Firstly, and most importantly, *Hugs Annette, Susan, Patty, and Janet* Thank you all very much.
It is very good to be here everyone.
and I will not kick off my shoes. They are very pretty, and there are very few places at this point that i can go in heels. Home is one of them.
To answer Susan, I started out...wait...when did i start out... my grandmother taught me how to read music before first grade. She kinda taught me enough piano to know where the notes were, but i've had to relearn whatever else i might have known now that i'm in college. *shrugs* i really wish i had actually learned piano before...but it's required for my major, and people correct errors that they cannot live with when they can. I have played french horn for ten years. I have played bass guitar for 6 years, and 6 string for 4. Brass family instruments have their fingers set to a similar pattern, so i branched a little. I've played trumpet for 4 years because of this (it really is better for jazz). My "marks" or famous people i aim to reach/pass the level of (((okay, so this is super idealistic, but you have to aim high of your goal to hit it))) Tend to write multiple genre, and i know how pissed off i was to be getting backgrounds on the marches, so i like to be fair, even to instruments i don't play when i write. Since my primary majors are Composition and Theory, as opposed to, say, composition and french horn, I usually write according to the theoretical capabilities of instruments. This avoids the standard patterns a person who actually plays the instrument would fall into...well...okay there is a lot of debate about whether theory writing or experience writing are better as end products, but they both have their flairs. I intend to eventually do both.... Either way, i don't just write for instruments that i can play.
It's not so much that i have a genre home, as that i have biases. I will probably, like everyone, write according to what i've heard. I listen to everything but country and rap, and i mainly focus on international music, and film scores ((which is what i eventually wish to write))... but it really is a jumble. As a composer, no one expects me to glue myself to a genre.
Mallet percussion... I love vibe jazz. And African style marimba pieces... and cylindrical bells (don't ask...i just love them). I have written things for them in the past, because they are so fun to listen to.
((er... i kinda rambled through most of this, so i'm sorry if it makes no sense >.>. The things said here are merely my thoughts, and nothing more, and as an artist, i try to avoid pretending to be a logical being.))