Tuesday, August 10, 2004
As I'd mentioned, I finished my exams and have quite a lot planned for August. Among the list of to-do's, I'm still going camping, although physical exertion in the heat amidst mosquitos does not sound so appealing at the moment. Now a note about the exams. I took two RCM exams, and they took place last Friday and Saturday. It always amazes me how a disproportionate large amount of people who take RCM exams are Chinese. By disproportionate, I mean that maybe 4 out of 200 are not Chinese. Also interesting is how young most of these people are. I started music later than most, and would often sit next to someone in grade four taking the same paper. Last weekend the most notable was a blonde woman of about 40 taking the same exam as me. She was, by far, the oldest person in the exam center, and I felt like yelling 'Go woman!' across the big exam room .
My parents have only been involved for the most part in the financial aspects of my musical pursuits - and for this I am extremely thankful - so it is always amusing to see parents who are more involved than their children. Parents who call theory teachers every day, parents who sit there and watch their children do music homework, parents who could probably take the exams and score one hundred percent. Those parents dish out hundreds of dollars for exams alone because their kids failed the first time, and maybe the second time.
My point is, actually I really can't remember what my point was. I suppose I just have built up anger from years of wanting to study music and being told I have more important things occupy myself with. I'm angry because I have wasted so many years that could have meant something, that could have led me down a different path. I am happy with how everything is going and am glad to be able to take music lessons without guilt and arguments. However, whenever I see people whose parents really want them to learn this magical thing I call music, but throw away this opportunity and their parents' money by complaining, failing, and quitting, I feel like it's a personal insult.
Anyway, I went off on an unexpected tangent. The people who supervised the exams were quite funny, and though three hours is a long time to sit and write for, I had a good time, believe it or not. I do hope that my run-on sentences for the history exam will go unnoticed.
My parents have only been involved for the most part in the financial aspects of my musical pursuits - and for this I am extremely thankful - so it is always amusing to see parents who are more involved than their children. Parents who call theory teachers every day, parents who sit there and watch their children do music homework, parents who could probably take the exams and score one hundred percent. Those parents dish out hundreds of dollars for exams alone because their kids failed the first time, and maybe the second time.
My point is, actually I really can't remember what my point was. I suppose I just have built up anger from years of wanting to study music and being told I have more important things occupy myself with. I'm angry because I have wasted so many years that could have meant something, that could have led me down a different path. I am happy with how everything is going and am glad to be able to take music lessons without guilt and arguments. However, whenever I see people whose parents really want them to learn this magical thing I call music, but throw away this opportunity and their parents' money by complaining, failing, and quitting, I feel like it's a personal insult.
Anyway, I went off on an unexpected tangent. The people who supervised the exams were quite funny, and though three hours is a long time to sit and write for, I had a good time, believe it or not. I do hope that my run-on sentences for the history exam will go unnoticed.
