The beginning
Hello everyone, and welcome to my very first personal blog! To start off, I would like to talk about how my passion for music all began. One thing I do know, is that my family has always been musically inclined. Growing up, I would hear stories from my mom telling me about when she was a kid. My grandma was a twin and she sang and played the mandolin while her sister played the banjo. Her side of the family was always a big family. My mom told me that the whole family would get together and play music on the front porch for so many years until the generation got too old play. Sadly, the music stopped. My dad always had a heart for the blues and always had tons of guitars around. I remember my dad and his best friend (who my brother and I call "Uncle Duff") would sit around and play guitar together all the time. I really enjoyed listening to them play.
One day, my mom and dad called my brother and I downstairs. They asked us both if we wanted to take guitar lessons. I was eleven at the time and my brother Bri was 16. Biggest regret I could possibly have is not taking those guitar lessons. On the other hand, my big brother did. I watched the journey of my brother and the process of him learning it. I'd say this was the most inspiring to me. One thing that made me feel so good as a younger sister is when Bri would call my name and show me what new song he learned next. Eventually, he even started writing his own songs and this was really eye opening. His talent at the guitar was getting so good, and at this point his writing was just amazing. Listening to his words and how he put together his own songs was the moment I knew for sure I had made a big mistake not taking those guitar lessons. Bri was constantly in his room playing his guitar and writing song after song it was truly incredible to watch how he formed into such a great musician. Soon after I saw what my brother could do, I started writing down anything and everything. I was writing pages after pages at this time.
I remember the first time I ever sang in front of people. I was in 7th grade and I was in chorus. In 5th grade, everyone was asked what instrument we wanted to play for the marching band. I never found interest in playing an instrument but I knew I wanted to sing so I chose to do chorus instead. By 7th grade, we had to sing solo. Of course, this is in my "soprano" voice but I had terrible stage fright. Anxiety set in immediately as soon as I heard the person's name that went right before me. My heart started beating out of my chest as if I were about to have a heart attack. As the clock got closer and closer to my time to perform, I started to lose my breath. I had to leave the room within 30 seconds and I went straight to the ladies room feeling naucious. Luckily, I was the only one in there because I really thought I was going to be sick to my stomach. I pulled myself together, knowing I only had another minute to get through this. I took lots of deep breaths and proceeded to the classroom to sing my song. I walked in the room soon as the student before me was finished, I heard my name called and walked straight to the piano. There were only about 30 people in this room at one time including a judge and my momma. The judge asked me if I was ready.... I took one more deep breath and said "yes". The piano began playing that same melody i had already hearsed over and over, but my mind went blank. I froze. I told everyone to remove from the room except the judge and the pianist and myself. I proceeded with my song and received a "1", which aparrently a pretty good score. I was proud to over come that moment but I will never forget it. It was definitely the most intense moment of my singing career! Stay tuned for the leading up to where I am today. Many more stories to tell :)
