My experience in WYSO (Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra

When I was in 8th grade, I auditioned for the percussion section in the WYSO organisation. I made it into the concert orchestra which was pretty cool I guess. The percussion ensemeble and orchestra rehearsals were held in the Humanities buliding at the University of Wisconsin. We practiced in the basement of the building. The walls were grey, and the floor was a dirty white. It was difficult to spend 7 hours in that basement: 6 a.m to 1 p.m. All of the other percussionists in my section were something else. I couldn't keep a steady conversation going with any of them. I remember when I got in an argument with a guy named Evan. I knew him as the tool. He was one of the many super ambitious middle schoolers at WYSO. He argued with me that "music with singers suck." I ended the conversation by asking him if he liked Beethoven's 9th symphony. He said that he was a fan, and that was enough for me to just throwdown. I educated him how Beethoven's 9th symphony has a singer in the final movement. He denied it. I knew it was true. Evan was a tool. He was just one of the irritating things about WYSO. Sometimes I didn't even want to be around my section; they were so annoying. I would leave and walk towards the record shop on State Street. I came back once with a Velvet Underground and Nico album, and it raised a lot of questions from my section that I just didn't bother answering. Another thing that bothered me was the musical tastes of all of the percussion kids. They all adored Mozart. "Mozart was the best composer. Mozart is the best piano player." I don't deny that Mozart was a genius, but come on. Explore a little more. It's like the parents of these kids were forcing these kids to play classical music. It's all they knew about. It was kinda sad in a way. I didn't want to be like them. I didn't want to hang around them. I never returened to WYSO after that season, but I really learned something. I'm never going to be like these guys. I have explored a lot of different music since then, and I feel educated because of it. It just felt like the kids at WYSO weren't growing up. I wanted to grow up. I found my own way with music, and it's been great ever since. I'm never going to look back to WYSO. It brings me chills just thinking about all of those kids playing their out of tune violas and violins.