Hernandez 1

Alexis Hernandez
Professor Kufs
English 114A
21 September 2015

Rough Draft

Music is a universal thing that surrounds everyone at one point in their life. Each
person has his or her own specific type of music they hear, or genre to be exact. Although
hearing music is nice, making beats or playing an instrument is a bit more different. I
speak from experience because seven years ago I picked up a trumpet and learned how to
play on it. I was only eleven and had no experience beforehand on what music had to do
with my every day life. This eventually became my hobby and I really loved it. Its the
type of love when you havent had In n Out for a long time and you become very happy
because you ate something delicious.
In the beginning, yes it is hard to play but, I had that ambition of sounding really
good. I started off by practicing every other day with my cousins and would first get
familiar with Mexican regional music. I then had a little understanding of music theory
and what it consisted of. Lucky for me I caught onto learning and sight reading pretty fast
but knowing how to play high notes was something I wasnt good at. I always struggled
on going past the notes I knew and would cry. Eventually I ended up always taking
second or third trumpet because I knew my lips would develop for higher notes that way
and I knew I would eventually reach my goal.

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Now, when I started playing my trumpet better, my family and my cousins formed
a band. We would then go play at parties (Hispanics mainly) and get paid for the hours
we played. As time went by I really opened my ears to more Hispanic music. I could
instantly tell when someone plays a wrong note or when an instrument is out of tune.
This would go for music on the radio or even music thats is played. I remember my
brother and I would go play with other bands and I would tell him, Bro, they are playing
in the wrong tone and they sound horrible. He would then laugh and go on with his
playing. I eventually came up with signs telling my cousins when someone played
something wrong or sounds horrible and that is rubbing my nose. As this kept developing
I stopped doing this and instead tried to help them.
When I got into high school my perspective of music changed a lot. I became
aware of the music that was being played around me and noticed that I was becoming
more influenced on rap or hip-hop music. I started to love this type of music and really
became a fan of the production and lyricism on a track. This was all happening while I
was still musically focused on trumpet playing. I joined the band at school and through
this I learned a lot more of music theory. My teacher, Ms. Hernandez is possibly one of
the most inspirational people I have ever met in my life (not including my parents), that
has not only to shown me to know and learn music but also to coop with it and make it so
that the music I produce makes me feel some type of way. As a freshman and sophomore
I really had a hard time reading very sophisticated pieces and hard understanding what
half steps and tri- tones were. Also during this time my lips had been developing again
due to the fact that I had my braces taken off. This was a beginning of what I thought was
going to become a nightmare again.

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I remember when I got my braces off; I had to reassemble my embouchure again
on the metal mouthpiece of my trumpet. I took a first buzz/ blow and I sounded like I was
playing the trumpet for the first time again. I sounded horrible and was really
embarrassed to play in front of the class. My teacher told me not to worry about how I
sound because she was in the same position I was when I took off my braces. Just
knowing that gave me more confidence in playing joyfully again. Eventually my lips got
used to the new way I started to play and really, I progressed way faster this time. This
was also the time when classical music had somewhat of an impact on me.
In tenth grade I was really lucky to be playing in an ensemble where all the
seniors and juniors were amazing. We took trophies at music festivals and more
importantly I loved they way the upperclassmen showed me how to play soothingly. I
began working on songs like Carnival of Venice or Holsts Suite in F where mainly
the trumpets had a very bright sound and very joyful tones. As this progressed I returned
to my family band and told my cousins of the ways they can play. I also tried not to be
cocky because I knew they would have not put any interest into what Im saying because
they would hate the way I act. Eventually I told them to tune when they had the chance,
taught them how to convert a song that was written in its first chord and to write them in
the songs second or third chord. We eventually started sound as one harmony and I took
notice that I have become loveable towards any type of music.
My parents became very happy at the fact that I had one thing in my life that I
adored a lot. That was music in any types of forms. I became more aware of the
technology I could use when recording with my trumpet on the music program Logic. I

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could synthesize and produce beats from my trumpet and really this changed the view I
had for music one more time.
Today I have really been intrigued with the way the music industry controls many
artists and what they can produce. A simple example is my all time favorite rapper,
Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar is a Compton native artist that is heavily influenced by
rap. Specifically people like N.W.A, Nate Dogg, Dr. Dre, and especially Tupac Shakur.
Before Kendrick Lamar released his last two albums, Good Kid M.A.A.D City and To
Pimp a Butterfly, he had a tape called Section 80 and he mainly used instruments on
this tape. For example his song, Rigamortus, has just a drum kit and trumpets that play
out throughout his song. This makes me then realize that many artists dont only use
synthesizers but actual live instrumentals to make a beat. Forwarding to today, Kendrick
Lamar uses live instrument again on To Pimp A Butterfly. Songs like, For Free? or
U use saxophones or hard kicking drum kits. Songs like the ones Kendrick Lamar also
makes me feel happy depending on the tone hes either rapping or how he produced the
beat he is rapping over. All of this I give credit to knowing the theories of music and how
music works due to the fact that I play an instrument and I have that awareness of
depicting bad or good music.
As I have started college, I didnt not enroll in any music classes because I
realized that the music industry today is very competitive and for a chance to record a
song for a hit artist is way out of the reach for someone like me. Now, that doesnt mean
that I have totally given it up. I still play with my family band and today we sound way
better than seven years ago. We get paid for playing at peoples party or weddings and
most of all just to have fun over the weekends with people you have almost known most

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of your life. My parent are always proud for choosing the road of a musician and so am I.
Music has really opened my ears for new genres and luckily it always gets me interested
in what is next for the future of music.