Caleb Mapp Engl 1101 Literary Analysis Part 1 Youre sitting upright on the edge of the chair.

You fight to maintain holding the best possible posture to give your diaphragm room to fully expand when the time comes. Feeling the beads of sweat began to form on your face and your torso as you sit there in front of the hot stage lights and your heart rate is rising from the anxiety. Youve just finished the on stage warm up and you can feel your sore lips tingle a little from the intense practicing of the days prior. Practicing and rehearsing for this moment. Then all of a sudden it hits you, and you have the sudden realization that this could be the last performance of your life. Your anxiety swiftly turns to sadness at this thought, but joy soon follows as you begin to reminisce on the past few years of your life and your musical career. Then you slowly come back to reality. You maintain your composure and dont let these feelings show. You see that your director has taken the podium once again and is ready to begin. You hadnt even noticed him as he stepped up to the podium. He raises his hand and you lift your horn to your mouth in response to his command. Then its back. The stress and pressure come flooding back to you. He moves his hand to give you the ictus and you then take the deepest breath you know how. You fill your lungs and stretch your diaphragm. Then on his next movement you play that first note and just like that all of the stress dissolves. You play the next note, then another and another. You play and play and get caught up in the music. It is the greatest feeling youve ever had. Feelings of love and passion fill you and guide your breathes to each and every note. Youre lost in a world of blissful peace as you proceed to make beautiful music while blending and harmonizing with the other musicians surrounding. Then its over. And you stand and the crowd gives a thunderous applause. Then you feel the success and glory, but stay ever so humble. That is how I felt during my last high school concert.

When you hear literacy what do you think of? Probably books, dictionaries, and English class. That is the automatic stereotypical form of literacy. But literacy is so much more than that. Architecture, Dance, Art, and Engineering can all be considered to have their own forms of literacy. Another form of literacy, which my personal favorite is the literacy of music. The terminology, symbols, rhythms, and much more combine to create the powerful language of music. I first learned to understand the language of music from a woman named Mrs. Beddingfield. She was my middle school music instructor. I first began learning music when I entered middle school in 6th grade. I began with the clarinet. Mrs. Beddingfield taught me the basics of music. She taught me how to read the music. Then where to place my fingers for different notes and how the different fingerings correspond with the letters for the notes. She also taught me many of the basic terminology as well as a few different types and styles of music. These lessons taught me to understand the basics of music, how to play music, and how to understand the language as a whole. While learning the basics a slowly began to realize how to express myself in music. I realized how to really convey emotion in my music, rather than just playing it black and white. The more I knew about music and the more comfortable I got with the language the better I became at expressing myself through my music. My interpretation of the music combined with the composers intention for the music, and my directors interpretation mixed and created the powerful emotion and affect to deliver the message or meaning from the music. While going through the process of learning music and understanding this new language, I had many different feelings and senses that I experienced. Learning music is no easy task and because of this I felt lots of frustration and bits of anxiety while learning and mastering this art. I also felt lots of fun and excitement while doing something new and really growing as person. I was becoming a better-rounded person. I felt a great deal of success while playing after every piece I played and every performance. It is one of the greatest feelings of all. Even with that being such a great feeling, there was

still very much frustration. I feel that much of the frustration came from the task of having to change the way I thought. I had to learn to associate old terms with new symbols. I had to learn to give new meaning and definition to things. Also the correct pronunciation and definition of words was a somewhat difficult task at first. The terminology used in music is all Italian or Italian based. Instead of saying smooth and connected the composer would put Legato which means the same thing. Or they would say allegro con spirito which means lively with spirit, so we would play at a brisker more joyous tempo. As you learn to play and really begin to comprehend the music and become good at what you do, the feelings change. You gain a sense of freedom and expression .The more you learn and more you play the stronger these feelings get. They are what really grows and creates a feeling of love and immense passion for music as a whole. Loving to listen to music and even study is one thing. But once you learn to play and create music it becomes a whole new ball game. Its a different experience that can create this insatiable desire to create music. Becoming a better-rounded person. The joy of feeling a great deal of success. Feeling it while playing, feeling it after every piece, and feeling it during every performance. It is one of the greatest feelings of all. Learning music is no easy task. Music for me recently became even more difficult. Playing different instruments means memorizing different sets of fingerings for the notes. You also have to learn different techniques. Learning guitar didnt really affect me playing clarinet and saxophone because theyre so different. Knowing those two did in fact help with learning to play the bass guitar. The difficulty came when playing the tenor saxophone. Playing the sax is extremely similar to playing the clarinet but still so very different. I often will be in the middle of playing a song on sax and I will randomly start using clarinet fingerings on the sax. Then its messed up and I have to start over. But oddly enough, it sometimes works out. My past years and teachings sometimes interfere with my newer learning and performances. It is all a part of the experience.

There have been many influences and factors that have affected my musical career. Of these, I would say have four primary literacy sponsors. The first would be the wonderful woman I mentioned earlier, Mrs. Beddingfield. She was my main instructor for 3 years. She taught me all the basics and got me started in music. She really sparked the flame for my passion for music, and helped me hit the ground running and have an excellent start. She still continues to teach me more about music and about life today. After a flame is sparked for a fire you must feed the flame and build it so grows into a fullfledged fire full of warmth. This process was taken up by a man named Mr. Bowman, who a few of us ever so affectionately call Bobo. He was my High school band director. He took everything I had been taught previously and went levels deeper with it. He really showed me how to paint a picture. Mr. Bowman taught me to really play the music, and not to leave it so black and white. To more into the music than what was on the page. He taught a little musical theory, and basic composition. He said that if you knew composition and how to write your own music you would be able to understand the other works you are playing better. My third literary sponsor was a man named Mr. Gardner, who went by Batman. He also went deeper into things. He helped me to combine music and marching. He helped to integrate combine school and music into all aspects of life. He taught musical lessons as well as life lessons though music. He helped me with marching. Marching is way to be a part of the music without playing the music. When combined with playing the music it is invigorating. It takes a toll mentally and physically but its worth it. He helped to condition me mentally and physically, so I could bring my music and marching to a whole new level. Middle school and high school were two of the biggest institutions that influenced me. Another is place called Music & Arts. That is where I got all of my instruments and supplies. It is also where I took private lessons. It can be considered one of my primary literary sponsors.

Your literary sponsors and your specific form of literacy take you on a journey through life. You have many experiences and you have a wide array of emotions. Sometimes the experiences are positive and sometimes negative. Music has caused some of the strongest emotions and most vivid memories in my life. Especially memories of musical performances. In literacy education one very important aspect of learning is to make your sure youre getting a full experience. I believe my level of musical literacy can be attributed to the fact that I received a full experience. I learned all the basics. I learned how to read the music and how to relate the symbols with correct letters. Also where to place my fingers for different notes and how the different finger placements lined up with the letters for the notes. I was also taught the basic terminology and different types and styles. These lessons taught me to understand the basics of music, and how to play music. When I began to learn the basics I started at the beginning. As part of the full experience you must start at the beginning when learning something new. When learning something new, such as music or some other form of literacy, some people dont like to start at the beginning. Some people like to jump right in. They prefer to start in the middle and go from there. They go back and learn the basics as need be. A third aspect in gaining a full experience is practice. I have learned there really is a lot of truth to the saying Practice makes perfect. To reach the level that I did at, I had to practice and study a lot. I had to practice for hours a day. No matter your skill level, practice is key. My band director Mr. Bowman often gave us wise words of wisdom. He once said The difference between amateurs and professionals is that amateurs practice until they get it right, and professionals practice until they cant get it wrong. So, no matter what, practice is a necessity and a key point in literacy.