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8/11/2019 For the Love of Music Career

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For the Love of Music

Imagine a girl at the age of four years old holding a Lilliputian violin underneath

her small chin, stretching her small arms to gently hold the scroll up, placing the bow

tenderly onto the violin, gracefully pulling the bow which produces a scratchy

unappealing sound that makes the hair on her mothers neck stand on end. In the

beginning, I was that little girl starting the long journey toward becoming an

accomplished musician. Music is my first love; I enjoy creating beautiful musical

emotions through compositions created by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Dvork, and

Tchaikovsky, blending with other instruments to bring together a symphony that chills all

listeners. The violin, when played well, illuminates new worlds where musicians play and

the world is filled with blankets of musical warmth for all who hear. Teaching the violin,

passing on the gift of music, sharing knowledge, and nurturing the musical spirit are great

motivations for becoming a violin teacher. The most important factor in choosing a career

is to determine if this is a job that I would want to wake up every morning to do because I

feel like I am changing the world for the better. In addition to music, I enjoy helping

people, which relates to my three other career options: physical therapist, real estate

agent, and an elementary teacher. However, the career that lets the girl with the

Lilliputian violin continue on her musical journey, pass on her love for music, and nurture

future musicians is the career that she wants.

Although physical therapy seriously helps other people and has a sustainable

income, it is not a career that I would like because the requirements involving the classes

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are scientifically challenging and tiresome; the setting that most physical therapists work

in is hospitals and clinics, which are environments that I feel are eerie and unnatural,

creating a detachment from the rest of the world. The classes that I would have to take are

biology, chemistry, physics, biomechanics, neuroanatomy, human growth, manifestations

of diseases, social science, and mathematics; all of those classes are the most hated

classes that I have had in high school and do not wish to repeat. One possible benefit to

being a physical therapist is the compensation ($55.030- $78,080) but the 40 hours per

week is not something I am willing to do (OOH). Violin teachers, whose compensation

ranges from $36,000 - $65,000, need only work at least 35 hours a week for $65,000.

One of the tasks of physical therapists is to do deep-tissue massaging; although the

massaging would help the patients, I detest massaging people because I get tired easily

doing it and some of the people would repulse me and I would unfortunately, not want to

come into contact with them. According to the Eurekas personality test, I dislike jobs

that require painstaking detail and follow-through over a period of time [I] tend to

prefer people-oriented careers and jobs that allow creativity and variety in day-to-day

operations (EUREKA). Physical therapists have follow-through tasks in regards to all of

their clients who have particular techniques that are done routinely; I would not like to be

in a job that requires the same thing from me everyday and has little variety. Physical

therapy is a routine, skills- specific, draining, and unexciting career; although this career

helps improve the mobility of injured patients, I now realize that this career is not for me.

Real estate agents often work evenings and weekends, deal with the current laws,

and earn their living based on commission which fluctuates with the economy; I would

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not make a good real estate agent because I would not like following all the different laws

and filling out all the various forms in order to sell a house. The requirements for real

estate agents are both extensive and challenging. According to the The Association of

Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO), a prospective real estate agent must

successfully complete 45-hour Principles courses, 45-hour Practice courses and one other

45-hour course such as Business Law (ARELLO). In addition, a potential agent must

successfully complete 35 hours of courses to sit for the state license exam. The

requirements to become a real estate agent are hard and it is not surprising that people

cannot pass the licensing exam; over 75% of people in California pass the exam which

means that 25% fail their exam (Real Estate Agents D.). Completing all of the

requirements and licensing would take me a long time and the possibility of not getting a

job with a compensation that is sustainable is not worth the risk. In comparison there is a

one year waiting list in Modesto for violin students who need qualified Suzuki violin

teachers which almost guarantees me a career and gives me the security that I need to

follow through with the requirements of a violin teacher. The compensation for real estate

agents ranges from $26,790 and $65,270 a year; the lowest ten percent earned less than

$20,170, and the highest ten percent earned more than $111,500 (OOH). The soft skills

needed for this job include the ability to deal with people who are difficult and

demanding which can be problematical for me because I tend to have little patience for

people who are purposefully difficult. A potential real estate agent needs to be determined

and be willing to work hard. However, when a person does become a real estate agent

there are more obstacles ahead such as earning an income on commission. A real estate

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agent has to be dedicated and diligent; however successful a real estate agent becomes is

almost entirely up to them that is why a person must be self motivated. According to my

EUREKA personality test, [I] prefer a family-like, friendly, personalized and warm

work environment, which is not what a real estate agents work environment is because I

would be in the office or at houses that I am trying to sell which will most likely not be

friendly and personalized. A real estate agent has an undesirable work environment and is

required to work on the weekends. Therefore, the possibility of traveling is less likely

because I would be working during the weekends.

