Alright, another day has passed and I realized I'm a day closer to my death! How morbid! But I am a day closer to my thirtieth birthday. All my past youthful days are now going out the door. I don't feel bad, honestly, actually I'm excited to see what God has in store for me and my wife!
Being thirty is going to be a big adjustment in my life. I suppose my twenties make up for who I am today, I am a professional musician, with a degree in music, and with a job as a musician and minister of music. To tell you honestly, I never dreamed to be in this line of work. I wanted to be an engineer, and I wanted to continue my masters in engineering in MIT, then go to China to be a professor, and work as a "tent maker" like the Apostle Paul, and share the gospel there! It was pretty much planned out when I was beginning my college life. However, due to my irresponsibility, and laziness, I ruined it when I got kicked out of UP Engineering. I was 19, and I was clueless to what will happen to my future.
Two months before my 20th birthday, I decided to try out UP College of Music, since I know how to play guitar. I did a crash course on classical pieces, and my dad assisted me in basic solfegge. It was then that I realized that this may be it. Music was a completely different world that I thought I imagined. It was Planet X. A new dimension, a parallel world! By God's grace I passed the aptitude test, a written part and a sight singing part, basically because the questions were multiple choice, and the sight singing in my days was just a C major scale starting at G! But to crush my pride, I wasnt able to pass the audition for guitar major. My world came crashing down. My dad was a gift from God, he made a way for me to enroll in music, but as a cello major. I didnt know what a cello was!!! I didnt even know how to read music, much less the F clef!
It was a completely humiliating experience for me to go to class on the first day, as fresh 20 year old guy, surrounded by seniors my age, and a host of co-freshmen 5 years younger. And as a freshman, I knew I didn't deserve to be seated in the orchestra... first stand. I didnt know how to hold a bow, a cello, how to read notes, I didnt know anything!
The good thing about my case is that grace alone caused me to enter such a prestigious university. I didnt audition for cello, my teacher was the premier cellist of the Philippines, and I was completely inexperienced. And I relied completely on God's strength and talent to get me through the humiliation of not having anything to say when I was asked who my first teacher was, when did I start playing cello, etc. And that same grace saw me through the next 7 years in music!
I had my first recital when I was 25, and my graduation recital when I was 28. All my professional experience came by when I was forced to play quartet back when I was 22, since not many cellists were around, thus our high demand. I bravely accepted gigs I cannot yet cope with, but by prayer and practice, I was able to accomplish what only God can do through me.
In these years, I experienced working with the musical artists I only dreamed of seeing live on stage. I experienced also getting paid bucks for a few notes I played. A lot of recordings were lined up for then "unkown" artists like stonefree, Up Dharma Down, Session Road, etc. I also experienced traveling Asia with the Tenor Andrea Bocelli. I was given free plane rides and hotel accommodations whenever we played somewhere far. My food was always first class. I tasted the best food all the most expensive restaurants could offer.
I see my twenties as a time of blessing, experience, and growth as a musician, as a professional. In these times I learned a lot about character, integrity, and professionalism. I got embarrassed a lot, humiliated a lot, and hurt, but I grew from all those. I experienced traveling with my expensive antique cello on rainy school days on a jeep, taxi, or FX, and even ran in the rain with it. I sacrificed getting wet outside of the jeep while my cello lay dangerously in the middle of the muddy floor of the jeepney.
The last decade offered so many challenges, so many trials, so many victories, I had to say Im quite ready for the next decade coming up. I just hope I get disciplined and wise enough to make these next years be productive, coz I want to be rich!!! Rich for the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment