During the first term we had the chance to write an expository essay on one of many topics, and I chose to write about “your favourite music genre and why you like it,” and it was very interesting. Attempting to articulate my thoughts was the toughest part, like I knew what I wanted to say I just didn’t know hoe to say it. I really enjoyed this essay style, and hope I get to write like this again about another topic, here’s my favourite music.
Have you ever listened to Elton John’s “Madman Across the Water”? Or watched the Who’s “The Real Me”? Have you ever watched a live performance of Freddie Mercury and Queen? Have you ever heard a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo? These are some of the greatest shows of musicianship, showmanship, and guitar ever put into music and that is why classic rock is my favourite genre of music.

 To start with, the showmanship that was showed by classic artists surpasses a thousand times the seizure inducing performances Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and any dub step artist that you would go to now. People have said that Queen’s Freddie Mercury put on the best show in the world, yet he didn’t have laser shows or left sharks, all he had was a smoke machine or two and his horrible dancing. On top of that Elton John has nothing but his back up band on stage (I went to see him last year) yet he still has amazing stage presence because his music rocks and his piano playing is amazing. There’s not many people that can fill a stadium by just sitting there and playing a piano, but he does, even with his little sausage fingers. Then there’s my favourite showman of all time, Angus Young. He dresses horribly in short shorts and sometimes ends up shirtless onstage (which is horrible if you’ve ever seen it) but puts on fantastic shows with his power slides and windmill guitar playing. The showmanship these artists use is incredible and surely not matched by newer artists.

 Furthermore, a great guitarist is what takes a mediocre band to the next level, you can cycle in and out band members like crazy but as long as that great guitarist is there you’ll keep having fans and keep getting money. Think of Jimi Hendrix, he never needed a band because he was such an incredible guitar player that he could carry a show by himself. Or Carlos Santana, who has a rotating background band, but always sounds great because of his silky smooth guitar playing. In addition, the Who have lost arguably the best bass player that ever lived (George Harrison) and arguably the greatest drummer ever (Keith Moon) and still sound great because of their great 70 year old lead guitarist Pete Townshend. And the list keeps going, AC/DC would be nowhere without Angus Young, John Bon Jovi is what made Bon Jovi such a great band. All of these guitarists made their bands skyrocket with their skill it’s impossible not to point them out.

 Finally, the musicianship is what makes it the best genre of music. Elton John’s piano playing, Freddie Mercury’s singing, the bass and drums in the who. If you ever want to learn what you want to play the bass like, go listen to “The Real Me,” by the Who, and same if you want to hear how to play the drums. Elton John and Billy Joel are great pianists, just go listen to Elton’s “Candle in the Wind,” or Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” for a master class in piano. The musicality and skill they play there instruments with is seldom nowadays, where we get crappy musicians get popular because of their looks. There’s seldom real musicians that get popular these days,and that’s sad.

 Overall, classic rock is easily the best genre of music, with its amazing guitar that has entranced so many, the musicality and other instrumentalists are unmatched by any music that came after it. And the showmanship they exude is the reason they sell out giant stadiums, not because of their looks and ability to hire great stage managers, and eight year old girls that love them. It’s incredible to watch old performances and it’s sad that musicians aren’t as great as they used to me.

Last month our class wrote a narrative essay on something that happened to us, and I enjoyed it. It was a fun experience to write and this is my favourite type of essay so far, I hope you enjoy reading my essay about a solo I sung.
The male voice is a complicated thing, it has three main parts to it that any advanced male singer has to understand and navigate through. Your main strongest voice, called your chest voice, your super high voice, called falsetto, which is what most prepubescent males sing strongest. And your head voice, which is the mediator in between high and low. Most guys head voice is the weakest part of your voice, and in the transition between these there is a vocal break where you have to change what voice you are using.
 The Chan Centre is a beautiful concert hall out at UBC that is shaped like the body of a violin. The shape is important because most string instruments are shaped this way for resonance, and that is why the Chan Centre is shaped the way it is. Chor Leoni is one of the top men’s choirs in the world, based in Vancouver they mostly perform here but do tour occasionally, because of their local schedule people from all over the world come to see them. And in this beautiful venue I had the most incredible opportunity I’ve ever had. To sing a solo at the chan.

