Gyrl

So I am fairly proficient at Spanish (I’ve been told I sound native but I still struggle with listening — struggle with listening even in my native English lol). I’ve been studying french on my own a few months and it’s been going well. I also took a semester of Japanese and now study that on my own which I’ve found tougher (so I meet with a native to practice). I feel like life is too short and there are so many beautiful languages I feel a strong urge to start learning another one right now even though it’s not recommended.. not even two at once is. BUT if I’m self studying two languages and I start this third one (either Arabic or German..) with courses does that make a difference? Wouldn’t it be easier I mean? Since two are self structured and one is school structured, so more thorough and efficient in that sense?

For at least 2 years now I've gotten periodically really sad. I never stop living "normally" however, i continue my activities. I eat and sleep relatively the same besides some cases of insomnia and constant nightmares. It lasts usually just a few days, but can be a week (rare). Sometimes it's triggered by disappointment from my incompetency in life, sometimes there doesn't seem to be a reason. Sometimes it's almost like a relapse from being overly social with friends and subsequent guilt over not being "productive." My thoughts during these periods aren't characterised by hopelessness, but pointlessness. If we're all going to die, there's no point in living. But then again, if we never died, there would still be no point. Sometimes I think about death but I wouldn't say I'm ever suicidal. I also cut myself, but other than that I wouldn't say I have any extreme symptoms. Also, lately my sadness has cycled so rapidly within the day I'm sad once or twice per day and the rest of the time pretty happy. Thoughts?

Today I found myself crying listening to cello music, not because it was beautiful (although it was), but because I don't think I'll ever play cello well. I started a year ago (although took a a 5 month break, had a shitty second teacher, and am currently on my third teacher). I can't play in tune (although i at least know i'm out of tune). I've been trying to play la cinquantine for at least 3 months and I still sound like a dying cat when I play it. Usually when I'm not good at something, I put in extra time and effort and see good results. This is not happening with cello. I don't plan on giving up, but is this kind of slow progress normal for non fretted instruments or am I extraordinarily ungifted? My teach says I have a good ear (although I think he's just saying that so I don't feel bad about him being picky with my tone). I'm 18 btw if that matters.

English is my second langauge and I m not American, but I ve noticed Americans, typically when having attitude will say something like "I m sorry, did you not hear me? I told you I don t like that" or "I m sorry, do you not understand? Should I repeat it a third time?"

Does anyone know where that originated from? Is it just sarcasm?

Skip the details in this paragraph if you want. I play drums, piano, guitar, and I'm about to start playing cello. I also know a lot of music theory. I'm more of a jack of all trades with my skills since I don't focus on just one instrument, but I'm very passionate about music and I try to improve in all of my instruments as best as I can. I'm not classically trained in any of them and I can't read and play piano music SUPER quickly (working on that). I started all of this music madness about two years ago, however, and I'm already 18, so it'll be hard for me to truly catch up to be good enough to perform in a top orchestra or anything like that. I occasionally write songs and record videos playing and singing, but don't post them because I can't sing.

My question is essentially: is there any point in doing all of this? Besides just having a cool hobby I enjoy? I LOVE music, but I want to be a doctor (probably. Struggling with deciding between being a doctor and focusing on something involving one of my creative skills). It's not satisfying enough to me nor does it feel productive to just have my music as a hobby. Any suggestions about what I could do with it?? If it's at all relevant, I want to live in New York or LA eventually. Almost did for college, but didn't due to financial issues.

Thanks!

I'm about to start cello lessons (I hope, still looking for a teacher). I've never played before, but I'm very dedicated to music (I play piano, guitar, and drums). I found a cello in my local violin shop that's supposedly all hand made, has ebony everything, nice wood (can't remember I'm sorry lol) and everything like that. So let's just say this cello is pretty solid, is $1300 too much? It's a lot of money to drop on an instrument I'm just starting.

I'm self-taught, and I can't fluidly play music while reading it, so it's kind of hard to gauge my "level." I've been playing for about two years. The most complicated piece I know I suppose would be Victor's Piano Solo (not a classical piece, I'm aware lol). I can play a different rythym in each hand. I know all my scales and chords. I'm also getting better at reading and playing. Does it sound like I'm at least intermediate? Or is there no way to really know?

Hello, I know all my scale shapes and everything, and while I know I don't have to play the notes of each chord in the song I'm improving over (as long as I stay in the key), I also know it sounds better to do so. So my question is: how do I do that quickly? If I do it I have to pause the song and figure out where all the notes are in the chords being played and then memorize the patterns of those chords within the key. That seems slow. Is there a way to know quickly or does it just come with practice?

Thanks!

If the below doesn't make sense, I'm basically asking when does the snare versus the bass get used? On what kind of beats?

So in 4/4, 1 is a strong beat and 3 is a relatively strong/medium beat and then 2 and 4 are weak beats, right? So on the drums, 1 and 3 get the base and 2 and 4 get the snare. Which to me means strongish beats get the bass and weaker ones get the snare. So on a 7/8 count, I know it can be counted 3 ways so let's go with a 3/8 + 4/8. So it would be STRONG weak weak STRONG weak STRONG weak, right? I play that first strong with the bass drum, the second strong with the snare and the bass again on the third strong. So am I playing it wrong or is the second strong actually "weak" but still stronger than the ones I have labeled weak right now? Since I'm using my snare?

