Paths Come, Paths Go

Paths come together, paths diverge
Washing to and fro like a stormy ocean surge
Supporting and decaying
Each convergence gives and takes of each
With the honesty of life and a newly blossomed peach
We can now step forward into the next stormy surge

Don't tell me I can't do something.

I still remember one of the first times that anyone told me that I can't do something, more so they said I shouldn't do this or do that but in relation to the fact that I just couldn't do it.

Oddly enough it was actually my dad and my step mom in relation to drumming, they supported me being involved in music because they helped me buy a guitar but they were the first of many to tell me that I couldn't make a living as a drummer because it wasn't melodic enough, songwriters use guitars or piano to write songs. Although their intentions were kind hearted, it completely pissed me off that they thought that there was anything in this world that I couldn't do. I refuse to believe that with enough effort and the proper knowledge there is anything that can't be done.

I don't yet have kids and one day may or may not, but for those of you who do have kids or plan to have kids, NEVER tell them they can't do something. Truly, this day in age anything is possible. "Those who don't try, never look foolish." I'm perfectly happy looking foolish if it allows me the experience of trying something new or getting me one step closer to my end goals. Fear should not dictate your actions or your advice. That's all it is, is fear of looking foolish or sounding foolish in some way or another. Don't Be Afraid! I'm not going to presume to tell you what life is about, but I do know that life is not about living in fear, get over it!

So to my dad and step mom I say, "Eat It" because not only is it completely possible to write songs as a percussionist with percussion instruments but I can even write melodic sounding music with un-pitched percussion and pieces that are not intended for melodic purposes.

I'm continually working toward changing people's perception in every way, but specifically music and even more specifically percussion. There are projects in the works currently that you wouldn't expect and when they hit the scene you won't know what hit you. I look forward to it, I hope you'll join me on the journey through musical perception.

Mahola P. Willikers

Experience

I'm sure the most of you will think I'm a bit insane, but just tonight around 12 midnight I had one of the oddest spiritual experiences of my life. I woke up being pinned down, more literally paralyzed from moving my arms or my legs, and anytime I tried to yell or make any noise my mouth was forced shut. I felt this tremendous weight on top of me and anytime I tried to look over to see what it was, my sight was skewed as if I wasn't allowed to see what it was. After a few minutes of struggling the forced lifted and I was perfectly able to move around, look around, and talk like normal. The oddest part about tonight's experience was that it's happened before, and recently at that. Not sure what to make of it?

Good Enough Isn't Enough

So for the last two years, I've started school at the University of Utah, premiered large works of music by World Class composers, performed easily more than a hundred times in various ensembles and groups, traveled to Washington D.C., San Diego, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Reno, have gotten divorced and dated a small handful of people since. Now finishing up my spring semester of my second year my perception of what was and what is has completely turned 180 degrees.

Thankful to be done with Keyboarding and Musicianship, I move forward into the summer with hopes of creating a Chamber Music Concert series at the UMFA, Instructing the Copper Hills High School Drumline, and really polishing my sight reading and percussion keyboard skills. I have to be the best of the best, the only way to succeed (and pay off these damned student loans) is to be the best performer. And not just be able to play anything that they put in front of me, but be able to play it well with a sense of musicianship and passion. That's what seems to be missing in a lot of people's playing these days is passion. So many people, myself included, simply struggle with playing the correct notes or the correct rhythms so much that the musicianship takes a back seat. As music majors we can't afford to have a single performance go by that isn't completely immersed with our heart and soul, good enough Isn't enough.

I hope someday that I can play mallet percussion the way that most play drum set, listening and reacting to what's going on around you and not just playing the music as written. The art of listening is taken for granted by most musicians these days. Being able to truly listen and hear what's going on around you is the ultimate goal and having to focus on what notes or fingerings to play takes us out of that active listening process.

This may seem obvious to many people, but as I woke up sneezing up a storm from allergies I laid in bed considering how to become not only a better musician but a better performer, and it hit me that I need to spend the time to get past the physical limitations so I can focus completely on the performance. I've come to a point in my life/career that I need to be able to perform and make some sort of money for that, even if that means that I'm doing school assemblies for the rest of my life. But to get to the next level for me also means that I can have a shot at Grad School, hopefully the program I want that would be a foot in the door into the Broadway Show/Tour end of the spectrum.

All in all things are looking up and moving forward, always moving forward. What doors will open up tomorrow, I don't know but I do know that I need to be better prepared for them when they do.