mean. "I'm going to conquer this hill," I keep telling myself. Metaphorically and literally. The last time I rode my bike was the summer after freshman year when a close friend of mine asked me to go with her on a bike ride. I relearned the basics by circling back and forth around in my driveway, but I now see that I was nowhere close to going on a "real bike ride." Believe me when I say that I've learned my lesson about taking things slowly and in moderation. From that one bike accident, I learned some great lessons: 1) Don't expect to be an expert on something especially if you've spent only three days relearning basics. 2) Don't try to conquer a massive hill--scratch that--don't try to go down a particularly steep hill if you haven't mastered the concept of braking yet. 3) Certainly don't go down that massive hill in your neighborhood that has been dubbed "suicide hill." Bad things will follow. 4) When you go down "said" hill, avoid panicking when you start dangerously accelerating toward an intersection with an oncoming car speeding ahead to meet you. 5) Brakes are certainly better tools used to stop than suddenly steering your handlebars so that your front tire is perpendicular to the direction you are still accelerating. 6) Newton's Laws of Motion aren't very courteous to people who go flying over the handlebars of their bike and grate a good portion of their elbow on the pavement smack dab, right into the middle of the intersection. 7) Moderation. Moderation. Moderation. You can't rush the learning process. This time, I'll conquer that hill. I'm hopelessly optimistic that I can relearn how to ride a bike before I get to Furman. I may crash a few times before I get it right, but I'll pick myself back up and I'll keep moving forward.
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Once upon a time, society valued the skill of storytelling. Mothers and fathers read to their young children every night before bedtime. Friends would boast to one another about who could tell the tale of the day's roadtrip better. Writers were seen as the heroes of the era for they brought adventure to our boring afternoons and created an escape from our troubled lives. Once upon a time, storytelling wasn't a dying art. Sometimes, it's sad to see what society deems as "worth it" these days. Today's society seems to value technology to the extreme. Every day we're surrounded by iPhones, kindles, and ever-evolutionizing gaming systems. We love the sleek look of today's technology, the hours of entertainment obtainable from these devices, and the compact nature of these devices that allow the user to take it wherever he or she wants. But whatever happened to entertainment that didn't involve plugging yourself into a machine? Once upon a time, people told stories for entertainment. People read these stories, thought up their own stories, and even wrote them down to create a storybook. Stories take a reader to another world and while that world may be realistic or just pure fantasy, stories have purpose and meaning. As readers, we all can learn something new and even something deeply profound if only we continue to keep these stories alive by reading. Sure, I enjoy having a kindle that has a library of books I can easiy access any time I want, but surely it never will replace the love I have for reading an actual "book book." I mean, isn't it a beautiful thing to pull your favorite book from the shelf and just enjoy the aesthetic value of a real book--its dog-earred pages, its papery feel as you turn the page, its bookish smell that's no longer the "new book smell" but now it has acclimated and acquired the familiar scent of home. Have you ever missed being read to? You know the time when a teacher would pull out his highlighted and written-in copy of Flannery O'Connor's short stories and he would read aloud to the class? It's a beautiful sight to see a class of wild and crazy high school English students settle down and listen intently to the story being told. The reader of the story is not monotone, but rather he enjoys making every voice in the dialogue different and unique. It's entertaining and dramatic with every pause, every crescendo and decrescendo in the reader's voice, and every staccato syllable added in for the effect of a good performance. Once upon a time, writers were acknowledged by people with upmost respect, not as people without "real jobs." By no means is writing an easy job. Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word was "the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Think of some of the great writers in history: Jane Austen, Homer, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens...the list can go on forever! Writers influence people's views of the world by telling a story of some sort. Stories are everywhere! A story serves as an excuse for the kid who forgot to do his homework the night before. A story serves as the ice breaker for a girl on her very first date as she drives off in a car with the shy boy who sat next to her in English class. A story keeps memories alive and the dead alive in our hearts as we remember with reverence who they were. Stories touch our hearts, our minds, and our souls. They can distract us, inform us, entertain us, liberate us, berate us, comfort us, and save us. Stories make a difference in the world in which we live. Once upon a time, I realized how important stories are to the world around us. Keep stories alive. Always. "You never know who might be in your audience," my former dance teacher used to say. "Always perform at your very best. You never know when there might be a talent scout or professional dancer in your audience," he'd tell us after dance class when my fellow classmates and I looked more like sweaty floppy noodles than energetic and eager ballet students. His