An elementary teacher is a great job for someone who is willing to invest a lot of

time into her career; this would be my fallback job when I have finished my musical

career because I want to devote all of my time to music and then later to children in

school. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the average income for

elementary teachers was, $43,580 to $48,690 in May 2006; the lowest ten percent earned

$28,590 to $33,070 compared with the top ten percent, which earned $67,490 to $76,100

(BLS). I have volunteered at Summit Charter Academy in the second grade classroom

helping with arts and crafts and administrating reading bench mark tests. I volunteered

during the summer of 2008 for a period of three weeks. When I came through the door

the children said, Good morning Amber, and I would feel so special and privileged to

be greeted by these little ones who recognized who I was. The best part of the day was

making the arts and crafts where I sat at the table and helped them place their hands in

clay to make handprints and watch them have their little conversations with each other.

When the class went on break the girls would ask me to stand in line with them and they

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would fight to hold my hand. There is nothing as precious and as heart warming as

holding a small childs hand. Recently I have not had the chance to go back and volunteer

in the classroom at Summit Charter but when I go to pick up my little brother they still

remember me and say hello. Being a volunteer at Summit Charter opened my eyes to an

amazing career that requires so little but offers so much in return. Sue Spearing, the

teacher in whose classroom I volunteered, said,

YES!!! [I] would make a wonderful and very fun teacher. All the students would

absolutely love [me]. [Ive] volunteered in [her] classroom many times and the

kids have enjoyed having [me] come in. They really miss [me] because they dont

have as many FUN arts and crafts anymore [she] think[s] that [my] personality

fits an elementary teacher because [I am] patient, fun, creative, innovative, and [I]

work well with the younger students (Spearing).

An elementary teacher position would be a great job after I finish teaching the violin

because everything that I have learned regarding music is still fresh in my mind and I

want to utilize all of my musical education to become a violin teacher before I become a

permanent elementary teacher.

Now my dream career, which can come true, is to become a violin teacher for the

Suzuki program. Because I am a Suzuki student, I have an advantage because I have been

taught in a natural way going through the Suzuki program. Many violin teachers believe

in strong technique and good posture. Erica Morrini, an established violin teacher, said in

regards to proper bow technique, to be truthful I only keep the little finger on above the

middle for purely appearances sake (Applebaum). When teaching, I want to focus on

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feeling and becoming one with the music. I want to help other people feel the way I do

when I play the violin because its a way that I can escape from my daily worries and live

in a new carefree world that I want to share with others. When I graduate high school I

can audition, to take the two week course to become a Book one violin teacher and every

year progress to the next book. I feel this best suits me because I want to pay my own

way through college without my parents help and becoming a violin teacher right away

will help me do that; the other career choices would have taken me several years to

become certified to be eligible to get a job and not even guarantee me a job. However,

there is a one-year waiting list for Suzuki violin students and I am almost guaranteed a

job. Also, this career would satisfy my needs to feel that when I wake up in the morning

I know that I am going to help make this community a better place for people. While

teaching music I will also be a college student which means that I would need a flexible

schedule that I can change with each semester to fit in with my classes; I would not have

been able to change my work schedule for the other careers. Based on my EUREKA

results, [I] prefer a family-like, friendly, personalized and warm work environment

[I] dislike jobs that require painstaking detail and follow-through over a period of time

[I] tend to prefer people-oriented careers and jobs that allow creativity and variety in day-

to-day operations (EUREKA). A violin teacher can work out of her home and there is a

lot of creativity in teaching musicians to play the violin and there will always be variety

playing different songs and teaching each individual student in the best way for them. I

believe that everyone can learn to play the violin, (Lopez) and I want to teach as many

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students as I possibly can because everyone deserves the chance to play and to grow in

music.

Being a violin teacher meets all of my needs: compensation, schedule sensitivity,

satisfaction, and fits my personality. I have started the process to becoming a violin

teacher already by having been a Suzuki violin student. In regards to my other career

choices, which are physical therapist, real estate agent and elementary teacher these did

not suit my needs for the present time. My decision to choose to become a violin teacher

is based primarily on my personality and my love for travel. A violinist once said that to

become an excellent violinist you have to live and breathe the music. Samuel and Sada

Applebaum authors of The Way They Play, say that violin playing is an art which

requires the utmost of skill, both physically and mentally (98). I can relate to this

statement because every Wednesday for the past four years I have had a private violin

lesson from 1:30-2:30 and a private piano lesson from 3:00-3:30 and a Modesto Youth

Symphony Orchestra meeting from 4:30-6:30. By the end of the day my head feels like it

has been filled to the breaking point with information and my body feels exhausted to the

point where walking itself is a tremendous struggle because I have put my entire being

into playing the violin. I am willing to devote my entire self to teaching the violin

because I know that it improves the lives all around our community. Violins should be

shared, played, and loved; everyone should have the opportunity to express themselves

through music because music is a wonderful way of life.

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