1)
Tell us about a time this
past semester that you failed
I
have always enjoyed playing musical instruments ever since I was a little
kid. Just the concept of figuring out
how to play music really intrigued me. I
took piano lessons for about sever years which I enjoyed. I also played the saxophone in both middle
and high school. I enjoyed playing the
piano and saxophone piano and just messing around trying to learn popular
songs. I still to this day try and play
some piano whenever I get the chance.
One day in the beginning of this semester I saw one of my friends
playing the ukulele. I have no prior experience
playing guitar or ukulele, but it sounded very cool and I wanted to learn to at
least try and play. My friend said he
would try and teach me to play “Hallelujah” and I was interested. While trying to learn to play the ukulele I
just could not grasp the concept on how to place my fingers on the strings to
make the right sound. I had gotten really
frustrated and almost wanted to give up.
I tried different positions and ways to get my fingers to lay on the
strings properly, but nothing seemed to work.
I tried to practice for about 20-30 minutes each day. I did this for about a month and eventually
saw some improvements. I now can play a
little bit but still need to practice be just as good as my friend.
2)
Tell us what you learned
from it.
From
this I learned that practice is key. The
more I practiced the better I got at playing the ukulele. This concept can work for almost anything you
do. To perfect something dedication and
practice are key. Also, I learned that
some instruments aren’t made for me. I
enjoyed trying to learn how to play but at times I would just get too frustrated. I still try and play every now and then, but I
decided it would take me too long if I tried to perfect playing the ukulele. Maybe in the future I will try again.
3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure.
Failure
is never enjoyable. When I was unable to
put my fingers on the strings and play I got very frustrated. I am certain people who fail at things also
deal with this frustration. In times of
failure and adversity it is important to try and overcome this. I do my best to overcome it without getting
too discouraged. I learned in this class
that failure is ok and that it is important to learn from these failures. One can get discouraged and want to give up
when faced with failure but the most successful people are able to overcome it.
