Demand Excellence

As I sat in Wind Ensemble rehearsal on Friday afternoon, the only phrase going through my mind was "demand excellence."  When I was playing, it ran through my head...and when I was counting my rests, it ran through my head.

During my sophomore year in WE, Dr. Fansler would often use this phrase, but I don't think that it ever fully hit home with me.  The past two weeks have really been a reminder to me that you have to "demand excellence" every single time you do something, whether that's when you pick up the trumpet, when you are writing a session plan for music therapy, or when you are writing that score annotation for music history that you put off until the last minute. No matter what you are doing, you have to "demand excellence" in order to succeed.  

Demanding excellence is not easy.  It requires a lot of energy.  It requires a certain poise or presence.  It requires knowing why you are demanding excellence and where you want to go in the process of demanding excellence.  

When I was younger, I didn't "demand excellence." I simply did what it took to get by...(there's a blog post about that!)  But as I grew older, and of course more wiser, I have realized that I don't like to do things unless I am going to do them to the best of my ability, whether that's learning to rap for my clients or working on the pesky triple-tonguing that has been haunting me for years.

This semester is going to be very challenging for me in regard to both the trumpet and music therapy, but I am very excited about the possible outcome.  I have come a long way since my first week of freshman year, but there is still a long way to go...and it's time for me to be more demanding and "demand excellence" in everything that I am working on at school.

With that being said, I generally spend a lot of time on social media, and I have decided to take a little hiatus away from social media in order to help me stay on track and "demand excellence." I will still share blog posts and pictures every so often, because that is just who I am, but I won't be spending all of my free time browsing social media when I could be working on things that will help me succeed.

Don't miss me too much! 

Stand Up

Stand up, stand up for Jesus...These are the words to a Christian Hymn that we are taught as young ones. But what do these words really mean?

We, as humans, have the right to stand up for what we believe in. We have the right to stand up for what we deserve We have the right to stand up for our faith. We have the right to stand up for equal opportunities.

The most important thing that we have the right to stand up for is our God. Without God, we wouldn't be here. So why wouldn't we "Stand up for Jesus"???

As a young woman of faith who attends a public university, I have been faced with people who do not believe in God or who demoralize the Catholic faith.

I have had people tell me "you're a Catholic, and I'm a Christian, therefore we don't believe in the same things"....but wait, when it comes down to the bottom line, we both believe in the exact same thing: an amazing God who created this world and everything in and on it.

So yes, the churches that we belong to have different rules...but remember the common thing: GOD!

Almost every single day, I am reminded of how fortunate I am to have been raised in a family where faith was important. We went to church every weekend, and for a long time, we sat in the same pew with my Grandparents. You didn't get to play with toys or eat snacks-you sat there and paid attention and read your Catholic books about prayers/mass/confession or else you would get a dirty look from Grandpa. Oh, and there was no going to the bathroom..if you had to go, you went after communion when you were returning to your seat. Those were the rules, and you followed them.

In high school, my family also attended the Salvation Army.  Playing in the brass band and being involved in the Salvation Army helped me to understand that we all have different beliefs...but that the common theme is our amazing God. I made some of my closest friends in this time, and was challenged to grow even more in my faith because I was surrounded by people who had an unconditional love for him.

Having attended private school for K-12, I was never really faced with people challenging my faith until I went to college. While I am lucky to have few stories to tell about people challenging my faith, it has still happened. But every time that it has happened, it has helped me to grow even more in my faith and to develop my relationship with Him even more.

Whether you believe in God or not, I respect that. And even though it is hard to accept sometimes, we, as humans, have to remember that we all have our own thoughts, beliefs, morals, etc.  We have to remember that even if someone doesn't have the same beliefs as us, we must still show respect to them..because like the golden rule says: treat others as you want to be treated.

So always remember that we live in an ever-changing world where we are faced with hardships every single day.  We will be faced with people who do not agree with us in one-way or another day-in and day-out. Respect others and their beliefs. Treat others as you want to be treated. Show love and compassion the same way that you want to receive love and compassion. Show support to those in need, lend a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on, and most importantly, help others to believe in whatever they choose to believe in, so that they may find the same sense of comfort and belonging that you have.

The Chair in the Corner

When I was younger, we remodeled our kitchen. We, and by we-I really mean my parents, bought this nice dining room table from Harvey's that can fit up to eight people.  But since there were only four of us, we kept the table set for six..so those two extra chairs got put in the corners of the dining room.  The one chair was next to 'my spot' at the table...and everyone knew it was my place because I insisted on having a seat cushion on the chair...

But that chair in the corner right next to my place became 'my corner'...it became the place where everything got put..when I came home from a long day of band followed by school followed by cross country practice, ALL of my bags went there..the trumpet case, the ginormous book bag that was bigger than me, and of course the smelly cross country bag.

The chair would be full of papers and important things...when I couldn't find something, the best place to look was on the chair.  There were times when the chair was filled with all of the brochures that colleges send you in the mail...and there were times when it was filled with all of my trumpet music when I came home from a lesson.

After going off to college, my chair slowly creeped in to the corner while the chair without the cushion made its way to the table instead..but one thing stayed the same..not matter which chair was in the corner, it became a place for all of my stuff.

Today as I came home from running a few errands, I sat down for a moment in 'my chair' that is now in the corner of the dining room...and I suddenly realized how important this silly chair and seat cushion are to me. It's the place where I was sitting when my parents and I would have intense conversations about different topics during family dinners.  It's the place where I sat when my parents and I discussed my plans for the future.  It's the place where I did my homework..but most importantly, it is a reminder that so many positive things can happen around the dinner table when a family makes an effort to eat together.

As I get ready for another semester of school, I am feeling lucky to have my wonderful parents and sister in my life...and I am so grateful for all of those family dinners around the dinner table when I was able to sit in 'my chair.'