Things you wished you would have done in school

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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No, I'm not talking about cheerleaders, although that is something I probably shouldn't've passed up.

No, I'm talking about playing an instrument. In 4th grade, I was forced to play an instrument. I complained like a spoiled little brat, and my father made all kinds of threats, I finally gave up and decided to play the saxophone. Well, there were already too many saxophones, and I was told by the music teacher to play the trumpet (something my parents still rue to this day). Now, I wasn't particularly good, but I did enjoy playing the trumpet, and did exert a little effort. By the time fifth grade rolled around, I was a lot better, and didn't drive people from the room every time my mother forced me to play for her friends or family that were visiting. By the summer before middle school, I had given up the trumpet, and decided that I didn't need to play an instrument. My parents, obviously tired of fighting with me about the trumpet, decided to not force me to play in middle school. Again, something they rue to this day.

In high school, I discovered jazz, and picked up the trumpet again, and discovered that I didn't have the lung capacity to even produce a good note. Later, I discovered the blues and bluegrass. I decided to pick up the harmonica, and learned a little bit, but since I didn't sound like Van Morrison on the harmonica, I subconciously decided to stop.

My father gave me an electric guitar, a low end import, but still a great gift nonetheless, and I did not play that either.

Not only did I let myself down, I let my parents down as well. I love delta blues and bluegrass most of all these days, and would love to play like Bill Munro, BB King, Van Morrison, you name them!

I have three sisters and one brother. One of my sisters can play the piano relatively well, the flute pretty well, and the banjo and guitar well enough to write her own music. My other sister can play the piano relatively well, and the violin very well, enough to go to the state regionals. My youngest sister can play the violin pretty well, better than kids her age.

My little brother wanted to play the saxophone, he doesn't know a thing about jazz, doesn't know who Coltrane or Dr John are, but he has improved drastically from 4 th grade, and has created his own songs.

Last night, while sitting at his elementary school concert, I noticed in the circular that he was going to perform a movie theme, James Bond. Then I looked to see who wrote it, and he did! From watching countless James Bond movies with his cousin, he was able to replicate a version of the James Bond theme! I was beside myself with joy for this kid! He was so embarassed to be up there doing his song solo, probably pissed at the music teacher for asking him to play it in front of everyone, but he was so damned good!

After he was done, I was still in awe. My little brother is a very smart kid, he has a real bad temper like me, there is a 15 year age difference between us, but we are very much alike (expect to see him posting like a madman in 15 years on this forum, he already has a nice knife collection ;)).

After congratulating him and praising him, I decided that this old dog can learn new tricks. I'm too fat to try the sax or trumpet, but I can play the harmonica. I would like to play with either a bluegrass or blues band, just jam with them for a while. I have several learning aids, cassettes and books, and hope to post in the next few months that I'm not driving people from the room :D .

If you or your kids are thinking about putting down their instruments, don't let them.
 
I played trumpet for 9 years in school. Band, marching band, pep band, jazz band, jazz combos, etc. I wasn't that great, but I didn't suck either. It was my mom's insistance that my brother and I learned an insturment, and I never protested. Most of my better memories from HS are related to band, or at least with friends in band.

For about 6 of those years, I'd wished I'd chosen trombone instead, but I nor my parents had enough for me to buy one and just switch insturments. I don't even have a horn anymore, haven't played since I graduated HS 7 years ago. One of these days I'll stop buying knives long enough to get a trombone and learn to play it. My mom taught us piano at an early age, but it's been so long that about the only thing I can play is Chopsticks and the final chord of "Day in the Life". I'd like to learn piano again too.

I still highly value my musical training, even though I haven't played anything in years. I don't know much about classical, or even a whole lot about jazz, but I know some, and that, combined with the simple fact that I can read sheet music and understand things like chord changes and time signatures puts me ahead of the vast majority of the general population.

Arturo Sandoval is coming to Tucson again this year. I've seen him twice already, and he just blows my mind.
 
