The Music In My Life

I started taking piano lessons the summer before I went into fourth grade. That quickly became a very important release for me when I was having a hard time with emotions. I would sit at the piano and just play. Within a few minutes after I started playing my anger or frustrations would be almost gone.

When I went into fourth grade, I started playing viola. That turned out to be my favorite instrument of them all. I played with the 7th grade in 6th grade. I was in Philharmonic Youth Symphony in 7th grade. That would be a very big part of my life.

When I was in 6th grade, I started playing the French horn. I joined the Jazz Band in 7th grade. Playing that would be my escape for hours. I never sang.

I had a stroke during surgery in the beginning of 8th grade. I woke up with my left side completely paralyzed and I could no longer play any of my instruments. After that, I had to find a way to channel my love for music into a love for singing. The choir director’s husband at Good Shepherd sat by me one day at worship service. He told her to talk to me about joining the choir. I joined the choir the next time it started again. While I was in the hospital, the choir director of my church and her husband often came to visit me. That gave me hope and really helped in my recovery. I look to some of the people I sing with as family. Joan, for instance, has become a very close friend of mine. She has helped me when I start having problems with my shunts and has always been one that I can talk to. We look to each other as sisters. There have been times where she would call me and she'd pick me up, just the two of us, and we'd do lunch or go shopping. She's one person I'm grateful to have in my life and a friendship I truly cherish. I can't believe the support and friends I've mad through this experience.

The first choir director stopped doing that after my first year. They had some college students that did it for a while after that. Everybody liked that a lot. We were able to have a lot of fun with them. After they both graduated, one of their instructors became the choir director. We had a very hard time with the change. She would be getting on us with every little thing. She would be saying, "no, no. It has to be this way," while tapping the beat. It has gotten a lot better, but we still have times that it can get very hard.

Today, I enjoy singing solos. I get things set up for solos every few months. I picked out songs to sing for solos when my Pa Pa and Uncle John died to do in their memory. I enjoy singing and listening to more traditional kinds of music like Whitney Houston. In fact,one of her songs, "One Moment in Time", really fits what I feel.

"I broke my heart
Fought every gain
To taste the sweet
I face the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains"

This verse sums up really everything for me. When I go through tough times those words just fill my heart. I also like listening to Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and the Beatles just to name a few.

I bought a keyboard and started taking lessons on that. A friend called me and told me about these keyboards that you can do chords on with one or two fingers. Not long after I bought the keyboard, I was back to having that escape and release from all my frustrations. To this day, I still play quite a bit. I'm looking at possibly doing one of my solos with the keyboard. It just feels so good to be able to have my music back in my life again.