Looking back...

on 2011 and forward to 2012!!! I copied this blog idea from Bethany's blog and added a few things of my own. :)

The Best Book I read in 2011: would have to be Personality Types by Don Riso with Russ Hudson. I came across it seemingly by chance in the library, and it has proven to be one of the most useful books I've ever read. I know some of you will think it sounds rather weird and nerdy but I can tell you that trying to understand different personalities is something we are all constantly doing whether we realize it or not. This book gives some very good insight to understanding the people around us, their way of thinking, their motivations and fears, and how to relate to them effectively.

The Worst Book I read: I hardly ever read so don't have many books to choose from, but I didn't really like a book I started to read earlier on in the year, The India Rubber Men. I can't even remember much about it except that I found it a bit dry and uncaptivating.

The Best Movie I watched: Although it wasn't actually released in 2011, we watched Tangled a number of times during the year, and I always appreciate what a good movie it is. Apart from being a very well-made film, it's relaxing and easy to watch, and despite outward appearances, a good film for the whole family. (At first I was put off the whole "Disney princess movie" idea, but surprisingly it wasn't what I expected and actually has a lot that we guys can relate to as well).

The Worst Movie I watched: The Inspector General. It's really annoying, corny, and "cringe-ful". Why people make movies like this one is beyond me. What makes things worse is half the family finds it very amusing, which means we have to see it (or at least hear it in the background) occassionally.

My Favourite Holiday: Our October holiday at Culburra Beach was not only my favourite holiday of 2011, but the best holiday of my life so far. It was fantastic to just get away from all the busyness of life and completely relax (although I was also very glad to get back into the usual routine of things in Term 4).

My Favourite Moment: Getting my L's, passing my Grade 8 Flute exam, and playing a concert as Principal Flute in the CCO, and playing bassoon in a professional orchestra all come pretty close. However, probably my favourite experience of the year was performing Handel's Messiah in Cooma. Messiah is an incredible piece of music, and when you're actually "inside" the music playing it, you experience an incredible sensation that can't be adequately described. To finish off an extraordinary day by performing the Hallelujah Chorus with a very enthusiastic 50-piece choir behind you - not to mention amazing timpani (Caitlyn) - is something you have to experience to understand. The libretto is very Biblical and uplifting, too.

My Favourite New Thing: Well if it counts as a "thing", then teaching flute last year would be my favourite. I still consider it a miracle how God has worked things out for me, and I'm SOOO thankful for everything He's done for me in 2011. Two of my students did AMEB exams (2'nd and 3'rd Grade) last year, and both did very well. The enthusiasm some of my students have is so inspiring, and I can tell you, I've learnt a thing or two from them over the past year as well! I look forward to starting next term with 12 students, and founding a Flute Ensemble to give them even more opportunities.

My Favourite Song or Album: It's kind of complicated. I consider "You Know Better Than I" from Joseph King of Dreams to be the best song ever. At the same time, When You Believe (from Prince of Egypt), is probably my favourite song, while the theme from Jurassic Park is the one I most enjoy listening to. However I've never enjoyed music quite so much as when I am playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto or Symphony No 8 or Handel's Messiah. All these pieces of music are favourites of mine, but all in different ways. As I said, it's hard to explain.

What I'm thankful for in 2011: So many things! God has been so good to me. Apart from what I've already mentioned, some of the more notable things include getting a scholarship for cheaper music lessons at the ANU, learning to drive, being in COOMA!, 6-a-side soccer, our church carols night (one of the highlights of my year, actually), and probably the thing that I've come to appreciate most; all the amazing people that have done so much for me in the past year, especially those like my family who know all my faults and see me at my worst, but still put up with me.

Achievements I have in mind for 2012: 2012 will be a BIG year in my life. I hope to get my P's, buy a car, finish school, do my Flute AMusA, audition for the ANU, start a Flute Ensemble, and finish memorizing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

What about you? What were your highlights of 2011, and what are you looking forward to in 2012?

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

I'm a bassoonist!!!!

No joke, I really am! It's almost as much of a shock to me as it is to you!! If someone had told me 2 weeks ago that I would be playing the bassoon before the month was over, I would never have believed them. But then God started working again, and opened all these doors that made it amazingly clear. Basically, this is what happened:

1) My piccolo which I had been looking forward to learning to play turned out to still have problems. I still haven't had an opportunity to have it fixed.

2) My passion for Woodwinds was reinforced, and I couldn't stop dreaming about the bassoon. Even when I wasn't dreaming, it seemed like there were bassoon reeds following me all around the School of Music.

3) Mum started talking about how much we will need a bass instrument to replace the cello when Bradley goes off to Uni. This was the first time I started thinking that it might actually be a reality, not just one of my dreams.

4) I told Mum (and Dad) about the bassoon and what it could do, and mentioned that it has been my dream to learn to play it. Amazingly, they were both very positive about it. In fact, the idea met absolutely no opposition at all! This convinced me that God was telling me something, because I had been expecting to spend months convincing the parents to let me learn another instrument!

5) Then I had to face the reality - buying a bassoon would cost me about $5,000 to get a decent instrument. I didn't give up hope, though, and kept praying. Then God opened another door when I found out that the Canberra School of Music had a very good bassoon sitting in storage that I could 'rent' for free as a MuST student!! I became convinced that God creates these 'problems' so that we can watch him at work solving them, rather than just take everything for granted.