The one thing I wish I did in HS was play a sport. I was more into music than anything else. I learned how to play bass when I was freshman. The only reason I picked up the bass was that I was unable to find a lefty 6-string. I found a lefty bass and it took off from there. I also found that I could really pound some heavy riffs on the bass and the aggressiveness of the music I was playing helped me vent some of the anger I was feeling onto the bass instead of my family and friends. I was never really big on the idea of organized sports. I played alot of pick-up hockey, baseball, and football games. I prefered to play those than have to compete with others to be #1. It seemed that there was no fun and alot of pressure in our HS to do well in sports. Screw that! I was the rebel in my family. I did the exact opposite of what everyone was telling me I should do. They never really listened to what I wanted to do. Music was it. I was able to continue playing even while I was in the USAF. Me and few guys I was stationed with put together a band and we actually got gigs at the base pub. We named our band "4Thirty8" seeing as we were part of the 438th MAW. We did pretty well for ourselves and had a bit of a following.

One thing I'm glad I did in HS that I am proud of was the cheerleader. :D
 
I played cello and string bass for about 5 years, and had to stop when I went to high school, becasue it was a private school without an orchestra. I truly miss playing my large string instruments.
 
When I was a kid, my parents made me play the saxophone. I hated it, but not for the normal reasons. You see, this was back in the days(late 60s) when kids actually WALKED to school on their own. :eek:

Yes, my lazy butt quit playing a musical instrument, just because I didn't wanna carry the damn saxophone all the way to school. :( so, yes, I do regret that choice.

I also wish I'd shown more interest in sports while in high school, instead of being on the Varsity Bong Usage team. :D

I mean, here I was at 6' 6" and not an ounce of fat on me. I coulda/shoulda been a professional baseball pitcher(Randy Johnson sound familiar to anyone?) or tennis player(I was actually pretty good).
 
Yeah, that trumpet case was a pain in the butt (and in the head for some of the people I banged in the head).

I shoulda played football in high school.
 
I used to play the Sax for a while in school. I kind of wish I had never stopped. I hated it too for the same reasons that most of you did. Plus I did actually walk to school too and didn't want to carry 50 things every day.

In all honesty, I wish I would have learned to play the Piano. I think I still may give it a go. :)
 
I EDC a 10 hole diatonic harmonica, usually a Hohner 1896 or a Hering Blues, sometimes a Lee Oscar, I don't play blues and I retune the first and second draw reeds to fill in the missing F and A notes on the first scale, so I loose some chords but it makes it easier to play melody in second position.

My two daughters went to Yamaha music school since they were 4 years old, they both stopped after 14 years when college began to take up much of their time. They both got up to level 6 in piano, I wish we had Yamaha school when I was young, it's fun and what you learn you'll enjoy forever.

Luis
 
I guess I'm on the other side of this one.

In the 6th grade I got the bright idea that I wanted to be in the band. :eek: The first day of class they took the insturments out and played them for us so that we could what each one could sound like. Then we came back that night with our parents and picked our insturment. I still don't know what I was thinking when I picked the drums. I had to lug that thing on the bus everyday. After a few weeks of class I knew I had to get out. The other 4 dummers in the class where getting pretty good. But I sounded like a monkey beating a trash can. :D I finally got my nerve up to tell my parents that I wanted out. They tried to talk me out of quiting, but said they would talk to the school and see what they could do. I waited in the lobby while they went in and talked to someone in the school. Then mom came out and ask me if I was sure I wante to quit. I couldn't say "YES" fast enough. Then she gave me the ol "later on you are going to wish you had stayed with the band". But I still wanted out. She said ok, but I would have to give the drum back since it was rented. Fine with me. I wanted nothing to do with that thing. So I got out.
I do love music, but only listening. Not playing, singing or dancing.
 
When I was growing up, I had the chance to take piano lessons. I declined (or rather screamed "NO"). In my old neighborhood, my mother could have put me in a dress & it would have had the same effect. Piano=getting teased mercilessly & having your butt kicked. I did get a garage sale electric guitar in Jr High & started playing w/ other guys in the neighborhood & at school & was a semi-decent punk/rock bass player for a short while. I taught my brother his 1st chords & he (along w/ piano lessons later in life) is now a bonafide guitar hero/piano man.
I never played varsity football because I got caught smoking "Left Handed Cigarettes" w/ some friends by one of the gym coaches/asst. varsity football coaches in 9th grade. Instead of walking behind him to the office for the inevitable, I hung a right & hit the bus ramp where all of us smokers/freaks hung out & got away clean. The next year, the coach guy cornered me (after I had been recruited by the head varsity coach for football) and was told that I would NEVER wear a varsity jersey as long as he had a say in it. I figured screw it, I'll hang out w/ my friends instead. Wish I'd challenged him on that. Played rec league football instead- (where the kids were supposed to be 16 & by the end of the season, there were 23-year-olds on the team...)
 