  I was in a choir run by Chor Leoni to get teenage guys out to sing, the final concert was at the chan centre. I won the final solo in a beautiful gospel song called “There’s a Man Goin’ Round.” I was very nervous as this was my first solo and it was a very weird singing range for me as I had to transitions through my chest, head, and falsetto voices.

 I was very nervous to the point of barfing while eating my lunch, when one of the tenors came up to me. He said, “I heard your struggles with navigating your vocal break; would you like some help tenor to tenor?” I quickly accepted, he took me into a secluded corner of the theatre backstage and got me to sing it two times through. Then asked me a question, “can you sing it all in your head voice? Transitions in solos don’t sound great.”

  I had the last solo of three, so I sang the first two verses as a back up and go a little off pitch. As I walk up and think about his words, and ask myself “can I do it?” I start it on a note I would normally use chest voice for, so I try it in my head voice and find it’s ok, and as the solo is ascending I start to get more and more nervous that I can’t hit the high note. As the note approaches my stomach drops out from under me I’m so nervous. I climb the scale and hit the top note perfectly. I look out at my parents in the front row and watch their faces dissolve into tears as I take my last breath and end my solo on a descending run of notes. I smile at the audience and bow, his advice had worked and I cannot thank him enough.

 I have never met that man again, I have looked through Chor Leoni a hundred times and can’t find him. It’s funny that somebody who changed my life so much, I never knew their name. I don’t know anything about him other than he was a tenor for Chor Leoni, but he gave me so much more than I could ever have asked for. It was incredibly disorienting changing my solo an hour before I sing it in front of one thousand people, but it was worth it. I will remember that moment forever, but those fifteen short words changed me more than a solo ever could have. And this has kind of become a life philosophy for me: If you can do something without transitions do it, because transitions don’t go well. Lots of things in life change, and I hope I can remember those words when things are changing, because if you can just skip the transition it will be better for everybody.

During the gold rush, people would flood in to places with gold, in the hope of getting what exactly? And now, the best selling iPhone is pink, yet they call it “rose gold,” why do people want it? Why is gold a symbol for coming first? I think I have cracked the code, in this picture I outline why gold is important in the past and present. It was actually quite enjoyable racking my brain, because why does everyone love gold? It is an interesting question, but my favourite fact I learned is that it is a smart investment because its price is very steady, I know where all of my money is going in the future.

In September our class wrote five writing prompts with varied topics to improve our writing skills, they were as crazy as “what could happen to make people into cannibles?” and as tame as, “if a cop were to come to your school undercover, give some tips on how they would fit in.” My least favourite writing came from the prompt “If aliens took one actor away because they thought movies were real life, who would they take?” And this was our first one, but mine isn’t great.

My favourite writing of mine came from the prompt “if a cop were to come to your school undercover, give some tips on how they would fit in.” I am quite proud of this writing and think it might even be my best writing of the year.

Play the saxophone, I mean it, you don’t have to be good, but just show up to band class and play the saxophone and nobody will suspect you. You can wear whatever you want, even if you wore a cop outfit people will think you’re joking but pick up a saxophone and you will just be accepted. You should also play a sport, probably soccer or hockey are the most common at Seycove. Don’t be a sports star though, because then people will suspect you, be a little less than average at sports, and play the saxophone. You also have to hunch, if you look around the school everybody is hunched over from gaming, that brings up another good point, start gaming. Usually a good place to start would be first person shooters, Call of Duty, Halo, Destiny, or Counter Strike are all good games to play to fit in, play Xbox, not PlayStation, and always have your phone in your pocket. Those are the basics, now for some more subtle stuff, you need to make it look like you’re kind of struggling in school, not enough to need a tutor or anything like that but just a little struggle, even if you were great in school and got straight A’s, don’t do that here. There’s many keys to fitting in, but you always have to play the gosh darn saxophone.

I really enjoyed these prompts and hope we write like this again, it is fun and entertaining and you can really see growth between my first one and my last one.