words I have found to be completely valid in regard to everything I do whether I'm performing slam poetry at an open mic or playing the part of a mouse in the "Pied Piper." You never know who's in your audience before you step out onto the stage, so always discipline yourself to perform at your highest level whether it is just rehearsal or a final showcase. The man who passed to me this advice passed away Tuesday morning after battling Alzheimer's Disease for several long years. Mr. Carl Crosby was an Aiken dance legend who had been dancing and teaching for what seemed like all 88 years of his life. This man had an unequivocal passion for dance and for teaching dance. To him, every student was precious and unique in their own special way. Mr. Crosby loved all of his students and respected our life choices whether we were truly passionate about our art or just enjoying it for fun. He joked with all of us and even gave us little nicknames or pet names. (Mine was "Miss America" and "Kenny"). He taught me ten years of tap, eight years of ballet, and several years of life lessons that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. Almost every day after school, my mom would take me to dancing school where I'd be ready to dance around in my pink tights, black leotard, and blue (or black) skirt. Always, I had my hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail, even after I had donated eleven inches of my stick-straight Asian hair in eighth grade. At the beginning of almost every class, we'd start off at barre and later work our way to adagio combinations in the middle of the dance floor...and then maybe we'd even do a few combinations that involved leaping across the rosined coated dance floor. A few years ago, I revisited my old dance studio; instantly, I was flooded by all of the memories that were made there. So many hours I had spent at the studio practicing, rehearsing, hanging out in the dressing room during ballet company board meetings, and even painting large canvases and sets for upcoming performances. As soon as I walked through the familiar threshold, I felt my dancer's posture kick in. Chin up, shoulders back, pull up, and tuck under. It had been years since I had last attended pointe class, but I remembered everything all too well. Arabesque...échappé...demi-plié, demi-plié, then grand plié...dégagé--all these technical French ballet terms were engrained in our minds, and at Crosby School of Dance, technique was everything. At Crosby School of Dance, I was first introduced to classical music where I danced to LPs of Gershwin, Mozart, and Strauss. I've performed in annual recitals on stage at the Etherredge Center since age four and have been a snowflake (twice), a fairy, a mouse, and a Korean fan dancer in spring and winter productions put on by the Aiken Civic Ballet. I've been performing for what seems like my all my life, but I know that dance was where I found that passion for the performing arts. "You never know who might be in your audience." Mr. Crosby knew I loved music and he respected me greatly for that even after I chose music over ballet. He, too, loved classical music even though he didn't play any instruments. At one of my last spring concerts where I was soloing on flute, I glanced up from my music to find my former dance teacher sitting quietly among the other listeners. He quietly and gently smiled at me just like he did those years when I still danced in his studio. Even now, I remember his grandfather-like smile and I doubt I'll ever forget it. May Carl Crosby's legacy live on and his passion for dance continue to run through the blood of all the dancers he has ever impacted. He will be missed, but certainly not forgotten. Rest in peace, Mr. Crosby. Many people often underestimate the importance of music in our society today. Some even assume that such performing arts play second fiddle to everything else to the point that funding for the arts is constantly being cut. Even in this culture center of Aiken, South Carolina, I have witnessed the arts being cut and observed the startling increase of collective apathy from the public toward the performing arts. Recently, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's veto caused a major uproar enraging several Aiken performing arts supporters. Haley's decision may potentially cut all state and federal funding to the state Arts Commission should legislators decide not to override Haley's veto. The arts play an important role in our society, so why should they be cut? Music has been present in our society for ages. The ancient Greeks saw the arts and sciences as equal in strength and importance to society. Music is everywhere you go. Birds sing, feet tap, and the audience claps. Music is played for movies, weddings, funerals, coronations, and graduations. Music is present in restaurants, in elevators, and going down the city streets. You don't necessarily have to be sitting in a concert hall to hear good music. My friends and I illustrate this all of the time when we perform our random acts of music all over the Aiken area. You're probably asking yourself " What in the world is a random act of music?" Random acts of music are free "random" public performances used to reach out to people who normally don't encounter classical music in their daily lives. I started up these performances for the public when a friend of mine decided that we should share our music with the community while making an impact on those around us. As two young classically-trained Asian musicians, we dubbed ourselves "the Asian Minors." As a musical duo, we have performed all over Aiken reaching out to everyone we could to show that the arts are worth saving and supporting. In our quest of sharing music in downtown shops and restaurants, we share the message that music is