Music at CHS

I think music is very important and I really wanted to get a teachers point of view on it because I am planning on going in to music and to have that experience would be great so I know the things to look forward to in the future. I also wanted some outlook on a few other questions.

Q: Why do you love music?
A: I like the challenge aspect of it. Like when you look at a piece of music and think that you will never be able to play that, but then you start to break it down.Then you play it for a concert perfectly and you remember that moment when you couldn’t play it and you feel that sense of pride set in.

Q:Why do you think students should get involved in music?
A: I think students should get involved because you can express anything through music. I mean singing one song can make your entire day better. Also studies show that students who are in music have better grades because in music they are working on math they are learning history and english too.

Q:What is your favorite part about teaching music?
A: I always like seeing students succeed its always the best thing.

Q:What would you like to see happen for the band or choir in the next year.
A: be able to have the confidence that we can get a one at festival. Also to be able to take a choir and band trip.

Q:Why did you decide to get a degree in music?
A: I had always gone to music camp and I always remember seeing seniors that had already graduated at camp and i was wondering why they were there and then i realized that they were going in to music, but that i could never do that. I was originally going to be a math teacher but then i started to think about music and i went to talk to the administration and she said that they would sign me up for some music classes and as soon as i walked in the room i knew it was right.

Q:Why do you think stage performance is a big part in music?
A: Absolutely, if we went out on stage looking slouching and insecure the audience is going to have a hard time connecting with the music. But if we go up looking confident and putting emotion into to the song it portrays a better image.

Q:Do you think knowing the story helps connect with the song.
A: oh absolutely because when you know the story its like actually telling the story and not thinking so much about the music. But at the same time if you don't tell the audience the story like with a band piece you can make it happen with the music.

Q:What is your favorite artist, genre, and song.
A: My favorite artist is Garth Brooks favorite song is Concrete Angel and my favorite genre is Christian.

Q:Why do you believe music is important?
A: I like music because it’s so powerful in Russia they actually banned some music because the message was so strong and powerful.

Q: What do you think the world be like without music?
A: So lame because everyone is impacted by music. There is no one who can go all their life and not listen to music. Its everywhere in movies and all of the sounds made are some form of music. There is no one who can listen to silence all their life.

Bullying and Music

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

I've been through alot in my life and no matter how bad things get I can always rely on music to be there for me.

For most of my life I have been bullied,it started in elementary when people found out I had a disease. Everyone judge me and thought that if they touched me they would contract the disease so they played a game where if you touched me you had to touch another person or you would have contracted the disease. I don’t think people realize how much bullying can affect a person’s life. I have never been able to forget that and I never will. But even when I had no clue what to do I would go sit by the wall at recess, play my music, and completely block out the world. I believe music is what kept me strong all these years. It kept me confident that I would make it through my surgeries and that one day I would be away from all of these people.
Without music I don’t believe I would be here today. It kept me strong and it always will. Whatever life throws at me I look to music.
Bullying is a terrible thing and I wish I could end it all. But I can’t do it by myself there is always going to be something new. I have tried to talk to people about bullying and I am now writing a speech on bullying and I will be competing in Speech and Drama. This way I can get the word out about bullying and be able to compete. I will post on how things are going with my speech and once I get my speech done I will post it online.
There have been many cases of bullying and I think that if people realized what kind of damage they are doing to a person’s life. I would have rather been hit then called mean things all the time. Because a bruise will heal, but the words will always stay with me.
Words hurt and will stay with you, but you have to keep strong and always believe that there is a way out. I believed in my music and it got me through it. If people could see all of the kids that have been bullied it think it would change their lives just a little bit. Too many kids are living with constant fear of the next time they have to face the bully some even stay home from school.
This is something that is very important to me and I hope it is important to others too.

Stage Presence

Stage presence is one of those things that is very important to any performer. The way you act on stage determines everything,for instance, if your song is a very upbeat song you can't just stand there and sing. You have to make the performance interesting and one way to do that is by your stage presence. I have had trouble with my stage presence over the years just because I was so used to going up in church and just standing still and singing. And since it was church music,and stage presence wasn't such a big deal. Most people in the church just wanted to hear the song.

