The Trumpeter's Tune

It's been a long time!!!

2007-12-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

Wow I just realized that I haven't posted a blog since May 13 or something ridiculous like that!! I really kind of miss it though. Well this is me and I am back. Just an update on my life is that I am now 16!! HOOT...HOOT...PARTY and it really feels great. I am still doing the same old things though like playing the trumpet. I just got done doing a dinner theatre at this place called the Arch(It is a christian youth center) and it was a lot of fun. I met some really cool people and grew a lot with my walk with Christ!!! It was a very big learning experience in my life and I probably will never forget it either. I wanted to say hello to everyone and even though I haven't been keeping up on my blog there are very loyal people out there like Shawn at www.brainofshawn.com that are very good at updating there blogs so take time to check it out and have a great day!!!

College Grad!!!

2007-05-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Recently my sister graduated from Cornerstone University with a bachelors degree in music education!!! We are all really excited for her. This sister is the same one that I never got along with until she went to college and I didn't see her for a while. Wow time flies really fast doesn't it? Just yesterday she was going off to college, and now she is graduated!!! Its so sad but so exciting!!!

P.S. That is my sister Jess and her husband Brad!!

Friend or Acquaintance?

2007-04-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the question of the day!!! If your a christian,and you have a really close friend that you think is a christian,but it turns out that the friend you have says that he was never really a christian at all,can you continue to keep that person as a friend or does that person now have to become an acquaintance? In the bible it says that we need to flee from temptation and that unchristian friends shouldn't have a big influence on our lives. The reason is because if all of our friends are not Christians they can,without even realizing it,pull us down weather they mean to or not. This is something that I am struggling with very much!! I have a really close friend that I thought was a christian but it turned out that my friend wasn't. Like I said I am struggling with it a lot and I really would appreciate any advice you have to offer!!!

New planet?!!

2007-04-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

With recent technology we have discovered a new planet just like earth it has just the right temperatures so it can support water and possibly life!!!! This is a very exciting find by scientists. The only bummer is that the planet is twenty light years away from our earth!!! Talk about a let down huh!

Youth retreat!

2007-04-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

This week we went to some cabins in the upper peninsula and we had a christian retreat. We fasted and hung out and just really dug into God's word! It was fun! The retreat was called basic training! My sister Donna found this word that was used allot in basic training by the soldiers, it is called "HOOAH" Former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan has his interpretation. "I don't know how exactly to spell it, but I know what it means," Sullivan said. "It means we have broken the mold. We are battle focused. Hooah says Ô Look at me. I'm a warrior. I'm ready. Sergeants trained me to standard. I serve America every day, all the way." What we learned is that when we serve Christ we should be this excited about it! We changed the definition a little bit. This is what it means to us,"We have broken the mold. We are battle focused. Oh look at me. I'm a warrior. I'm ready. Sergeants trained me to standard. I serve Christ every day, all the way." Weather we know it or not we are in a battle and not a physical battle, but an emotional battle! We are tempted every day by Satan and that is who we are in war with but we cannot do it alone we need Christ and only by following his example and going to him in prayer every day can we win this war.I re-dedicated myself to the Lord and praise God one person at basic training came to know Jesus Christ and accept him as savior.Basic Training was a blast and it is something that I will never forget. So when you feel like you cant handle it anymore or you have just had enough this is what you do:

1. Pray
2. Fight
3. Win
4. Say "HOOAH"

1 Peter 5:8:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

Are you ready?

Quotes from people

2007-04-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

I have a really good friend at school and her name is Amanda S. she recently told me this really amazing quote and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. She said,

" To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."

She couldn't have been more right. When you start to feel worthless and you think that everybody looks down on you just remember you don't have to make a huge impact on the world, if you only make an impact on one person then you have succeeded! Amanda's mom was having some problems and thanks to Amanda she is doing remarkably better. You see to Amanda's mom she was just one person and didn't mean much but to Amanda she meant the world. Thanks for the quote Amanda!!!

After Solo and Ensemble

2007-02-17T15:24:00.000-08:00

I actually have a very scary story about how Solo and Ensemble went. The night before Solo and Ensemble I had a basketball game but before the game I was working on the score to give the judge so he could give me a grade on the music, but I set it down and then forgot it!! Yeah kinda scary but anyway so I go to solo and ensemble but in stead of playing my original piece I had to sight read a performance and get this I still got the highest rating!!!! I still got a 1!!!! I was really excited and everybody kept congratulating me and all I could do was thank God for giving me the courage to play something completely different and still do great. Do any of you have any scary situations where you didn't think that you were going to do good at all and then you found out you did awesome if you have stories please share them with me! Well I have to start practicing what I am going to play at states, oh, and I wont forget my music this time!!!

