MARANATHA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

Article written by Mr. Lewis Rosove. In a three article series, Rosove discusses his college road to being a professional musicians. Read the preceding article to this series, and watch for the final chapter!

COLLEGE MUSIC LIFE:  THE REAL TRAINING BEGINS

In my previous article I mentioned that, during my second week of classes, I decided to switch my major to music performance.  That represented a leap of faith because the solo repertoire I had covered up to that point was not very substantial.  On the other hand, my initial choice of political science was a mistake and, if someone asked why that was going to be my preferred major, I would have had no reasonable answer!

The first week was one filled with anticipation, particularly the commencement of orchestra rehearsals.  We came in and were not given any specific instructions on where to sit.  If I had been a believer then and remembered the admonition to not think of myself more highly than I ought I probably would not have plopped myself on the second chair of the viola section.  I did just that and four weeks later was tested on a passage in the Mozart Haffner Symphony that the conductor felt was being played poorly by the entire section.  We all had to play the identical passage in front of the entire orchestra and at the next rehearsal I found myself humbled and back on the next to the last stand of the section.  I eventually became principal a year and a half later but let’s just say I learned a valuable lesson the hard way.

The biggest shock of life at Cal State Northridge, however, was the intensity of the class work.  I naively thought that, because I had been able to take a wide range of courses in high school, I would be able to do the same during my first year at the University.  The result?  I was routinely up until 1:00 AM trying to keep up with my homework assignments, waking up about four hours later.  Grades?  Subjects I normally aced were showing up as Bs and Cs on my transcript!  From my second year on I never took more than twelve credits, opting to sacrifice my time off in summer with general education courses.  My grades improved dramatically as a result.  The suggestion to take closer to a minimum full-time load is something I recommend this day to the students in my studio-even when I know they are apt to ignore that advice!

Even with the load reduction I had my challenges with academic music subjects such as counterpoint, advanced theory and form and analysis.  I did not realize that the Lord was providing a lifeline by surrounding me with those who I knew were excelling in these areas.  By means of collaborative review (you might call them cram sessions) I gained more confidence in advance of the final exams, which helped me immeasurably.  It also allowed me to develop social skills in a manner I had not done before.

The most formative portion of my life from a musical standpoint was yet to come.  That will be the topic of my next article.