Feeling like a proper musician

On Saturday, I decided to head into university for some dissertation and trumpet practice. When I left the library I wandered out into the cold to look for rooms to practice in.

Annoyingly, all the seminar rooms in the Main Admin Building were locked, and so was the Media Building. In desperation I tried the architecture building, and once again - all the seminar rooms were locked. The last room I tried in desperation was one of the lecture theaters and it was open!

Picking my way down the shallow steps to the bottom, I set myself up at the front and looked at the empty chairs. When I started playing it was an amazing feeling. The high ceiling and acoustics in the room were amazing!

It was the first time when playing that I actually felt what I was playing. From just making single notes in November to playing three songs and starting to play fresh from sheet music - I can really see where my progress has been made and it's so enriching. Make no mistakes, I'm still a complete beginner but I hope my trumpet playing will be with me for a long time to come

Pondering musicality

It was only a matter of time before I decided that it was going to happen. Inspired by the wonderful musicians I met at Whitley Bay this year, I was finally motivated to do what I'd been put off doing for a long time: learn an instrument. And my choice? Of course - it has to be the trumpet.

Taking this up has lead me to ponder my musicality, and whether it is inherent to all of us. When I was dancing around at Whitley Bay with Bridget, it felt instinctive to me when each break would happen and we woukd momentarily stop and start to the beat.

Jazz music speaks to me like nothing else does. I sit listening to it for hours a day. I can hear each note of so many songs right now, the collective improvisation and sheer drive of it all. I can never get bored of it because each time I listen to the same song it sounds different. It's quite hard to explain but it just seems to stick in my head so much more than any other type of music does.

I hope that one day I will be able to jam to my favourite records, but that time will be many years away. For now, I'm just going to learn for fun - and hope I can feed this desire for the hot rhythm that is eating away at me!

My newfound music idols!