Making Musical Sense

I have so many things I need to write about! I am such a slacker!! In my defense, it is the last week before finals and all my teachers decided to start a 'who can give Lacey the most homework' competition. As of right now, my BOM teacher is winning. Lucky me.

I'll write about my black eye, concerts, and my visit from mommy some other time (probably after school's out) but right now I want to talk about one of my main loves: Music.
For my Musicianship (theory/aural training) class I had to compose a short piece. I sat down today in the music tech lab at a piano and my mind nearly exploded. The possibilities were endless!!
A piano has 88 keys, 15 major scales, 45 minor scales, 7 modes, and many more augmented and diminished keys. How in the WORLD was I supposed to put together that would make musical sense? I couldn't sit on the piano bench pondering this question until my piece was due on Friday so I kicked it into gear.
Step One: I got a composing buddy. In this case it was my beautiful cellist friend Brennan! I am by nature a semi-competitive person. Makes perfect sense, eh? Okay, here's what I mean by that- If you throw me onto a sports team (excluding floor hockey and sometimes volleyball), I am more than happy to let everyone else play aggressive while I run around pointlessly, but when I workout or do something I am good at, I like to have somebody to work with and to keep me motivated.
Step Two: Procrastination. Everyone knows the best music comes to you when you procrastinate....NOT! I sat on that piano bench noodling for probably fifteen minutes trying to find something I liked. I thought about doing a piece with choral voicing. Then I decided I wanted to do an upbeat latin jam in keyboard voicing.
Step Three: Just Do It (courtesy of Nike.) I finally decided I wanted to write my piece in a minor key. I love the minor sound in music, plus I decided that I was so stressed from homework that in order to get my feelings on paper, minor was necessary.
I sat down and the notes just started to flow.
Love when that happens.
Regardless it is a very short piece. Mine ended up being only fourteen measures, but I am proud of it.
Step Four: Don't Push It. Because my piece was for a class, there were many musical rules, chords, and non harmonic tones (basically a bunch of extra hoo-ha) I had to follow. I was struggling getting the last few measures so I put it away for a while. Frustration doesn't really aid in writing music when you are trying to write a whimsical piece.
Step Five: Breathe. Play. Smile.
I played for some people in the music tech room and received some great feedback. I fixed my visible mistakes and then decided to go home. When I got home I decided to play for my roommates. What a wonderful choice. They were ALL compliments. Gotta love when none of your roommates are music majors and just think you are incredible :)
Ended my evening on a good note.
Now bring on night time and Education, BOM, and Choral/Vocal Methods homework!!