What I Remember About College

After high school, I went to school in Florence (across the Tennessee river) to Florence State College, now named the University of North Alabama. I played the clarinet in the band one year. I stayed in the dorm the 1st semester and home the next semester. After a year at FSC or UNA, I transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL. I majored in music, with the piano being my principle instrument and the organ as my secondary instrument. I spent a lot of my time alone in the practice rooms. I went to the Wesley Foundation (campus wing of the Methodist church) and most of my friends came from there.

I usually had a dorm room with one other girl, but my senior year I had a private room with a shared bathroom. I got plenty of exercise because I didn't keep an A-B average, I couldn't park near my classes! But having a car was definitely a plus.

My degree required I play two recitals. One in my Junior year and one in my senior year. The junior recital was 30 minutes of memorized music with another student on the program. The senior recital was an hour of memorized music all by yourself. It was very difficult but I somehow made it through. I was used to playing in a band, not alone and I didn't care for solo performances. I didn't do too well on the organ. It was a big instrument and the bench was too high for me and I had to sit on the edge of the bench which gave me the feeling of always about to fall off. I don't have pleasant memories of learning to play the organ. But I played the organ many years at church and I think I did a good job and I enjoyed it. I graduated in the summer of 1966 and I was so glad to get out into the real world!