But over the years, I have competed in very many competitions and a big part of that was stage presence.

I think one of the first things to being able to connect with a song is listening to its lyrics and figuring out what the song means and if it means something to you. It is absolutely pointless to sing a song that has no meaning to you. When working on stage presence you have to start with a song that you know you can easily connect with. For me that song was Anyway by Martina McBride. The lyrics mean everything to me.The song itself is not as important as the lyrics. Its like when you read a story the words matter. Without them the story would be pointless.The song “Anyway” talks about how people might try to knock you down but you should ignore them and do it anyway.

Also when doing stage presence you wanna make sure that the choreography fits the song. I mean you are not going to start doing the air guitar in the middle of an opera song, it just doesn't work.

So when performing you need to make sure everything fits and you probably will not get it right the first try. Usually when I work on my stage presence it takes me months to get right. Eventually when I get really good it won’t take much to get stage presence down because I will know from past experience what to do. Exactly why the quote “Practice makes perfect” plays a big role in music. You will never be able to sing a song absolutely perfect the first time, you have to keep practicing. Usually when I get ready for a competition I start practicing about 3 months ahead of time.  That way I have one month to work on the song itself and then one month to work on stage presence and lastly I will combine them together.

Stage presence is a very long process, but once you get everything put together and that moment when it becomes absolutely perfect, there is no better feeling in the world than when you can connect to a song. Because it is something new that you can relate to. And that song will never go away you can always sing it again.

Music will always be there for you. You may know that the song means something to you but you have to show the audience and try to convince them why it is important that they listen to you. When I sing I sing because I have something to say and I want people to listen.

Another thing that is very important in stage presence is eye contact. That moment when you can look someone in the eye it makes you seem very confident. Something my music teacher Mrs.Hekkel told me is “when you can look someone in the eye it changes from a girl singing to a woman singing.” I think that is a perfect way to put it, it is saying that you have a lot more confidence. When you are looking at the ground you look scared and nervous, but if you put your head up and have that confidence it makes a world of difference in your performance. And this is a very hard step for some people because it does take a lot to be able to look someone in the eye. That’s why you can look right above their heads and it still gives you that confidence without having to look directly in their eyes.

Stage presence is a huge part of performing, it makes the entire performance come together. And that’s what makes the performance extra special.

Invisible and Incvincible

Always pretending this is me

But this is not who I want to be

I hide within myself

Just so I can please everyone else

But what does it matter

If I constantly feels like I’m going to shatter

Into pieces, open and exposed

All my secrets, everyone now knows

But at the same time I feel peace

Knowing that everyone finally knows the real me

But will they accept me, or will things go back to the way they use to be

I guess if that day comes I will be ready

And I pray I will be strong and steady

I wonder if anyone else ever feels like this

Or am I the only one who feels unwanted just waiting for that bliss

Or even just that one kiss

I pray I’m not alone

And that someday a guy will come along

Make me feel safe and forever strong

I will finally be who I dream to be

And nothing will break me!

Why do I Love Music?

Why do I love music? Such a simple question, but I can’t seem to find the words to explain. I guess that’s why I love music so much because when words can’t describe what you are feeling the music can.
When people ask me what my favorite song is, I never reply with a song that is on the radio and that everybody is listening to. My favorite types of songs are the ones with meaning not with a good beat. One of my all-time favorite songs is Anyway by Martina McBride. This song talks about how people will try to break you down and tell you that you can’t succeed but the song says not to listen to them and to do it anyways. I have sung this song for many different competitions this year and have done very well with it. I think I do well with it because I believe in it. And so I’m putting emotion into it.
I love songs that can explain how I feel and can explain my life. I feel like I can connect with a song better when I can relate to it.
I have been involved in music since I was a little girl and I have loved it ever since. It has gotten me through so much. Whatever the emotion is, music can describe it. Whether it is something stupid like being excited for an upcoming competition or something serious like waiting to find out about my surgery, I believe music is important to me because of those very reasons.