indeed important to our society. Serving over 1,000 people in the Aiken area with our music, there have been several memorable performances for us, but I wish to share only three of them with you, reader. Several times, I have performed for the elderly at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and retirement communities. Last winter, some fellow musicians and I went to perform some Christmas music for these folks. Prepared with festive music and Christmas attire, we played thirty to forty minutes concerts at four of these places in one day. Everywhere we went, we were well received and greatly appreciated by our audience. Members of the audience requested songs and even sang along as we played familiar Christmas tunes such as "Silent Night." After talking with several audience members, I realized that music is memory. Familiar songs we once sang to as little kids come back to us when we hear them played again as adults. With some music, it triggers a specific memory. For many of the elderly at the nursing homes, our small performance of music triggered something in their memories that meant the world to them that day. Another performance I remember was when my friend and I performed at Helping Hands, a shelter for children in protective custody. The shelter serves as an emergency shelter for children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by their families. The kids there had so very little, and we, the Asian Minors, wanted to give the kids something to enjoy. Not only did we perform for the kids there, but we allowed them to hold our instruments and play them. We taught the kids that music could be found anywhere and music could be created just by clapping your hands. By reaching out the younger generation, I wanted to share my passion of music so those kids could see if music was one of their passions as well. Not only was I entertained by the children's fascination with music, but the kids were genuinely entertained by hearing my music and trying to make music by themselves. The final performance I'll share with you was indeed the most memorable, even though at the time it didn't seem like much. On the day the Asian Minors were celebrating our yearly anniversary of becoming a musical group, we decided to dress in traditional Asian outfits and get pictures of ourselves with our instruments at the beautiful Hopelands Gardens in Aiken. What had originally been planned as a day of photography turned into a full scale performance in the gardens. As soon as we started to play our instruments, people began to congregate around us and simply listen to the music we were playing. Of all the people who came up to us that afternoon, a young woman and her grandfather came up and asked if they could take a picture with us to remember this moment. For the next hour, we played some music for them, they listened, we chatted, and they asked if we knew the songs "Time to Say Goodbye" and "Ashokan Farewell." We thought it was an odd request, but we gladly did it; it wasn't until days later that my friend and I found out the real story behind this one performance. In the a letter to the Asian Minors, the young woman thanked us profusely for the good deed we had performed for her and her grandfather. In the letter, she explained she had come down to visit her grandfather who had been feeling very depressed lately due to the ailing of his wife to whom he had been married for 65 years; in fact, he had been crying all morning, so she decided to take him to the gardens to get his mind off of things. They had been sitting in the gardens talking about music when we came along and started playing some music nearby. "Time to Say Goodbye" and "Ashokan Farewell" were the grandfather's favorite songs and when we played those two songs in the gardens that day, it brought tears to the eyes of both the woman and her grandfather. For those moments in the gardens, music served as a ray of light in a darkened room for that man who was in despair over his dying wife. Music brings back the happy memories and impacts us in ways we can't always explain. Music transcends age barriers, culture barriers, and geographic barriers. Music has the phenomenal power to cause the listener to experience the gamut of human emotions. It brings emotion to the human ear allowing the listener to feel what a musician is bringing to the stage. People who are drastically different from one another can often find a common thread with others through music. They can relate to emotions conveyed through music and find themselves either humming along to a song on the radio or tapping their foot to the beat of a John Phillip Sousa march. Music can bring musicians who come from different areas in the state together for a concert; by the end of the final concert, the ensemble feels so much like a close knit family that they would claim that they have all been friends for years. Music matters. After a wild and crazy month of June, I'm finally ready to kick back and enjoy the rest of my summer with something fun and enjoyable--practice. Yes. It's time for me to practice every instrument I own and a few other instruments that I'm borrowing and work on uber fun etudes, scales, and technique boosters so that I'll be at the top of my game when my life as a music major begins. While repetitive practice is not always enjoyable, it's productive and it's good for you in the long run. Many music students find their practice sessions frustrating and unproductive all because A) they're practicing the section of the music at performance tempo (which is way too fast for "practice time") or B) they're trying to tackle a large chuck of the music rather than honing on one particular small segment of the composition. Slow repetitive practice with a metronome is extremely helpful when faced with difficult