Week 1: I don't know what to call this. PASSION!!!!

My debut as a musician was all the way back in second grade when I sang "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow", from the musical Annie, in the Madison Elementary School Talent Show. Now, to begin with I was always a performer. I was born to be in a theatre. My mother is a dancer and my father was a techie. In all honesty there was really no way to avoid my fate of being in the fine arts. However, I did choose to fish around for awhile to find my own "nook".
I really started to "study music" in fourth grade when I began to play the cello. This was also following a family trend because both my cousin and uncle played cello. I think it was shortly before this that I had my one year of piano as well. I loved cello. I did ISSMA and played all the time, using every opportunity I was given. i finally got my own instruement in seventh grade and shortly after began private lessons. Now, one of the things that needs to be said about me as a young musician was that I hated practicing. This is probably why I quit piano so quickly. Anyways, everything changed when I hit high school.
In high school I continued to play in orchestra through sophomore year. i took private lessons until the beginning of my senior year. But in high school was where I found my true passion, singing. My freshman year was probably like most people's freshman year, it was a year of experimentation. I wanted to try everything, do every activity possible. But poor little Natalie was a little too scared to do everything she wanted to. I wanted desperately to be in the musical that year, they were doing Mame, but I didn't audition. Instead, I played in the pit so I could still be part of the experience. Shortly after the musical started the choir director found out that I had wanted to audition, but didn't. He asked me to sing for him and the next thing I knew I was suddenly singing with the top choir at ISSMA. The next year I found room in my schedule to actually take the choir class. I began to work as hard as I could on my own and felt that I was making good progress on my own. My junior year I didn't have room to take any music classes at all. I played in orchestra one day a week at zero hour and worked on my own to learn music for choir during our 20 minute homeroom session. I still did ISSMA for both cello and voice. That was the first year that I went to state competition for both. My senior year I was able to take choir again and to make my life even happier I took Cadet Teaching. As a cadet teacher I was able to study with my middle school teacher and teach intermediate orchestra. My senior year was my best musical year. I was able to sing with the Saint Mary's Women's Choir and take voice lessons for 6 months to prepare for auditions for college. I was in the musical Grease and still got to play cello with the little kids at the middle school.
Music has become my life. I love it. I live for it. It is the one thing that I can see in my life making me happy forever. I enjoy being around people who love music, because there is an understanding of a common interest and passion. I am here in music school because I love music. I am not prepared. I have never had a theory class. I have never studied with a private vocal instructor for an extended period of time, but I love music. I love the feeling and the rush that I get when I am singing. I live for that feeling.