hey so protip if you have abusive parents and need to get around the house as quietly as possible, stay close to furniture and other heavy stuff because the floor is settled there and it’s less likely to creak

Pansexual clarinet

How many lgbt musicians do we have here? Like and reblog!

Reblog with your sexuality/gender identity and your instrument plus a field of study if you have one.

I got my report card today

I failed one (1) subject and did mediocre on the others. I got a C in everything music related. Sigh.

This is some straight-up dystopian shit. We need to stop this

I don’t want to disappear without a forewarning.

As of July 4th 2018, the Internet as we know it might be dead for good. 

The European Parliament is passing a new Copyright Directive.  Article 13 #CensorshipMachine will impose widespread censorship of all the content we share online. Art, fanfiction, parodies, remixes, mashups, memes, etc.. Anything that you do not hold the rights over will be taken down. 

Article 13 would force all online platforms to police and prevent the uploading of copyrighted content, or make people seek the correct licenses to post that content. Internet platforms hosting large amounts of user-uploaded content must monitor user behaviour and filter their contributions to identify and prevent copyright infringement. 

Such filters will be mandatory for platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit and Instagram, but also much smaller websites. 

(x)

This doesn’t just affect Europe. The content creators you love are going to be in hot water for sharing their art and writing with you online. Any and all content that doesn’t belong to us will be filtered. Even memes are at risk, as the person who took the original photo may want to file complaints against any platform that allows it to be used without permission. But it goes even further than that.

Last Tuesday (19th June 2018) a group of more than 70 people who have played important roles in building the internet and developing it (Tim Berners-Lee, Vincent Cerf, Jimmy Wales, Mitchell Baker…) into what it is today addressed an open letter to the members of the European Parliament:

“As creators ourselves, we share the concern that there should be a fair distribution of revenues from the online use of copyright works, that benefits creators, publishers, and platforms alike.

But Article 13 is not the right way to achieve this. By requiring Internet platforms to perform automatic filtering all of the content that their users upload, Article 13 takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users. […] The damage that this may do to the free and open Internet as we know it is hard to predict, but in our opinions could be substantial.”

Here is the original Article 13. It’s even scarier. / Link 2 

Here is how to contact your MEPs. 

Here is a full list of everything that will be affected.

Europe is facing a huge problem, and unlike with Net Neutrality, the world doesn’t seem to care. 

I did practice, I just didn't write it down.

Ancient music student proverb

Our director, discussing details of the competition we're entering: okay so we have 69 musicians in our band

Everyone else: *muffled snickering*

Annoying Saxophone Guy: are we going to play with the other school's band again this year?

Director: No

ASG: Good, they were DICKS!

Director: *gasps*

Concept: a gold bass clarinet

Then they could really fuck with people

“what saxophone sorcery is this”

That’s something I can get behind

let’s all take a moment of silence and be thankful to danzon no 2 for existing 

I am absolute trash for Danzon no. 2

Honestly it’s just magical

Now THAT’s disturbing.

Why you shouldn’t donate to Trans Lifeline

Ever since the Presidential Election results came in, there’s been post after post of people spreading around the phone number for a supposed suicide hotline for trans people, called Trans Lifeline.

What people don’t know is that this “hotline” is a huge scam meant to fund the founders’ personal lives, and that the hotline barely answers their calls, if ever.

A twitter was made a while back to cover the small, almost nonexistent amount of operators on the line, but it is now inoperable because the founders found out and shut down the source of the twitter bot’s information, because how dare someone provide the truth.

The founder, who is also trans, frequently posts pictures of her weapons, and even showed up at someone’s house because she didn’t agree with what they had to say about her hotline and her “friends”, then proceeded to make vague physical threats at them on FB. As a mentally ill person, she seems unfit to be handling such a lifeline that barely answers their calls in the first place.

She also spends the organization’s money frivolously, going from one state to the next for who knows what.

Here’s their 2015 annual report.

And here’s a claim that 6,000 hours of volunteer work equals up to $197,000. This is incredibly inflated.

THEY ARE ALSO NOT ACCREDITED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SUICIDOLOGY AND REFUSE TO CALL MEDICAL PERSONNEL IN THE EVENT OF A SUICIDE IN PROGRESS. THIS MEANS THEY WILL NOT CALL 911 IF SOMEONE ON THE LINE IS FUCKING DYING.

Only about 19% of incoming calls were being answered. This is a suicide prevention non-profit where they are only answering less than 19% of calls as of December of last year. When someone does get through, according to this report, they are talking to someone who has only received TWO FUCKING HOURS OF TRAINING.

They train people for two hours, only answer 19% of calls and when that 19% do get through, the policy does not follow the AAS crisis standard with regard to emergency personnel.

Here is a link to their IRS exempt form.

The 2015 submission indicates income of $129,922 and total assets of $22,255 so their income was about 47% more than budgeted. The 2016 budget is far more interesting given they are expecting $200,000 worth of grants. The travel bill is also surprising for a non profit, I realise there is a need to engage potential donors but there comes a point where the figure is just ridiculous and it would appear that that point is about a third of that budgeted total. I see the director of operations “in kind” contributions have been reduced from $80,000 to receiving an actual salary of $28,800 and she is bringing in a personal assistant for herself.

There could be a fucking body count and nobody would know.

I have a friend who called them once, had her call dropped 4 times, only to get a really bored-sounding operator on the other end, then she was yelled at BY THE OPERATOR for using the term ‘dude’. SHE WAS SUICIDAL AT THE TIME. YOU DO NOT YELL AT SUICIDAL PEOPLE:

On a final note, they are perpetuating the lie that 8 trans people died on the night of the election results.

At the Trans Lifeline we were devastated to hear that eight people — many of whom were teens — died by suicide last night after election results announced that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. We are reaching out to the families to offer support and condolences. Trans people are among many people who are mourning today. We know that communities of color, muslims, immigrants, and many other groups are feeling the betrayal, sadness, and fear that comes with living in a country where a majority of people voted for a leader who hates you. It is personal. It is tragic. But it is not the end. Trans Lifeline has received over 350 calls from trans people in crisis, including many suicidal people. Our trans-identified operators are working hard to offer support, guidance, and hope through this difficult time. We’ve answered a staggering 115 calls in 24 hours, demonstrating that we are here for each other. It may feel right now as though hate won out, but we know that love is more powerful. Even though many in the trans community are giving everything they have to support each other, we have a long way to go to meet the need of trans people in crisis. We need to hire additional staff to train, support, and lead our volunteers. If we can raise 100K this month, then we can hire three full-time staff people to do this life-saving work. Please give now if you can. If you are trans, we say to you — Keep fighting. We love you. If you are not trans, we say to you — Stand with us. We love you too, and we need you to show up for us. We need staunch allies, real confidants, supportive lovers, close friends, affirming faith leaders, and compassionate strangers. We need to support one another now more than ever. Remember, together we save lives!

Save your time (and your life) and call the national suicide hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

You can also call the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386, and their donation information is here.

Protect trans lives. Don’t fall for a scam that exploits potentially suicidal trans teenagers and young adults. Give to actual charities and hotlines.