My Musical Culture

Hello! I'm Julia Gergley and I am a freshman at Converse. I first started playing music in the 6th grade with viola, and later in 9th grade I started piano lessons. I had taught myself some piano before I actually started lessons. I also picked up the guitar which I was self taught and now I am learning to play the accordion that I got as a Christmas present this year.  I am also in a family rock band  "The Five Foot Ones" with my cousins. We cover classic rock songs such as "Burn 'in for you by BOC" and we perform gigs locally. My musical taste varies, I enjoy a lot of genres including classic rock, classic country, metal, jazz/blues, classical, folk, reggae, instrumental, etc... Personally I enjoy more of older music and less of modern music, but I have my exceptions. I plan to major in Piano Performance and become a private piano teacher. I also have some experience tuning pianos and plan to learn more so I could have a fall back side job on tuning and repair.

I am born and raised in Spartanburg, SC and graduated from Dorman Highschool. I'm also a drawing artist and a horse rider. I ride a Spanish breed called the "Pasofino" which is known to be the smoothest horse to ride in the world. I am very thankful I got to grow up with such a beautiful and majestic animal.  I also have 2 cats, Brahms and Jolie and 1 dog Magic. And some of my favorite foods are tacos and spaghetti yummy!

 1.  A piece that has a lot meaning to me is "Ashokan Farewell". I love this piece so much because it reminds me of my dad who played this a lot when I was little baby and it stuck with me throughout my life. I enjoy this song because it has a beautiful melody and how it was written with the civil war in mind. Ashokan Farewell was written by Jay Ungar in 1982 after the end of the third Ashokan summer music and dance camp he attended. 

2. An example of music that I noticed myself turning to during this pandemic is the band " Tame Impala". The songs by Tame Impala gives out good vibes and distracts me from the real world, especially with the pandemic. It's easy for me to get lost in because it's very psychedelic and cool sounding. It can be very uplifting and cheerful when you're down. Sundown Syndrome was released as their first single in 2009. Tame Impala has several other great songs that are good to listen to if your wanting to escape from reality or just need to relax. 

3. A band that I don't connect with is "Nickelback". It is out of musical taste because it doesn't have a great melody and repeats a lot. I also find that his singing style is very harsh and rough sounding. Not a pleasant sound to my ear. It's very bothersome after listening to it so many times from various places like the radio, restaurants, stores, etc...