Time transcripts of TrentNarrative

[00:00:00:00]	[Interviewer]: This is Fallon Zakeri interviewing Trent Hiltbrand on

[00:00:04:00]	November 6th, 2011. He's here today to share with us his literacy narrative.

[00:00:08:00]	I just wanted to start off by thanking you for sharing with

[00:00:12:00]	us today and...just to start out...could you share

[00:00:16:00]	a story about the first time you learned to play an instrument 

[00:00:20:00]	and or...read or write music? Trent: Well...

[00:00:24:00]	the first I picked up the guitar,

[00:00:28:00]	and...wanted to learn how play, it was actually

[00:00:32:00]	my brother's old PV Raptor, 

[00:00:36:00]	and...it was a very, very cheap, very old guitar.

[00:00:40:00]	And it got to a point where he...hardly even used it

[00:00:44:00]	and this was around my 8th grade year of middle school, maybe freshman year of high school

[00:00:48:00]	and...

[00:00:52:00]	we were in my den and I was on my dad's laptop

[00:00:56:00]	and I really...I had the song in my...stuck in my head and it was

[00:01:00:00]	a Goo Goo Dolls song, actually, "Without You

[00:01:04:00]	Here" and...I really had no 

[00:01:08:00]	background in music at all...besides, like, some choir classes

[00:01:12:00]	and I'd always loved music, ever since I 

[00:01:16:00]	you know, was old enough to listen to music. And so I was just really wanting

[00:01:20:00]	to learn how I could express myself through song and

[00:01:24:00]	I picked up the guitar, and I went to one of my brother's tablature websites, where he

[00:01:28:00]	gets tablature off of, and I looked up 

[00:01:32:00]	the song, and I had no idea what the...

[00:01:36:00]	symbols were...that was tablature...so I was like...okay, I definitely

[00:01:40:00]	need more...experience before I can just learn how to play the guitar.

[00:01:44:00]	So, on the same website, there's a little 

[00:01:48:00]	tab called 'Lessons' and there were hundreds and hundreds of posts of all

[00:01:52:00]	these different lessons from these members of this tablature website and I

[00:01:56:00]	found some that sounded good...it was just like, you know, how to 

[00:02:00:00]	learning the guitar, and like, holding the guitar, like basics part one through five, 

[00:02:04:00]	and I just...spent the next several hours and, even 

[00:02:08:00]	the next several days...learning the basics behind guitar, and once

[00:02:12:00]	I got some general chords down,

[00:02:16:00]	and I learned how to do power chords, which was like a great access

[00:02:20:00]	to learning different songsÉOnce I got my finger strength down...and, you know, 

[00:02:24:00]	learned some basic chords, I was able to learn the song "Without You Here" by GooGoo Dolls.

[00:02:28:00]	And...I went from there and 

[00:02:32:00]	for years, I just...kept slowly stepping my skill up by learning

[00:02:36:00]	one thing after another, usually either online or...teaching myself.

[00:02:40:00]	So, the rest is history I guess. [Interviewer]: Yeah, that's great...

[00:02:44:00]	Could you share a little bit more about what influenced you to pick up

[00:02:48:00]	the guitar? I know you said, like, your brother...and his guitar, so just

[00:02:52:01]	expand a little bit more about...on that? Trent: Yeah, my motivation for playing

[00:02:56:01]	guitar...most of it was random, like I said,

[00:03:00:01]	most of it was...me just wanting to...

[00:03:04:01]	repeat and reproduce the songs that I loved so much, but I 

[00:03:08:01]	guess the majority of it was...a)

[00:03:12:01]	my love for music, and b) motivation from my brother

[00:03:16:01]	himself. My brother is an outstanding guitarist...one of 

[00:03:20:01]	the best guitarists I've ever heard live...he actually had an offer

[00:03:24:01]	for full scholarship at Belmont School for Music, like, he was in 

[00:03:28:01]	several bands, they even played at the Newport throughout high school, he was extremely

[00:03:32:01]	talented. And so, me and my brother

[00:03:36:01]	are like, best friends, and we were growing up, and so I wanted to be a part of that

[00:03:40:01]	and, the greatest part about it is...even now, like, 

[00:03:44:01]	four or five years later, we'll still meet up and...jam occasionally, and he'll

[00:03:48:01]	always, like, destroy me, but I usually...I keep it, you know, 

[00:03:52:01]	a nice chord progression, and then he just solo's it out, but...

