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Brian Furr
Ms. Lindsay English II
3/11/2014
A First Time for Everything
It was winter 2011, and I was in 8th grade. I had recently become friends with someone from Wilson Middle School because his school closed, and he came to Whitewater. This friend’s name was Jonathan, and he had taught me something that was probably the most valuable thing I’ve learned. One day he came over to my dad’s house, and he picked up my dad’s guitar and started playing “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses. “How are you doing that?” I asked. And he showed me. Now every day we hung out after school and even on weekends. He showed me more in depth on how to play “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and taught me new techniques and strategies. The more I learned, the more accomplished I felt. I also began to realize that playing music is more relaxing than listening to it for me. Feeling the wound strings under my fingers vibrate with every strum I made is the most satisfying feeling. The more I played, the more passionate I became about music. Over the course of a couple weeks, my love for playing music spread to another instrument, the piano. My parents bought a rebuilt piano from a friend for $75. The piano was about 5’6” tall and about 6’ long. It was a dark wood, close to a mahogany. It had 88 keys, and it came slightly out of tune. After owning it for a couple of days, and looking at it like, “What do I do?”, I began learning and teaching myself piano. Some how over the course of the winter, Jonathan and I composed a piano and guitar duet based on the Mortal Kombat theme song for the spring talent show, and it actually didn’t sound too bad. We learned the song together making sure each of us knew our parts and was ready. Furr 2
Only knowing one song on guitar wasn’t good enough for me though, so I began listening to songs and to my guitar just trying to match notes up. I slid my hand up and down the guitar neck until I reached a tone that matched the tone in the song. Turns out this strategy of learning music is called learning by ear and is also pretty difficult to do. But at the time, I didn’t know that. The next song I began learning was “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, and it changed the way I thought about guitar. “Iron Man is only powerchords. After learning it I realized that I didn’t enjoy playing power chords over and over again as much as I enjoyed playing the single note parts that go up and down the neck. Again at the time I didn’t know what this was called, but it turns out it was known as the lead parts.
The lead parts to me were more interesting, complex, and challenging. It’s the part that everyone remembers when they hear a song. I wanted to be the guy that played those parts. Playing the lead parts was challenging. They always had me thinking on my feet about what to play next. Who doesn’t enjoy thinking on their feet? As Jonathan went his separate way learning power chords and such, I went my own way learning the scales and trying to get an idea of which notes go together. However I never actually learned a specific song because I stuck to the theory behind solos. Little did I know that the concept is the same for piano. When I began advancing at guitar, I also advanced at piano. I didn’t know how far this love for music would actually take me, or whether it was just a phase in my life, or if I had seriously developed a passion. As the spring talent show approached, Jonathan and I practiced our instrumental duet and determined that we would actually play the Mortal Kombat theme song. I was playing the piano, Jonathan was on guitar. We played and practiced for hours a day and never gave up.
We sat in a small room for maybe five hours a day. The room was barely big enough to fit the
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keyboard and Jonathan’s guitar and amp. All we did was go over and over the song until we could play no longer. Though I did not sustain any injuries, Jonathan was missing about two layers of skin off each of his fingertips. Then the spring talent show rolled around, and we got the privilege of going last. Everyone got up and performed, and then our turn came up. I got nervous before and during the performance. Mainly because it was my first musical performance ever. As I walked up on stage and set up, I realized that it might actually not be that bad. I knew most of these people, and I knew they wouldn’t put me down if I messed up. The nervousness slowly disintegrated. The speaker announced our name, and then the curtains opened. Jonathan tapped his foot signalling me when to go. I thought “1 ­ 2 ­ 3 ­ 4 ­ GO!” And then I began my part. Tapping my foot, keeping beat, singing the notes in my head. “A, A, C, A, D, A, E…” Then I got lost in the music. I blacked out and let my fingers take over and stopped stressing about it. The music continued on and then it stopped. I opened my eyes to see the 400 something kids standing on their feet applauding like never before.
Then the principal gave out the awards. “Third place goes to the Dancing Trio, second place goes to Alex the Yo Yo kid, and last but not least, first place goes to Jonathan and Brian.” Everything she said after that I don’t remember. I was ecstatic that we actually came in first and surprised that I didn’t mess up. I walked up and received the trophy. After that day, I played guitar and piano every day, thinking I loved the feeling of the performance and hearing all the people applaud. It made me feel like I accomplished something I never thought I could. I wished I could feel that same way every day. Hearing the audience influenced me to learn more, challenge my musical abilities, and be the best I can be. I learned more complex songs and techniques. I also rapidly developed already acquired abilities. Furr 4
When the end of the school year came close, I learned that my mom got a job at this private school known as Countryside Montessori, and I would be attending. Within a week I went to Countryside and found out that they actually have a guitar club. I became motivated to join. Guitar club is where I met Conor and Keith. They were both good at guitar, but they were polar opposites. Conor was a punk rock kid; Keith, a metal kid. These two different tastes in music often caused debates on what we would play, and sometimes it broke out into arguments. Regardless of what they liked, when I heard them play I thought, “I need to learn more stuff.” So that’s what I did. Most days I went home and learned parts of songs or whole songs. That is about all I did for a month or two. Throughout my time spent in the club I learned that there was a cost that came along with it. Some $280 or around there. So after a few classes, I left. After I left I began going back to my own way, learning songs not for others but to help improve myself. I noticed that I was able to learn faster when I wasn’t trying to impress anyone and when I was just trying to do my own thing for my own satisfaction. So that is what became the norm for me. Every day after school I would go upstairs and practice guitar for up to two hours, and when I didn’t have homework to do I would practice for maybe four or five hours. By spring of ninth grade my love for instruments was strongly developed and still growing. I wouldn’t go a day without playing an instrument. Some may call this a phase, but it became an addiction to me. I couldn’t help but play every day. Then music club started. I was asked to join and had to refuse because I had too many things going on. Then I started getting distant from guitar. School work became more of a hassle and didn’t allow me any time to play. Not only that but there were also issues within my family. Near the end of ninth grade I was only able to play maybe once or twice a week for only thirty minutes. This wasn’t enough time to learn anything, let alone seriously practice. Furr 5
Then came the summer of ninth grade and without the worries of school work and having to impress others, I was able to get back to the only thing I cared about, music. I began playing more frequently and sometimes even in the car when we were driving somewhere. I had found my love and passion again, and this time I wouldn’t let go so easily. When summer came to a close I noticed that most of my summer was spent playing some instrument: guitar, piano, or drums. I was always playing something. Then tenth grade started and I joined music club this time. Then I noticed a new face: Abbey. Abbey taught me that not everything is about classic rock and metal. She exposed me to different types of music and made me realize it’s not erroneous to explore and venture out sometimes. I learned a whole new genre of songs including, but not limited to: “Too Close,” “Sail,” and “Three Cheers for Five Years.” On this wild journey I have taken through music over a course of three short years, I have come to understand that music is always changing. No matter what you play and where you plan to go with it, the possibilities in music are endless. I have come to realize that being faithful to one kind of music isn’t right, and everyone needs to go out on a limb and explore once in awhile. To sum it up you could say that music really is inside you. Music has made me who I am today, as well as helped me get through a lot of things. It helped me discover myself. Music is my oasis, and probably always will be. Thanks to Jonathan, that one day back in eighth grade changed the entire course of my life. There is one thing I have learned: there is always a first time for everything.