Fun Pieces of Music

2007-02-07T05:07:00.000-08:00

Well if you didn't already know I am a bit of a brass favor er. I love all sorts of brass groups. For Christmas I got this really awesome CD from the kings brass and it was probably one of my FAVORITE gifts compliments of my sister Donna and it had so many amazing songs on it like Fanfare For the Common Man and Rodeo truly an amazing gift. My favorite song on the CD was probably Fanfare For the Common Man the song sounds simple and is simple rhythmic wise but intonation can really come back and bite ya if your not careful I just love the style and all the notes. It is a very good piece. The kings brass group is a really amazing group and I would recommend their stuff anywhere so if you have the chance to pick up a CD or see a concert do it!! You wont regret it. What I want to know is what are some of your favorite pieces of music to play and to listen to?

Solo and Ensemble

2007-02-05T19:21:00.000-08:00

This Saturday I get to go to my solo and ensemble where I am going to play a piece called "Call" by Bernard Fitzgerald and it is quite fun. I am really excited!This is going to be the first time at solo and ensemble for me and I cant wait, I hope that I do really good. I am looking for advice, should I dress up for solo and ensemble or should I just be comfortable I can't decide. For those of you who don't know what solo and ensemble is, it is where students from high school go and play in front of three judges and get graded 1-10 on different topics like intonation and articulation, 10, is the best and if you get like an 8 or up then you get a 1 which is good. If it is your first year then all you do is go and play a solo and get graded.On your second year you have to memorize i think five scales and then play your solo and on your third year you have to memorize 18 scales sight read and then play your solo. If you get mostly 1's then you get to go to states and play there and if you are really good then you might get a scholarship it just depends on how good you are. The only thing that stinks is that my solo and ensemble is like three and a half ours away and I will have to wake up really early like around 4:00 AM because I play at 8.(If you have any helpful hints or any advice whatsoever then please give it to me!!)

Important people in your life

2007-02-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

There are many important people in others life I want you to share with me who you look up to the most, and who is an important person in your life? Well I will go first the most important person in my life is probably my sister's. My sister Jessica and I never got along when we were little kids as a matter of fact she was always so mean to me that we were constantly fighting. One time she was so mean that I got the meat cleaver off of the wall and chased her around with it so she went and locked herself in the bathroom. Then she crawled out the bathroom window went around the house got a handful of ketchup and when she got close enough for me to swing at her she smeared it all over herself and I cried and threw down the knife and she called me a retard and beat me up. Our last conversation before she went to college was I told her that I was glad that she was going to college and she said that she was glad to so as you can tell my sister and I didn't get along very well but when she went to college everything changed. But now my sister is my best friend and we talk and get along fine. So my question is, who is an important person in your life?

The Trumpeters Tune

2007-02-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Well this is where it starts, my blogging life starts now! This site will feature fun stuff about music, my trumpet and my wonderful family. Well as you already know the title of this blog is The Trumpeters Tune and it is called that because of my love for music and playing the trumpet in general. Many people would describe me as a band geek and as much as I hate to admit it I probably am. One thing that I love about being a band geek is that when I start using musical terms around my mom; who sadly to say was not gifted with music,she gets so confused and it is really funny to try and hold a conversation with her about anything musical. If there are other people that are "band geeks" out there they probably agree with me when I say that talking with a musically deprived individual about music is quite fun. Well here is some stuff about me, I am a freshman and I attend a school in northern Michigan where I sit first chair in a band over two other trumpeters. Our band is about 23 people large and don't let our size fool you when we play it is awesome. But there are always those people in a class who's whole purpose in band is to fool around and talk the whole hour which by the way can get really annoying after a while. I love my trumpet it was a gift from my mom for Christmas I loved it. There are pictures of it at the top. I am very curious to here your thoughts on instruments you play, favorite pieces of music,or anything musical in general. If you are interested in any music camps or attend any you should consider attending cornerstone university's music camp. It is a christian camp that has very smart and nice people and you learn so much about music theory and how to play right. It is especially fun for brass instruments cause they have an awesome brass group.