Old West Tales - Music Class

For an introduction to Old West Tales, click here: Old West Tales - Introduction

I finished My Freshman year at UNC with a 2.1 GPA. I had not yet decided a major, so while I lived in Old West, I worked on my liberal arts, General College requirements. First semester I decided to take an interesting class and chose an Introduction To Music class. We would learn to read music, compose our own song, and there was no pre-requisite, which meant that no music training was required and it would be easy. (NOT!)

The music class was impossible for me. Everyone else in the class could already read music and knew how to play piano or other instruments. (Somehow I "placed-out" of every introductory class in any subject that I knew anything about - thanks alot Irmo High School.)

Our grade would be based on a series of exams and also the final project, where we would be composing a song. The exams all had 2 parts, a written part taken in the classroom with everyone else, and a performance part taken one-on-one with the professor in a little room. For example: During our first classroom exam, the professor said, "OK, I am going to clap out a rhythm and you will take rythmic dictation." The second part of each exam was student, alone with the professor and a piano, in a small room. During my first one-on-one exam, the professor handed me a rhythmic dictation and I had to clap it out.

All of the exams had the same format, but got exponentially more difficult. I was Ok at the written tests. I could look at written music and tell you what all the parts were, and what the numbers and "cleffs" meant, but I could not hear the music in my head. Like wise, if I heard music, I could not imagine what it would look like on paper.

Of course everyone else in the class had no problems and were cruising through with a minimum of effort.

I was looking forward to the final exam. I made up what I thought was a nice little tune and got my friend Bob to write it out in the form of music for me. It just so happened to be my friend Robin's birthday the day I turned my song in, so I named it "Robin My Love". When I got "Robin My Love" back with a big fat "D" on it, Robin posted it on her Cobb dorm-room bulletin board. I tried to get Robin's roomate, Amelia, to play "Robin My Love" on the piano, but she said it was impossible.

I made a D+ in the class, I can't read music, and I have long since forgotten anything that I may have learned in the class. But guess what, I don't need no class to appreciate music, or a professor to tell me that John Coletrane is good and Kenny G sux. I learned all I need to know about music from the streets.

Accordingly, From the music class experience, I learned a valuble life lesson -

Sometimes easy is better than interesting.

I was not so great at the performance exams during music class, taken in the little room. One time, no crap, I walked into the little room, sat down, and the professor said, "Ok, to start with, sing any major scale." I had no clue and stood there for a moment. Then I remembered The Von Trapp children, and how Maria had taught them to sing a major scale with a catchy song about forest animals. I gathered my breath and went for it: