Day 123. Friday. Only Ear Training Class. Rest and Reflection on this Week. Practice and Jamminng (Nice Day)

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Yesterday I got tired and a little frustrated. I guess one reason is I fell off the schedule. Blog posts haven’t been done, and morning practice has been dropping out because I went to bed too late. etc.

Sleeping early yesterday and taking a long, good shower helped me recover a little. spending. Bringing my MacBook to Caf, and spending 2 hours working on all the stacked blog posts and chilling a little with Eva.

After socializing so much this week, I feel a little burned out. However, I did know some great people! Zoey, Milla, Ayberk, Edgar, Grace, Eva, Bella, Audrie, Oz… there are too many to mention (posting every person on the Name Wall 😎) I LOVED THEM. they all give me lots of support and inspiration.

I love the openness of Berklee, people embrace every kind of music and are able to just jam around even though we don’t have shared any experience before. we open our ears, listen, and appreciate others’ sounds. It made me determined that I want to study at Berklee and I know I could build a decent career around these people.

There is no way to express how blessed I felt to be a part of this community.

I got my blog post done today, had my guitar sent to the repair center to fix some issues, asking Ayberk (he is my hero here.) to play Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers with me. And have a nice Ear-Training class. finally feeling some good progress today!

It is time for me to focus on jamming and practicing. I’ve known enough people, that I feel others that I don’t know are just in reach. I can start to focus more on my own sound, and bounding the existing relationships 🙂

(a quick note, these diaries really help me reflect on what my progress is right now. and get out of the chaos real fast. I genuinely encourage everyone to reflect and write anytime they feel chaotic.)

Notes on having a chat with strangers.

Small talk is not a thing in Asia culture. It’s been a little embarrassing for me to talk to strangers at first. but I’ve found some interesting psychological phenomena (not sure if it’s the right way to say XD)

In the first week, people are open to know each other. they don’t have a certain group yet, are interested in knowing new people, the feeling is still fresh, and most important. people are terrified to be left out. Due to these reasons, if one can say hi, and show interest in them. They are willing to know you as well.

Another good trick for me is to genuinely feel interested in others. when you are open and deeply care for each other, you will want to know how people’s day is going. I love what the professor said in the guitar department orientation. “You need to be your favorite guitarist.” the moment you favorite yourself the most, you are not a “fan” to others anymore. When you meet legends, you start to appreciate and ask, “Hey! I love your sound and performance, do you have any advice on how can I try to achieve the state you are in?” because you love yourself the most, you know you have to ask others and open conversation for “the favorite guitarist, yourself.”

Let’s get back to the social in the camp. Once you truly care for each other, you can say hi to them, ask them what instrument they played, what they are up to, etc. There may be some basic questions but it helps me start knowing people and gives me another opportunity to bond with them in the future.

I’ll say, that everyone around you is an asset to build your own skills, having more connection to others, and a chance to be offered (My self-value depends on how much I could offer to greater people)

The third one is, this might be controversial, be alone. I don’t stay with a certain group. I may hang out with people but I don’t stick with them all the time. for me,in the group will slow down my pace and make it harder to know new people. It’s almost impossible to find your pack on the first day or week. so why bother? I like to walk alone, or walk we different people every day. Sit and eat with different people, jam with different people. That’s what I’ve done this week. and I’ve known lots of people and been inspired all the time.

just to be clear, these tips and advice are from my own experience, it not rule and no one will ever have to follow them all the time. so I hope you are inspired and figure out your own way to connect with people 🙂

Diary Continue

After the musicianship class, I have a simple lunch, and chat with Caroline. finally have some time to have a decent chat with her. we both come from Taiwan and even go to the same school lol what’s the coincidence?

Solo Practice from 2:30 to 4:30 get dinner, and then Jam a little with Bella and her friend. try to play a bass line and found out my tempo SUCKED.. Jaming and practicing from 6 – 8 and another practice with Shierdel, Simon, Ezabell, etc…….soorryyyy names are hard. We have a great time 🙂