Still in HS...

I wish I studied harder. I wish I picked up more chicks. ;) I wish I never blew up my teachers car. :( That was stupid.






(I never really did that, although I might...)
 
I'm still in high school right now. I played the trombone from 3rd to 8th grade, and I was decent at it. I liked it for a few years, but it got boring later on. I've since stopped playing, but my dad wants me to start up again sometime. I dont know about that, I like PE a whole lot more. Being bigger and stronger :cool: than alot of kids makes it easy to push people around in speedball. Yesterday I tackled a large female/fat girl. Ahh. Good times.
 
I had a lot of fun in School. Perhaps too much. I got put in a choir class by mistake in 7th grade and immediately asked to transfer out. The counselors said that it would be two weeks to process the transfer. By the time the two weeks were up, I decided I liked it. All through Jr high and high school I was in at least one, but usually two music classes with peforming choirs and even had a barbershop quartet for a while. I went far enough to sing with the Glendale Symphony at the Music Center in Los Angeles for one Christmas concert.

Besides music, I also majored in metal shop. Got to he the teacher's aid in the vocational shop classes (2 hrs a day) by my junior year and stayed in that position through graduation.

So that's two classes of music per day, two classes of metal shop, and then I played Varsity football as a starting offensive and defensive lineman. I lettered two years. The cheerleaders were nice. Come to think of it, so were the choir girls ;) the girls in metal shop, shall we say, not as feminine
:D

Then if you throw in stuff like driver's ed, and a poetry or film class, you've got a full day. But not one that's educationally productive in the traditional sense. If there were two things I wished I'd done it would have been taking a typing class so I could touch type, and taken a bit more math so I could figure trig equations. I was bright enough to get into advanced programs at the Jr high level and basically satisfy all my academic requirements largely before even getting to high school.

It's funny how this stuff works out though. I'll be 43 in a couple days, and I'm still into music as I've worked in the hifi business for the last couple decades and all the time in metalshop is paying off now that I've got my own little machine shop in the garage and am working on making some knives! The trig mentioned above would help there.

You guys that are still in school, party a little less and pay attention. This really is an important time in your lives and will affect you for the rest of your days.

John
 
What's the point with these old-school instruments? Dang analog thingies that need finger/mouth dexterity to play, and can only make one type of noise and takes a life-time to master?

There's no need for that anymore. We've got synthesizers and computers now, it's time to move on.

(I played the clarinet for seven years myself. Hated every second. I was in the schools symphonic orchestra. Finally stood up to my parents and quit. Never regretted that)
 
I never learned to play an instument. I was a drummer. HATED the lessons and learning rudiments their way so I taught myself by putting on headphones and playing along to Zeppelin, Beatles, Yardbirds and anything with a beat. I learned to play by ear enough to get into Marching Band in HS ('75 Grad). I wish I enjoyed my other classes as much. I worked just hard enough to stay in band and usually skipped after 1st period (band).
We (the drummers) were universally despised cuz we could get away with a lot.... and boy did we... but we were the coolest and knew it. We were thundergods. We had 'tude.
I loved marching on the field, at the Astrodome (Jets/Oilers), pep-rallies and most of all parades. San Antonio has several large ones a year. I had horrible withdrawls. Since then I have been in a multitude of minor no-fame bands of all styles.
I've had great fun so I am not sure I wish I had done anything differently.... :p
 
I was going to learn to play the clarinet back in jr. high (my mom was in "honors band", via the clarinet), but I never could get past the reed tickling my lips, so I put my lips to better use...GIRLS!.:D.:D.
 
glockman99 said:
I was going to learn to play the clarinet back in jr. high (my mom was in "honors band", via the clarinet), but I never could get past the reed tickling my lips, so I put my lips to better use...:D.:D.
Click to expand...
.....by learning to play the skin flute. :p :D
 
Passed....................Showed up more than 3 days a week.....................Played less sports...............Jenny.
 
NGK-Webmaster said:
Passed....................Showed up more than 3 days a week.....................Played less sports...............Jenny.
Click to expand...

Yes, all 15 Jennys. I wish I would've passed up the one Jenny I did go out with! I like em hot, but crazy? Naw, I'm nuts enough.
 
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