[00:03:56:01]	Yeah, I guess...ever since, like, second or third grade my dad

[00:04:00:01]	started introducing me to some anti-establishment type rock bands

[00:04:04:01]	and I was so incredibly fueled by the motivation of the lyrics and 

[00:04:08:01]	melodies, that, like I said, even with absolutely no, like,

[00:04:12:01]	academic music experience, or anything like that, I grew

[00:04:16:01]	...there was this respect that grew within me for music 

[00:04:20:01]	that became so incredibly deep that...it fueled every aspect

[00:04:24:01]	of my life, and it still does. And guitar, I feel like,

[00:04:28:01]	...guitar is...a result of me loving music so much, and not the other way

[00:04:32:01]	around. And so, it's just

[00:04:36:01]	guitar is one of the aspects of my life that was fueled because of music, just like any

[00:04:40:01]	just like, physical activities or social life for me...

[00:04:44:01]	...anything like that. My entire life is based around music, so...

[00:04:48:01]	[Interviewer]: Wow...so could you share...

[00:04:52:01]	more on the role music plays in your life today

[00:04:56:01]	as opposed to when you were younger? Or...if there was any sort of evolution

[00:05:00:01]	there...anything about that? Trent: Yeah...I guess...where I am now

[00:05:04:01]	and where I was when I...you know, first started with

[00:05:08:01]	my, like, passion and love for music is...it really was like

[00:05:12:01]	a gradual, almost revolution...revolutionary 

[00:05:16:01]	kinda thing...like, I 

[00:05:20:01]	started off, like I said, my dad was almost a hundred percent

[00:05:24:01]	of my music intake, but the craziest thing about it was that he

[00:05:28:01]	my dad and my mom both loved bands that I

[00:05:32:01]	and my friends love today. They're not so much into the classics 

[00:05:36:01]	as other parents are, like, when I was growing up my dad introduced me to bands such as

[00:05:40:01]	like, Lit, Nine Days, Matchbox 20, 

[00:05:44:01]	Third Eye Blind, 3 Doors Down, Linkin Park, like as...light

[00:05:48:01]	as Jack Johnson, and as hard as Three Days Grace and Cold

[00:05:52:01]	and...he really gave me a strong

[00:05:56:01]	rock and roll influence and made me wanna go find more music like that. 

[00:06:00:01]	But, a lot of the bands

[00:06:04:01]	that he showed me I still listen to now today because as I grow older,

[00:06:08:01]	and with the more experiences that I get in life, both positive and negative, 

[00:06:12:01]	it connects me to that music so much with every

[00:06:16:01]	experience that I go through and... it's kinda like a two-way thing

[00:06:20:01]	where...I realize, like...you know

[00:06:24:01]	every experience that I go through in life, as I listen to these songs that I started listening to in my childhood

[00:06:28:01]	they keep changing for me because how I interpret them is so different 

[00:06:32:01]	than how I used to, because I can just connect with

[00:06:36:01]	different parts of the song that I had no idea what the deeper meaning was

[00:06:40:01]	when I was younger, but I still love for the talent aspect, so 

[00:06:44:01]	it gives me a love for all these different bands that I've been listening to

[00:06:48:01]	and so many different...from so many different 

[00:06:52:01]	view points, as I, like, progress throughout life.

[00:06:56:01]	But, yeah, I mean...

[00:07:00:01]	music for me, listening to bands...I've always used music 

[00:07:04:01]	for a way to motivate myself for life, I've always used music as a 

[00:07:08:01]	crutch, as almost like a shoulder to cry on during

[00:07:12:01]	the harder parts of life. Music...has always been

[00:07:16:01]	my love, the love of my life, and my best friend, like it's...

