Paige Burke Music

Finding a purpose

You would have thought that by now, I would have given up on posting updates on this "blog" page that approximately negative three people read. Alas, I haven't though, and if you are one of those -3 people, I apologize.

Anyways, so I'm posting here to share about a new personal triumph. I've started going back to church in the past few months, and I have been saved by Jesus Christ.

Now before I start sounding like a crazy street-corner preacher, I will admit that I felt directionless and purposeless for the longest time. For years, I felt like I was merely existing: going to class,  doing music stuff, and just getting by. When I got to college last semester, it was the first time I was mostly on my own. I could go wherever I wanted, spend my money however I chose, and hang out with whoever struck my fancy. So I decided that in all my loneliness (I never had many friends in school) I would give the whole party thing a whirl, and get on Tinder and try and get myself a boyfriend. Long story short, none of that worked, and I still felt empty and aimless. However, I started going to church back in Plymouth on weekends, with a close friend of mine from high school. A few months later, I was saved, and was going to Bible studies and church services four nights a week.

*SOAPBOX ALERT: I never intended to use this blog to be didactic towards my 0.2 followers, but I'm gonna go all Pastor Paige for a moment.* All of this self-discovery (I guess you could call it that) has led me to realize that God is the only one who can bring purpose to my life. He is the King of all Kings, and it is a huge honor to spend my life serving Him. I mean, who else would live in sinless humility, remain true to His word in the face of persecution, and die on a cross for you so that you could be forgiven and have eternal life?

Also, as a result of this, I have begun writing music for the glory of our one true King, as He has blessed me with a valuable gift, which I ought to use to serve Him and promote His perfect word. I will post some of the songs somewhere at some point.

"'All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.'" -1 Peter 24-25 (NIV)

KaaaaazzzzzooOOOooo it!

In my Intro to Music Ed class, my professor told us all that our final project was to write an essay on why we want to become a music teacher. The video below is why:

All joking aside, though Kazoo Kid is fire , he is hardly the reason I take almost 20 credits every semester and barely get any sleep. Also, I realize that my professor was absolutely right when she said that people shouldn't just go into music education as a fallback if their music performance degree doesn't work out. I can assure you I am not one of those people, and that I've known for a long ass time that I'm in it to empower and inspire people, not just so I can make a few extra bucks than I would with a vocal performance degree.

I have had teachers (not necessarily music teachers) whose methods I disagree with, but I have also had some wonderful teachers (again, not just music teachers) who have inspired me to become an educator and have the same impact on another student's life as they did on mine. Like my middle school chorus teacher, who made me realize that I wanted to go into music education in the first place, and helped me discover and develop my passion. Or my English teacher my senior year of high school, who went out of her way to make sure I was doing okay when I was having panic attacks nearly every day in class. And even my professor for Musical Practices last semester, who was so passionate about his subject that I became truly fascinated with the class and pushed me harder when he saw that I was doing well. I hope to have even a tenth of the impact that they have had on me, on my future students.

So now that I'm studying Music Education, in the words of Brett Ambler, I'm going to kaaaaazzzzzooOOOooOO it!!!

Whep?

First of all, John Daker and Reva Cooper Unsicker are my new favorite pseudo-musicians on the World Wide Interwebs. Just watch this video; it'll brighten your day.

Second of all, I have no idea what I'm doing with my life anymore. It's that point in the semester where I'm having anxiety for no good reason, and I'm probably going to either explode, or break down to the point where I find it plausible and acceptable to shave my head and go streaking across campus wielding a broken umbrella.

But if Britney Spears got through 2007, I can get through the rest of this semester in one piece.

Musing on the thing I've been doing (see last post)

So now I've been in college for almost two months (holy crap!), and about 90% of the stuff that I'm doing revolves around music, so it's already SO MUCH BETTER than high school. Not to mention, my classmates aren't elitist douchepenguins, and I don't feel like I'm constantly being stacked up against everybody else. My choir director already wants me to try out for solos, and my classmates are honestly some of the chillest people I've ever met. It's still taking me a while to get over my insecurities, though. After years of comparing myself to others and never feeling like I was good enough, it's sort of weird being in a place where people think I am good enough and getting a chance to shine.

But that's not to say that I haven't had my moments of self-doubt. I've stayed up many a night seemingly having a full-blown existential crisis about why the hell I ever became a music major in the first place, after thinking I bombed a test or screwed up an assignment or otherwise made my professors think that I simply didn't care. My roommate, in fact, has told me that if I ever say I don't deserve to be a music major again, she'll punch me in the face. And that's what I need: a slap in the face to finally make me realize that I am smart enough, talented enough, and strong enough. I've just spent too much time trying to appease the haters that I've lost my soul, and I'm trying to get it back.