Thanks!

I've studied Spanish for more than four years now. I spent seven weeks in Spain. I've received awards for how well I do in Spanish (grammatically, with my writing). But still, my listening comprehension is bad in an effort per improvement ratio. Some natives I understand perfectly, some I hardly understand. What's wrong with me? My friends that went to Spain can understand better than I can. Also, I can easily block out spoken Spanish when I hear it and understand literally nothing, which I can't do with English but it involves no effort to understand it obviously. Advice?

So I plan on writing about how I stopped playing softball in junior year to pursue music. Should I leave out the part about stopping sports? Cause colleges would probably just want someone who's capable of doing both? They'll see on my application that I only did it for two years anyway., but writing about it calls more attention to it.

I'm applying to very elite schools if that makes a difference

I showed my common application essay to a teacher of mine and he said it was beautiful, but that it was too poetic, i.e., not straight forward (maybe too flowery?) for admissions officers to fully appreciate unless they're English majors or something of the sort. If I write my essay in layman's terms, I'm not sure it would due my topic justice the way that I wanted. I'm writing about learning has changed my perspective in life, so when I write "beauitfully" it's to express the way that I see the world now. Should I ignore his advice to re-write it in a more "beurocratic" way? I've seen essays accepted by Ivy Leagues that use high vocabulary.

Granted, I may not speak exactly how I wrote my essay, but like I mentioned, it's the only way I can full show my feelings toward the topic.

I'm 17 now, but Around when I was 6, I tore up my hand with a safety pin. I think I just thought it looked cool. Then when I was a little older, I cut my hands with pocket knives, but not very deeply. I don't have a great memory, so I can't remember if I was sad during that period, but I do know I started scaring myself, so I locked my knives away and stopped after that. I think I cried that day. I'm trying to figure out if I just went through a "wannabe emo" stage or something. I mean I never dressed like I was or told anyone I "cut." So it couldn't have been for attention. Unless, I subconsciously wanted to tell people about it years later like at the age I am now, which I have still yet to do. A couple years ago, I also compulsively decided to drag my forearm across the top of a barbed wire fence (again, not deeply but I have some very light scarring from it). I did like the way it looked. Like a bear attacked me. Idk if I'm crazy and I just somehow like cuts, if it's for attention (which idk how it could be because I again, I don't tell people these things), or what. I don't think I've ever seriously considered comitting suicide. Any thoughts?

More details if you want, people talked at school today about their self harming for suicide awareness week and now I have the urge to cut myself and idk why. I haven't thought about it in a while. I'm not really sad. Not nearly enough to want to end my life either.

Not the time signature exactly, but I'm playing a beat that can be counted like One and Two and UH Three and Four and. Is that 'and Uh' a 16th not because it broke the and into "and uh" or what? It's read faster at the and uh too so those "words" have a smaller duration individually.

I play piano and when I read music, I can quickly identify the type of interval like 3rd, 5th etc, but not the quality, i.e. minor, diminished etc. I have to sit there and make sure there aren't any "hidden" extra half steps like between e&f, b&c and then I have to look at the key signature that might diminish or augment the interval again. It take me at least 10 seconds. How does one immediately take in all of it while playing?

Thanks!

I play piano and when I read music, I can quickly identify the type of interval like 3rd, 5th etc, but not the quality, i.e. minor, diminished etc. I have to sit there and make sure there aren't any "hidden" extra half steps like between e&f, b&c and then I have to look at the key signature that might diminish or augment the interval again. It take me at least 10 seconds. How does one immediately take in all of it while playing?

Thanks!

I thought time signatures have the # of beats on top, and then the type of note that equals one beat on the bottom. So if that's the case, how come in 6/8 there are technically only 2 beats and each beat is a dotted quarter note (which is why people say 3/4 is 3 beats of 2 and 6/8 is 2 beats of 3). How can that be? Why wouldn't it be 6 beats in which each beat is an eighth note?

Thanks!

I thought time signatures have the # of beats on top, and then the type of note that equals one beat on the bottom. So if that's the case, how come in 6/8 there are technically only 2 beats and each beat is a dotted quarter note. How can that be? Why wouldn't it be 6 beats where each beat is an eighth note?

Thanks!

So I know 3/4 is three groups of 2 so it would be like La-la, La-la, La-la and 6/8 is 2 groups of 3. So it would be like La-la-la, La-la-la. So to me, that makes it seem like 3/4 is like duple meter because there is emphasis (so a strong beat?) with La three times and 6/8 is triple meter because there's emphasis once per beat with La. BUT 3/4 is supposed to be like a waltz which is triple meter so it should sound like LA la la so now I'm just really confused. Am I confusing triplets with triple meter or what?

I've been playing instruments a while, but by ear. I'm starting to read music now and I'm confused. I know how each beat counts and how they're related, but how do you figure out exactly how many seconds each beat is in a song if you've never heard it before? Is it possible? For example a composer could make a quarter note 1 second but in a slower song, s/he could make it 2. And how then can you tell by listening (not looking at sheet music) if a song is doing a 4/4 time signature with 1 second quarter notes versus a 4/8 time signature with 1 second eighth notes. Since both would technically have the same duration. I'm not sure if I arriculated that correctly, but if someone understands, please help(:

Thanks