[00:07:20:01]	every band...that I

[00:07:24:01]	listen to I usually find the quality of music

[00:07:28:01]	in the lyrics, cause I love whenever artists

[00:07:32:01]	tell a story, or whenever artists explain any

[00:07:36:01]	emotion or a struggle or an experience in their life that I can connect to, that's like the 

[00:07:40:01]	greatest, most empowering feeling between me and the 

[00:07:44:01]	music that I listen to, so it's....it's a very deep and 

[00:07:48:01]	emotional, and almost spiritual connection that I have to music. 

[00:07:52:01]	[Interviewer]: Right, so you talk about how...music is a crutch, or a shoulder to cry

[00:07:56:01]	on, or sort of a best friend for you...has there ever been

[00:08:00:01]	a time when...you sort of had a fallout with 

[00:08:04:01]	that best friend in music? 

[00:08:08:01]	Or musical expression or practicing or playing the guitar?

[00:08:12:01]	Stuff like that. Trent: Anything...involving those...I guess

[00:08:16:01]	I... to be completely honest, I cannot

[00:08:20:01]	say I've ever had a fallout with music, I don't think I've gone a day in my life

[00:08:24:01]	without listening to at least a couple songs, or having a song

[00:08:28:01]	blaring in my head...just, like I said, music's twenty-four seven for me, but,

[00:08:32:01]	there was a time, that's actually kind of

[00:08:36:01]	still going on...Ever since

[00:08:40:01]	ending of my junior year of high school, I got really involved in

[00:08:44:01]	cross-country and track and field. And not only that, but just...much more 

[00:08:48:01]	involved externally, like in my social life and in getting involved 

[00:08:52:01]	with school and just being outside and...externally active

[00:08:56:01]	so much...with different things in my community

[00:09:00:01]	and with my friends and stuff that...my guitar

[00:09:04:02]	slowly became something that just sat in the corner of my room,

[00:09:08:02]	especially senior year, and a lot of last year, my freshman year of college,

[00:09:12:02]	last year I...especially first half of the year, I hardly

[00:09:16:02]	touched my guitar ever. And I feel like it wasn't

[00:09:20:02]	any... less respect or less interest 

[00:09:24:02]	in playing the guitar, but things just got so out of hand and busy in my life

[00:09:28:02]	especially going into college that...music was just not..or playing the guitar

[00:09:32:02]	of course was not something I had time for, and music I can still do whenever, and I still do

[00:09:36:02]	all the time, no matter what I'm doing, but playing guitar is something kind of different.

[00:09:40:02]	And I realized...that fallout about winter of last year

[00:09:44:02]	and...it really scared me cause I love expressing myself through the guitar

[00:09:48:02]	it's like, it's almost...almost [laughs]

[00:09:52:02]	[Interviewer]: Therapeutic? Trent: Yeah, it's a therapeutic feeling when I'm playing the guitar and I can just

[00:09:56:02]	express myself with so much emotion and love when 

[00:10:00:02]	I'm producing sound...just me, like that's coming from my core

[00:10:04:02]	it's not coming from anything else, and that's the greatest feeling, so I...started 

[00:10:08:02]	reconnecting with that...experience of playing

[00:10:12:02]	the guitar, once I started picking it up more throughout the 

[00:10:16:02]	winter...or throughout the spring and summer of this past year, 

[00:10:20:02]	and the fall right now, like...I still, I wish I played

[00:10:24:02]	the guitar more, but I have brought it back to...from the point where I 

[00:10:28:02]	just wasn't playing at all and so it's, I haven't had a

[00:10:32:02]	a pretty steady medium currently.

[00:10:36:02]	[Interviewer]: Do you have any last comments? 

[00:10:40:02]	Trent: Not too many... I guess

[00:10:44:02]	you know, like I said, if it wasn't for music, I don't know where I'd be in life. 

[00:10:48:02]	And if it wasn't for playing the guitar, I don't where I would be and understanding

[00:10:52:02]	music, so I guess they're kinda intertwined, but...

[00:10:56:02]	....yeah. [Interviewer]: Yeah, I think you

[00:11:00:02]	pretty much touched on your music literacy without me even saying the words

[00:11:04:02]	So...thank you. Trent: Yeah, thank you very much. 

[00:11:08:02]