Timpani

The sports world is a multi-trillion dollar industry ("Business of Sports.") that exists to involve people in a society in an activity where they can let out their energy, emotion, and love for the sport of course. There are activities out there that qualify as a sport, but they just aren’t recognized as one. Marching Band is one of those activities that qualify, but just isn’t recognized as one. The definition of a sport helps validate Marching Band is a sport. The athleticism that is vital for…

Picture this: Your home football team and the opposing team are tied. Adrenaline is up; and then the buzzer goes off, leading into halftime. There is no better way to spend halftime than watching your school's marching band. The performance given by the band is intense, phenomenal, and thrilling. The band finishes and the crowd goes wild. The energy they give leaves the crowd still buzzing with extreme exhilaration.Your team is pushed to the win because the crowd was able to sustain energy…

The beautiful Udu Drum originates from Nigeria. Surprisingly, it began not as a percussion instrument, but as a common clay pot made for carrying water. When a potter from the ancient Ibo tribe inadvertently made an opening in the side of one of his vase-shaped water vessels, he discovered the pot's earthy, musical sound. Because some believed its haunting tone to be the "voice of the ancestors," the simple side-hole drum - sculpted entirely from earth, water, fire, and air - came to be an…

Seminar 1 Reflection Questions To make our time together as productive and efficient as possible, please reflect on the following questions and email your responses to Dr. West and Dr. Clauhs by Tuesday, 9/13. 1. How much of your teaching opportunity/experience is indeed student-centered? Why? Since this is Block 1 and the beginning of the school year, a lot of the first few days of school has involved work outside of playing music and rehearsing, including things such as organizing the band…

Extracurricular Activities: • Westwood Marching Band – For the past four years, I’ve dedicated every August to participate in this “creative story of music and movement”, to make something quite special in today’s world. Spanning 15 weeks every year, this activity pulls avid music makers together to give life to a visual aspect of music that is often untold in traditional concert bands. Over five hundred and ten hours a year, our body of three hundred members bond, find purpose together, and…

Ever since I joined band in 4th grade, people have been talking about how excited they were to join marching band. At band day in 5th and 6th grade, everyone else shared how they couldn't wait until they were a 9th grader and could finally be able to perform and play in the stands like we saw the marching band do many times. In 7th and 8th grade, we had a watered down version of marching band that only played two parades. While I was glad to get snare drum both years, the exhilaration was never…

It’s that time of the year where adults go back to work, kids go back to school, and all the activities start up. Football games are played every Friday, and there are practices for volleyball, tennis, cross country, and also marching band. All those are sports; they are true sports, including marching band. What is the definition of sport? According to The Register, it says “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often a competitive nature.” So therefore marching band…

Music means something different for everyone, but for me, it means life. As my classmates and I entered high school, we all found a niche-- a group of people like us who made us feel like we belonged, and for me that group was band. Joining band my freshman year, especially marching band provided me with a group of friends and a comfortable place to be myself. I never went through the awkward first day of school looking for someone to sit by because I entered high school with more than forty…

The African Djembe was said to be created in the 12th century; it’s considered one of the most versatile and boundless drumming instruments on the earth (Drum Africa). A Guinean drum that is played throughout Africa that is known to resemble the figure of a woman with it’s round upper half, small waist, and large lower half is called the Djembe drum. This unique drum was created by Blacksmiths from the caste Manlike in Guinea; with its exclusive sound spectrum the djembe produces a strong…

Marching Band Officer Essay I am interested in becoming a Drill Tech Captain or Brass Captain for the 2018-2019 Marching Band season. Ever since I started marching with the Mahwah Marching Thunderbirds, I have found myself amazed and interested in the culmination of expression through music and movement. Never before have I participated in an activity with such structure, passion, pride, and strong relationships between members. As a freshman, I was inspired by professional leaders of the…