☆ A TRUE LIFE STORY
The musician 
Sorry, unrelated!
Let me start afresh.
☆ A TRUE LIFE STORYoriginal one
Whenever I remember my early beginning as a musician, I remember the countless numbers of "sheges that I saw" (I went through a lot).
I was born into a "musical family"; my mom, my two elder sisters and my immediate elder brother were blessed with "extra-wonderful" voices the blessing finished before it reached my turn.
Their voices were so so good such that...
...well, I don't want to speak much before it'll sound as though I am exaggerating. But, as a matter of fact, my elder sister (first born), led my parish choir to victory in 5 different musical competitions deanary-wise, as the Choir Director (she has handled this position for years and no-one comes close).
Don't worry about my ugly face, focus on the award 🏆 my parish choir won in 2015
Okay, forget about them and focus on me. Isn't that why you came here to read this post?
☆ EARLY BEGINNING
I didn't have the privilege of joining the choir at an early age because each time I got closer to the "minimum required age" the choir director increased the age limit.
For instance, when I was 9 years old, I looked forward to celebrating my 10th birthday with great joy because 10 years was the official age to join choir according to the then choir master's rule. Two months before my 10th birthday, the bar was raised to 12 years.
Again, the age restriction was raised to 14, and at one point they stated only adults (18yrs and above). But after I was admitted to the university in 2013, the pointless law was removed.
Okay, I see now! The law was created just for me. Nice One!!!
☆ THE FIRST STEP
It's a lie, there was no first step.
☆ THE CALL!
Just like Samuel in the Bible, everybody receives their special call. But the difference can be seen in the manner you got the call, the message of the call, the caller, the caller tune, the missed calls and for how long the call lasted.
For me, I am not so sure. But I think I fell in love with the sweet and sexy sound of the Saxophone and that led me into the world of musical instruments.
That was my call!
But, since I couldn't afford a Saxophone, I had to learn instruments that were within my reach.
☆ A ROUGH JOURNEY
It was indeed a rough journey for me!
I didn’t have anyone to put me through learning musical instruments, and so it took me extra years of learning.
I picked up the acoustic guitar in January 2014, but it was too hard to learn and my fingers were getting numb. I didn't drop it, but I switched over to learning Piano in August-September of the same year.
March 2014... Nothing here to see, just ksam posing with acoustic jinta (guitar) that he cannot play
In less than two weeks, I learnt how to play simple songs using solfa notations; and that was a big achievement for me. After a while, I switched over to learning how to sightread. I relied on a small book titled SMALL WOODS, and it introduced me to Classical Music.
Keep on scrolling, the image is not important for salvation
Then I came back to the guitar and started learning how to play the Bass Guitar.
Yes! It was a scattered and rough journey. I had no one to put me through, so I was just doing it as the spirit led me.
I also came back to the acoustic guitar and I was learning all of them at the same time. Ominilearner
At a point, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp groups became learning platforms for me and they helped me grow in my theoretical knowledge of Music.
Although it took me a while to learn how to apply the theoretical knowledge, I was so happy to have acquired the knowledge without going to a musical college.
With this knowledge of music, I can confidently learn ANY musical instrument I want (except percussion). All I need to do is to learn the unique blowing or fingering techniques of the instruments, and then apply my knowledge of music to it.
Voilà!
It's done!
Fast forward to today, I am still in the process of learning. Although my rapid growth was as a result of my mentorship with OC Omofuma (the Guitarist who plays for Simi, Adekunle Gold and a host of top Nigerian superstars). However, I haven't gone far because I rarely have time for music unlike before.
However, in all, I am getting better and I hope to grow little by little, till I become a professional guitarist (not as a profession).
This post is my entry for Hive Learners theme on "Talent Discovery" for Week 33, edition 2.
- Images are mine, not yours!
- Logo Collage property of: Hive Learners, Ecency, Leofinance, Hive, 3speak and Ksam.
- All Designs created and edited with Canva Mobile App
I AM KSAM
I may not be your favourite author, but you can journey with me to help me develop my writing skills. I am always open to criticism, correction and learning 🥰.