Okay. I'll shut up now.

I'm doing a thing!

Sup, y'all? I'm all moved into my dorm at UMass Lowell and doing college-y things like having panic attacks about spending all my money at Starbucks and blogging from my desk in my dorm room. Yeah, guys. That's right.

I'm in a DORM ROOM at COLLEGE, majoring in MUSIC. Shoutout to all you haters out there; h8rs make me famous. ;)

Anyways, so here I am, getting ready to do actual things, like go to class and compose real music and meet people who don't think I'm a total nerd (or a talentless hack, for that matter.) Maybe I'll actually get some inspiration from being outside of my house.

Also (this may or may not be a joke):

That's all I'm doin'. See ya.

How to Write Children's Choral Pieces

Maybe I'm wrong, but an overwhelming majority of the choral pieces I sang in elementary and middle school were corny as anything. It seems like there's a formula to writing original children's choral music, and I think I've figured it out.

• Start by writing corny, generic lyrics. They can be about any corny, generic topic you so desire: friendship, believing in oneself, the power of music, or how pretty nature is. Just keep it G-rated (i.e. friendship, believing in oneself, the power of music, or how pretty nature is.) Make sure the lyrics follow a very basic rhyme scheme; we don't want to confuse the kids too much. If you're feeling really extravagant, throw in random phrases in foreign languages. Nothing shows that you're culturally appreciative more than a sung "We are family" in Swahili, or a "The trees are green" in Russian.
• Come up with a cute lil' melody that's really cute and singable and catchy. Did I mention cute? If you want to add an extra layer of awesome, throw in an alto/Treble II harmony part. You might also want to throw in a cute little descant at the end and some optional unnecessary high notes.
• Write some piano accompaniment that imitates a popular style, i.e., like cheesy, second-rate '80s pop. You could also go the other route and write your accompaniment in a mock world-music style, with some bongos and maracas. Add in a really bad soprano sax solo somewhere, as desired. Or, if you want to go balls-to-the-wall, write a whole dang band or orchestra arrangement. Do what you want.
• About now, you should have a nice little song about how everybody is BFF's to the tune of Chicago's "You're the Inspiration," complete with a sax solo, "Be my friend" repeated in 20 different languages, and a soaring high note at the very end for no reason except that it's the end. Be ready to make some bank.

#MezzoSopranoProblems

So in my last post, I said that I started singing Soprano 2 in choir, since it turns out that I don't actually have a man voice. So now that I know I don't have a man voice, I keep thinking that I can sing actual high notes like a soprano. And I can't, really. Alas, that's just one of the struggles of being a mezzo-soprano. 

• Singing alto sucks just as much as singing soprano, since the alto part is 90% crappy chest voice but the soprano part has insanely high notes that I can only hit on Tuesdays. This would be less of a problem if every choral piece had divisis so I could just pick Alto 1 or Soprano 2, but not every piece has divisis in the soprano and/or alto parts. 
• Additionally, I was *supposed* to sing Alto 2 in choir. And I sang Alto 2 in Districts. Oof.
• In operas and musical theatre, sopranos get all the guys. That probably explains why I'm 18 and have never had a boyfriend, even a fake middle school scene kid boyfriend.
• I keep trying to be a soprano and thinking I can sing crazy stuff like "Climb Every Mountain" and stuff from Phantom of the Opera and Whitney and Beyonce and Mariah. But a) I can't sing pop for crap because I can't belt for beans, and 2) I can't hit those notes anyways. I'm probably going to destroy my vocal cords by constantly singing stuff that's grossly out of my range.
• Sometimes I had the voice now that I had when I was 14, when I was the highest soprano in the high school chorus and could get E-flat above soprano C. Yuck. (Fun factoid: I used to be exactly what I hate about sopranos: obnoxiously loud and high.)
• If the first note of the piece is higher than a B-flat, forget about it. My voice will crack. (Just like it did on the first note of Vaughan Williams' "I Got Me Flowers" at my college audition.)

I did a thing!

So in the past few months, I have...

• Had about 900,000 panic attacks over school.
• Had over 9,000 panic attacks about whether I'll get into college and have a future.
• Had over 9,000 existential crises. 
• Started singing second soprano in choir. My man voice is gone!
• Spent countless hours watching cat videos and/or composing when I should be doing more important things, like applying for scholarships and doing homework.

But, amid all this pointless procrastination and anxiety, I auditioned at UMass Lowell as a music studies major in voice. And I got in. And I'm pretty pumped because I honestly didn't think I would get in. So guess what I'm doing next year? 

I'm going to college! Woohoo!

#TBT: I was in this, yo; also, Eric Whitacre is bae

Look for me in the credits under Alto 2 because I did this sophomore year when I had a man voice :)