March 2, 2007

It's amazing that more than a year has passed since the last time (and my first time) I wrote a blog entry! Where does the time go?

So many good things have been happening that I don't know where to start! Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time right now either. I will write again soon, but for now check out the NEWS section of my site. I've got lots of stuff happening and I'm really pumped about everything!

Stop by my site often! I'll write more soon!

Mike


February 12, 2006

Wow! Welcome to the 21st Century! An online diary. Seems to me that diaries were always kept private, but now with "Blogs" short for "Web Logs" people share their thoughts in a public way. I hope that in some way my thoughts can help you with what you're doing. At the very least I hope you find them somewhat entertaining. So, onward and upward....my first BLOG!

We've got a blizzard happening outside today and I'm sitting around doing some work and thinking about a lot of things. As high school students are making their decisions about the college they want to attend, I started to think about the inspiration we get from others that encourage us to follow one path or another. Throughout our lives we have many influences for doing what we love to do. As time goes on that list grows, but even though the list is longer it doesn't lessen the influences that people earlier on have had on us. For instance, you may have read my bio and seen that I was born in Manhattan, New York. BUT, I grew up in the rural town of Benton, Pennsylvania. This town had a population of approximately 1000 people! My senior class had 49 in it and my high school had a total of 377 from grades 7 through 12!

Being from a small town like this I didn't have tuba lessons in high school. There were no professional tuba players in my area and my high school band director did everything he could to help me along. He was a great educator. (He passed away in November of 2002 at the age of 50.) He used to always help me learn the solos and music needed for County, District, Regional and All-State Festivals - but we never got to work out of any method books. He just didn't have the time. I'll never forget when I asked him about us working out of a method book he said "I'd love to, but I've got a lot of other kids to work with also and you're on track - I have to help the others that aren't yet." It's pretty amazing, thinking back, that he felt it was important to help everyone and NOT just cater to the students that were doing well! At the time it seemed odd, but now it makes so much sense! You can only do so much and if you are responsible to many it's important to get them on track and work with the others that need the help.

A little background on Rick Martin. Mr. Martin started everyone in 4th grade on Flutaphone. In 5th grade you could start on a band instrument. Mr. Martin taught ALL students from beginners in 5th grade through 12th grade!! REALLY!! On top of this he taught lessons to EVERY Elementary school student once per week AND THEN had a weekly lesson schedule set up to do lessons with EVERY high school student once per week and run sectionals. These lessons only ran about 10 to 15 minutes and you were dismissed from other classes to attend. A lesson schedule was made up each week, due to a 6 day rotating schedule, and put in all of the teacher's mailboxes. The teachers would know who had to leave class for their lesson. Teachers weren't always happy with this, but that was the system and it worked. Everyone in the small school district had lessons EVERY week to go over band music and audition music.

In addition to all of this band WAS NOT part of the curriculum! It was considered extra curricular. What this means is that we didn't have a period during the school day that we could rehearse. Rehearsals were Monday and Wednesday's after school for about an hour and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before school for about 30 minutes - from the time the bell rang through home room. In addition to this Mr. Martin taught some private lessons at his home to horn players (he was a horn player) from the area, directed a community band on Tuesday nights from his home town - where he grew up - (about 40 minutes away), played in the local college's community orchestra on Monday nights, directed his church choir on Sunday's, and was assitant choir director in a neighboring town. I'm sure that I'm forgetting a bunch of other things - but this is A LOT already! Some students in the band also played three sports and with only 377 students in our high school from 7th through 12th we had - 120 students in the band with band front!!! That's the influence this guy had. He worked hard! Very hard!

He put up with a lot in order to help students. He gave 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances when many teachers would have just thrown a student out (justifiably) and given up. When it became time for me to think about college, I was set on majoring in computers. From 7th grade until February of my senior year I wanted to go into software design. I had a lot of programming experience in a relatively new field at that time. I applied to three colleges - Penn State - in which I got accepted but would have to give up music because the campus I was going to attend (I paid my acceptance fee and everything!) didn't have a music program and my family didn't have the money for a tuba at that time. Bloomsburg University - where I also got accepted for computers and I would be able to use a school tuba and play in their band/orchestra. Lastly, Mansfield University, where I applied for music just to see what would happen. I got accepted academically and they asked me to schedule an audition. I didn't understand this process and wasn't interested in auditioning because I had already been accepted and paid my fees to Penn State. On the way back from a rehearsal with a community band that Mr. Martin conducted (The Catawissa Military Band) we talked about me auditioning at Mansfield. I told him that I wasn't interested and that I had already paid my fees to Penn State. If I backed out I'd lose FIFTY dollars! :) Mr. Martin said "$50 is going to be nothing compared to what you'll spend over you entire college career." He told me to take the audition and if I decided it wasn't for me at that point, he would accept my decision. But he wanted me to at least take the audition. He also told me that if I decided to go into music and lost the $50 that he'd pay me the $50! So, I took the audition. Don Stanley was the tuba/euphonium instructor at Mansfield University. Mr. Martin knew his reputation as a GREAT educator and that's why he wanted me to take the audition. Being from a small town I had never heard ANY professional tuba players up until that point and I didn't know anything about music schools etc. (I had only heard a recording of Bill Bell - which was VERY important for me - and I had heard the names Harvey Phillips and Toby Hanks - but didn't know anything about them.) Mr. Stanley was great! We hit it off right away...especially both being YANKEES fans! I thought it through and weighed all of my options. Especially the fact that I had always liked math, but not the higher level math. In order to be a good programmer it was going to be inevitable that I'd need these higher level math course. I loved music and it was a huge part of my life. I chose music.

This was a major life decision. It was this decision that has influenced everything I do right up to me writing THIS BLOG! Once I got to Mansfield a new world opened up for me and this new teacher I had, Don Stanley, would "kick my ass" (in a positive sense) to get me on the track I needed to be on to become successful. If it weren't for him - I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today. Mr. Stanley took over where Mr. Martin left off. Each had an equally important but different influence on my direction in life. I am eternally grateful that these two individuals invested themselves in me.

I've gotta run for now, but more on Mr. Stanley next time! Thanks for reading!

Mike