Chris recently reminded me of the existence of the mini-disc player, which during my career as a music student was the most commonly used method of recording your own practice sessions, rehearsals, lessons, etc.

I think it was Christmas of my sophomore year when I received mine as a present from my parents.  It was all I wanted and with the price tag, it was all I got.  I used it occassionally but never studied my performances or lessons as properly as I should have.  The best use I ever got out of it was probably toward the end of college when I had to give a fundraising presentation during the intermission of an opera.  Recording myself speaking helped me realize how slow I needed to pace myself, etc.  You get the picture.

I thought about selling it shortly after graduation, but never did.  And tonight I’m very thankful that I didn’t.  I knew I still had it somewhere packed away, but hadn’t used it and had no idea if it still worked.  I also had no idea what I had recorded, but I found a disc labeled “Percussion Ensemble” and all the necesarry wires and parts (shockingly!)

The disc starts out with the random sounds that I quickly associated with us warming up and getting ready for a rehearsal.  Then the unmistakable voice of our dear professor is heard for a few minutes.  Needless to say, I didn’t make it past 5 seconds of the first movement of Eric Ewazen’s Palace of Nine Perfections and I burst into tears.  It wasn’t a single tear either.  It caught me completely off guard.  The group of musicians that were a part of that piece that year were the best, most creative musicians I knew.  And they were my best friends.  Performing with them and for our dear professor were the best musical moments of my entire life and there are not many things that can even close to that feeling.  For it all to come rushing back in a matter of 5 seconds and a few notes was extremely overwhelming.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to the rest of it.  I’ll figure out synching it to my laptop later.