When my college classes started I realized that I was out of my league. I had the desire to be a great band director and I knew how to play trumpet and euphonium, but I knew absolutely nothing about the theory or history of music. This was going to be a big problem.
What’s a triad?
What the heck is a triad? My music theory teacher seemed to be obsessed with them. Some were major, others minor. Some were diminished and still others were augmented. To me, it was all demented. Aren’t the Triads a gang from China?
I walked out of my class that day with my head spinning. Thankfully I had begun developing a great friendship with David. He was a tuba player in the marching band and was in my class. I told David that I was never going to make it through college because I had no idea what the teacher was talking about.
I think he thought I was being funny. But, he helped me understand what a triad was. I won’t bore you with the definition.
On to the next problem
Sight singing
“Singing? I like singing. Wait a minute… you want me to look at notes and sing what I see without hearing it first?”
I’m doomed.
Here’s how my sight singing tests worked. I walked into my professor’s office. He had a sheet of paper on the piano. After a moment of pleasantries, I was instructed to turn the paper over in order to see the few lines of music that would be my test. I would then play the first note on the piano and then sing the music. The teacher had perfect pitch and he’d know which notes were right and which were wrong.
I wasn’t doing well. The teacher advised me to drop the class. He indicated that there was no way I was going to pass the class. But, I didn’t want to drop the class. I wanted to pass the class so that I could become a band director.
Maybe practicing would help? I started faithfully practicing my sight singing and ended up passing the class…barely.
Music history
Those two words still make my stomach churn. I confess that I still don’t know much about music history. How would knowing how many motets Palestrina wrote improve my marching band instruction?
But, you have to pass two semesters of music history in order to get your degree and I failed the first semester. Music history tests were tough. You were given sheets of white paper with a composer’s name at the top and were supposed to write everything about the composer that you could think of. The teacher would read what you wrote and give you a grade.
If you read my other posts you’ll become aware that I did not have good study habits. I paid attention in class and took notes. But, I never looked at my notes outside of class. I believe that this practice is called, “studying” and I didn’t do that. This approach to school wasn’t going to work in college, but I wouldn’t make that discovery for a few more years.
My second semester of music history was off to a bad start and the teacher was reaching out. He had written a note on my paper. He wanted to meet with me. I was raised to respect my teachers. If they said something, it was law. But, I still didn’t honor his request for a meeting.
He finally got through to me by talking to my friend, David. David said that the teacher was adamant that we talk. So, I acquiesced and met with my teacher, Sam.
The meeting
Sam, looked at my notebook and chatted with me about my other classes. He said, “You failed first semester. You’re failing second semester. You’re really beginning to piss me off.”. I thought, “How do you think I feel.”.
He asked me what music we were playing in band. I told him titles but he wanted to know the composer names. I confessed that I didn’t know. He stressed that I should know who wrote the music. He was right. It was a good lesson.
After looking at my notebook he said he didn’t know why I wasn’t doing better in class. I don’t remember us making a plan and I don’t remember changing anything. But…
I passed the semester. A year later, after retaking first semester, I had my necessary year of music history behind me.
I still think he took pity on me. And I’m grateful. Thanks Sam.
More to come
I wish I could say that these were my only challenges, but that would be a lie. I like to keep these posts from being too long, so I’ll continue in the next post.