Furth and Fortune blog by Will Murray

Music Collection

I usually rip new music CDs to MP3 files as soon as I buy a new CD. It’s so much more convenient in digital form. I’ve noticed that the quality of my ripped audio files varies greatly, and there are several with strange glitches and annoying audio artifacts. Therefore, in December 2007, I decided to digitize my entire audio CD collection from scratch, starting with Christmas music. I’m using Nero Ultimate to do the ripping. I’m using their MP3 PRO file format (even though there are better, less lossy formats, MP3 is the most universal), which has resulted in very good sounding audio files, even though they are only 80kbit and 22KHz joint stereo. It’s a nice trade-off between quality and storage space. The Nero MP3 PRO format really seems to make a difference compared to WinAmp Pro, LAME, Windows Media Player, or Real.

On the following pages is my complete library of freshly ripped-from-CD audio files. I’ve also included notes where I have something worth saying.

• Christmas Music

My Musical Background

I love music. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom singing lullabies while rocking me to sleep. I’m not exactly sure at what age my mom started teaching me to play the piano, but I was pretty young (unfortunately, I don’t seem to have a natural talent for it, because I still can’t play it very well). In the 4th grade, I started playing the clarinet. It was a private school, and there were only a few students taking music, so it was a nice break from regular classes, and I enjoyed it.

By junior high school, I was one of the best clarinetists in the marching band, and I earned the opportunity to attend the University of the Pacific summer music camp. What an eye-opener it was to be around “serious musicians” who lived, breathed, and practiced their instruments with an intensity I’d never seen before. After auditions, I was placed 1st clarinet, 3rd chair, which sounded pretty good until I learned that they alternated players between 1st and 2nd clarinet so neither part was noticeably better or worse than the other. Instead of being the 3rd best player, I was only 5th out of eight (Ego, you know). Ranking didn’t really matter to me, because it was such a thrill to play in a real orchestra like that. We spent hours every day practicing: first just with the woodwinds, then in smaller ensembles, then the whole orchestra. Outside of group practice, we had meals and free time. The better musicians spent every free moment practicing (and I had wondered why I was only 5th, when really it was remarkable I placed that well considering how little I practiced), but I split my time between practicing and making new friends. A couple of highlights of the camp were the ice skating party (my first time) where a cute little girl helped me learn how to skate, the end of camp dance where I shared my first kiss with that same girl, and then the final performance. I can’t describe how incredible it was to be a part of that performance. In just two weeks, we had come together and learned five or six very challenging classical pieces and choral numbers. Some of the music we loved, and some we loved to hate (at least in the beginning when it was so hard to play and sounded terrible), but in the end it all sounded amazing! It was one of the best experiences of my life.

My junior high band instructor seemed prejudiced against woodwinds, so I started learning the trumpet, too. The two instruments are totally different from each other, but it was a fun switch. I don’t remember if it was still in junior high or in high school that I also started learning baritone saxophone. Bari saxes are quite large, and their music is written using a different clef, which made playing it rather tricky. I didn’t continue with the bari sax for very long. High school marching band was a lot of fun. We traveled a bit to various band competitions, and we performed on-field at half-time during home football games. After my Freshman year, I stopped playing in the band. I missed it, but I was too busy with other activities to keep up with practice.

Since then, I took a beginning piano course in college, but dropped it. For several years, I was a member of the San Luis Early Music Consort, a Baroque chamber orchestra. I didn’t play an instrument, but I worked with the artistic director and managers (one of whom was my mother for a while) on production and technical logistics and graphic design. Attending all the rehearsals and concerts was a lot of fun. Recently, I bought a recorder (it’s like a small, wooden pennywhistle or flute that is played like a clarinet) and occasionally play it. I’ve also started playing the clarinet again sporadically. The trumpet just sits in the closet waiting to be used again. Someday, I’d like to get more serious about my music and start playing in a group again. I’d also like to learn how to play the guitar and maybe the violin. You can never know how to play too many instruments. The clarinet probably always will be my first instrument of choice.