6) The worst problem of all then presented itself. Playing pretty much any wind instrument can have very bad effects on one's flute playing. I had to give up playing the trumpet, clarinet & oboe for that very reason. However, it turns out that bassoon is the ONLY wind instrument (besides maybe recorder, which is technically a type of flute) that is compatible with flute playing!! To me this is nothing short of a miracle.

So I decided to take the challenge and learn another instrument - and before I knew it my dreams had become reality! I brought home the bassoon (haven't come up with a name for him yet... suggestions welcome! =P) on Tuesday afternoon, and much to my relief it came with a reed (a reed is the bit of cane that vibrates to make the sound - without the reed, you can't play a bassoon). I think I would have died if I had had the bassoon for a whole week without being able to play it. I'm seeing my new bassoon teacher on Tuesday, which, needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to. He is the Principle Bassoonist of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, a position he's held since 1965. He has also received a Canberran of the Year award, as well as an Order of Australia medal for his work in youth orchestras.

And now I've come to the point where I realize that in all my excitement I forget to tell you what a bassoon actually is. Most of you probably wouldn't know, due to its extreme rarity. Well, the Bassoon is the bass of the Woodwind family. It is made of an 8-foot long pipe which is bent double over itself to allow the player to reach all the keys. It has an extremely complicated fingering system - most of the fingers only have to cover 1 hole each, but the thumbs have to control 13-14 levers between the 2 of them. Crazy, I know. Especially when you're the one playing it. But trust me, it's definitely worth it!

Since bassoons are so expensive, hardly anyone plays them, so they are very in demand in ensembles and orchestras. After only playing for 1 day, I've already been asked to play in a beginner orchestra group and possible another ensemble later in the year. This afternoon will be my first experience playing bassoon in an ensemble, so wish me luck!

Finally, here is a picture of the bassoon I'm using. This photo doesn't show the size very well, but standing up it goes up to about the height of my neck. I might add some photos to this post later on if I can manage to take any that aren't as bad quality as this one.

An answer to prayer

Okay, well most of you may find this post irrevelevant or even boring (as probably most of my posts are), but something so exciting happened that I have to share it with someone - or everyone.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been praying very hard about how God wants me to spend my life, and what career pathway he has planned for me. I have some of my own ideas based on my own feelings, but I really want to know for sure exactly what He wants me to do with my life. So I've been praying really hard about it for quite some time, but not really getting any answers. In fact, it didn't seem like I was getting any response at all.

But then things started happening. Seemingly out of the blue Mum received an email from a student of the Sydney Conservatorium whom she (Mum) had emailed months before, with no response, whom we had all forgotten about long ago. Apparently she was doing research as part of her PhD into the effects that being homeschooled have on one's music education. She was looking for willing families through which to conduct the research, so of course Mum volunteered us. Months later we received an email back saying she would very much like to come and see our family in the July holidays.

So on Tuesday she came and spent several hours interviewing us and listening to us perform. Nothing special had happened up to this point. Then we got to talking with her and found out that she was homeschooled (which we had kind of guessed already) and had studied a Bachelor of Music Education majoring in Flute. You can imagine how excited I was to have somebody to talk to that has experienced and done exactly what I am interested in doing. It was the most amazing help to be able to ask all these questions I've been wanting to ask someone for YEARS, as well as having the assurance that this person understood exactly where I was coming from, having come from there herself. To me it was a heaven-sent opporunity to find the answers I'd been looking for. Long story short, we (or I) ended up interviewing her more than she did us. Fortunately she didn't mind at all, and I was overjoyed at receiving the guidance I'd been praying for. Not only because I now have a clear idea of what God wants me to do, but also because it was such a blessing to see prayer answered so effectively!

P.S. I didn't take that photo, much as I would like to say I did...

Lesson from my iPod

Well, not exactly, but something that happened with it taught me something. On the weekend Caitlyn and I were travelling on the bus up to Canberra for a rabbit show, and we were both listening to songs on my iPod. After some discussion as to which songs we should listen to, we decided to save 'the best' for later on in the trip, and started listening to some of the 'not-so-nice' songs. Unfortunately, though, we had only listened to a couple of songs before my iPod died (it has a habit of randomly turning itself on while it's in my bag, and playing until it runs out of battery). Imagine my frustration when we didn't get to hear any of our favourite songs, and then had 4 hours of sitting on the bus with nothing to listen to. I felt so silly for actually choosing not to listen to the good songs. It brought into sharp realization the fact that there is nothing to gain by saving good things for "later." There may not be a later. If you have something you want to do and you have the opportunity, don't wait. Just do it.

I'm the sort of person that is constantly setting goals for myself. It struck me how much I'm always thinking of a new goal and then putting it aside to do "later." I have stacks of goals to be completed some other time when it's more convenient. Well, one thing I've learnt lately is that life rarely (if ever) gets more convenient and that there is no time like the present. If you don't do something now you may never get the chance again.

So my new goal is to accomplish all of my goals as soon as opportunity presents itself without waiting for it. So I shall make a start by publishing this post before it gets so long that nobody wants to read it and before my laptop battery runs out and my computer dies.

Happy Holidays everyone!