One morning I was sitting in my English class when my teacher handed us a piece by Jerome Stern called “What They Learn in School”. I’m not a big reader so I wasn’t too thrilled about reading Stern’s poem. However, I did become curious once I read the first line. Stern began his poem by stating how “In the schools now, they want them to know all about marijuana, crack, heroin, and amphetamines, because then they won 't be interested in marijuana, crack, heroin, and amphetamines.”…
What would you do if you were in a band with your friends, but you wanted to join the town jazz band? Mel wants to do exactly that, but he also wants to stay loyal to his friends. They are all in a garage band, and Mel thinks he is getting pretty good. Because of this he wants to join the all-city jazz band. He feels like he would be even better if he joined them.…
As a result of continuous practice and persistence, I became the principal player in my freshman band. Before entering high school band, notwithstanding the effort, I faced financial challenges. My family could not afford a trombone or pay for band to let me continue my dreams. But I did not surrender hope, and asked my band teacher for help while my parents sought aids from my relatives. Fortunately, I could purchase a student model instrument at a cheap price and continue to play in high school.…
The day I started to play my instruments changed my life, each in a different way. In 2002 I was overjoyed to find out that my mother had enrolled me in piano lessons with a family friend. I remember sitting down in our living room at the brown Baldwin piano pushed against our fire place. The keyboard itself seemed to stretch on forever with its gigantic keys.…
The piano guys are kind of a duo of pianist Jon and cellist Steven, they are also a multi people collective that includes Paul and studio engineer and writer Al. When these two heads combine they make amazing work, which makes them the #1 You Tube channel visited. The group as we know started in St. George, Utah, where Paul owned a piano shop which was not doing so hot. Jon was preparing for his concert so he needed to test some of Paul’s pianos which started this band. Soon Anderson and Schmidt were hitting the videos in You Tube with the help of Nelson.…
I loved the saxophone so much, that I stuck with it all the way to high school. Believe me when I say that the thought of marching band used to scare the living daylights out of me. Despite my fears, I came to love marching band, and that’s how I’m now one of three drum…
In my seventh grade year, I decided to join band. I had known how to play flute, and though I wasn't the best I still enjoyed it so I continued. I played in band in eighth grade, too. The directors had decided since I was so “talented” I should join marching band.…
In the Wind Ensemble, I play the trombone. It is a very easy instrument to play because there are only seven slide positions to remember. The only problem I have with playing the trombone is how much space you need to play it. Every day, people get too close to the trombone players, so we have to ask them to move forward or deal with it. The people we ask will move will move most of the time, but if they don't, we trombone players always have slides to do the work for us.…
Life isn’t easy and you have to work very hard to get what you want. I remember working very hard to do my very best at an audition for symphonic band. After marching band we have the option to choose between being in concert band or being in symphonic band. The difference between these two choices is that the symphonic band plays harder music and you have to record yourself playing something assigned by the band teacher. Completing this was a struggle for me because I made many recordings and I didn’t know which one sounded best.…
Marching Band was what I had been looking for my whole life, it was what defined me. Music has a way of spilling into my heart and expressing feelings I did not even know I could express. From the start of 6th grade, I joined band due to the fact that I loved music. I was about 12 or so and played the trombone, which was almost as big as me. So many kids had a new instrument in their hands; all showing the same emotion of excitement as me.…
During my 8th grade year, I had joined band searching for a chance of belonging. I had discovered, however, that band is more than just having a group of people to hang out with. Since I joined about two years later than most, practicing became a requirement. Every night I went home and rehearsed for hours, just so I wouldn’t fall further behind. About 500 blown-out reeds and two broken oboes later…
From Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Mary Had a Little Lamb, everyone has been exposed to music from a young age. In fact, some people pursue a musical career from the early exposure and influence. They find a need to be musically inclined, but don’t know how to be. Therefore, the perfect option is being in a concert band or orchestra. Band and orchestra are similar in the ways that both contain instruments, both produce music, and both have conductors.…
The majority of my family has played an instrument. In middle school, I started Advanced Band as a 7th grader. I played both the clarinet and bass clarinet. I’m currently trying to better skills on the guitar. I look forward to meeting talented students.…
My uncle had owned two clarinets and said that he could give me one of them, so I decided to play the clarinet. The first piece I played in the band was “Can’t take my eyes off from you”, a song sang by Franky Valli. I still can recall the excitement when I first joined rehearsal. I was so impressed and got a tingle. I felt that I finally found what I can be enthusiastic about, and playing in the band became my priority.…
I had been playing and reading music for years before I got to seventh grade and joined the band. The director would be teaching the beginners how to read and play basic songs but I could do it easily because I had already been taught how. Since I played electric bass I could turn off the volume and play, and it was barely audible to anyone else. My director would tell me to stop playing because "we aren 't there yet," so…