passages in music. Another thing to keep in mind when you practice is don't overdo your practice time. That's one of the biggest problems I face ALL THE TIME. Some days, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of music I need to practice for this concert and that recital and this wind ensemble placement audition that I find myself becoming a musical hermit who has locked herself into a practice room for half of the day. DON'T DO THAT! Short productive practice sessions are definitely more helpful than long, intensive, and painful torture sessions. And that brings me to another point. If your practicing starts to bring pain, STOP! Pain is the red flad for you to stop with what you're doing and give it a rest. Don't work through the pain. Just relax for a while and get back to practicing when you're feeling better. Use the "fifteen minute" rule. Practice for fifteen minutes, then relax for fifteen minutes, then practice for another fifteen minutes, and repeat this process for however long you desire. Overpracticing can definitely lead to some injuries if you overdo things like me. Muscle knots, carpal tunnel, aching fingers, bleeding stumps of fingers, purple/dark gray fingertips...I've experienced all of that and it's not fun and definitely not good for you. Eight hours of straight practice is not worth getting carpal tunnel. Leave the eight hours of practice for those Juilliard students. When you practice, you should not just practice until you get a rhythm or passage correct. Practice until you can't play anything wrong. This mentality makes for a better musician and a more professional player. Also, try to practice every day. I try to cram at least an hour of practice in each day, but occasionally, that just doesn't happen. Please don't be the middle school band slacker and practice only two times a year: the night before your band audition and the day of your spring concert. Take the instrument home and practice. Work simple exercises such as scales or lip slurs. Working on technique won't kill you. It'll end up making you a better player if you have good practice sessions. So my words to you, reader, are go out and practice an instrument! If you don't play an instrument, go pick out one and start practicing! Practice will hopefully make perfect. Do you like the adrenaline rush of driving in a densely populated area of the country? Are you fascinated by the diversity of people in the city? Do you enjoy the daily hustle and bustle of the world around you? If that's a yes, then congratulations. You're a city person, unlike me. There are many aspects of city life that I love, but I'm pretty positive that I could not live there for more than a month before I would go crazy. Visiting a large city is great in my opinion. Living there is an entirely different matter. As I said, there are many great things about the city. PRO: The diversity of people! So many cultures displayed in one area at one time! Simply incredible. CON: Too many people in one area at one time. There are lines for everything (bathroom lines, endless lines of traffic that stretch for miles and miles, lines to go through security...etc.) PRO: There's an infinite amount of superb talent in the city. You'll find some of the best talent in the big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. There are hundreds of dancers, musicians, and actors there and any performance you attend, you'll be sure to have your mind blown by the incredible talents of these men and women. CON: You can always find the worst and weirdest talents in these bustling cities as well. If you don't believe me, check out some of the auditions from America's Got Talent. There are some weird things that people call talent these days. CON: You meet several street people. Many of them are harmless but some aren't and it's kinda unnerving if you're all alone at night and want to do is walk into the restaurant but a man at the front door of the building pulls at your arm begging for you to give him twenty bucks for a meal when you know very well what he's really going to buy since he reeks of alcohol and cigarette smoke. CON: Pretty high crime rates. I personally prefer to stay in places that make me feel safe and secure. PRO: There's always something to do in the city. Visit a museum. Go out to eat at new restaurant. Attend a performance by the symphony orchestra or a play put on by a local drama group. Check out a book from the library--a library that has A LOT of books. Take a walk downtown and window shop until your feet ache. There are endless possibilities for a person in the city. CON: TRAFFIC. I cannot stress how annoying traffic is when you're in a city where everyone needs to get somewhere and you need to get somewhere too but the person in the very front is moving at a pace that you would prefer to be a little quicker. CON: Busy. Busy. Busy. You're busy all the time. Everyone else is busy all the time. No one has time to enjoy the smaller and sweeter aspects of life. The mentality in the city seems to be "Get there. Go there. Race back here before noon and eat lunch on the go because otherwise you'll be late." It would be nice to slow down a little bit and take in the beauty of the little things in life. PRO: You'll never be lazy. CON: Prices. Everything in the city seems inflated and super expensive. Why is that so? Who knows! PRO: Mass transit. Go by bus, by subway, or by bike taxi, but you don't need to drive! Woohoo! PRO: You can meet so many different people and make friends very easily as long as you reach out to them and open up a good conversation starter. PRO: It'll be rare if you're bored in such an active and alive city, |
AuthorKendall Driscoll is an accomplished writer/ musician/ artist/ academic scholar. Archives
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