Personal Narrative: How Jazz Band Changed My Life

In elementary school I felt uncomfortable with who I was; I was filled with hate for myself, and I was left with nothing but hopelessness. I was a stranger to happiness. I mean, I did have friends, but I felt as if I was trying to be someone I wasn’t so they would like me. Looking back at elementary school, I always felt awful about my life and dark thoughts cloud my memory. I was never comfortable in my own skin. The truth is that I was a feminine kid, and that was a bad thing, or so I was convinced. I felt like I connected better with girls, although I stayed away from them because my family said it was weird and my older brothers both had guy friends. As a result I was left feeling out of place in the world, and was left in self-hatred. …show more content…
It helped me finally learned that the rays of sunshine always appear in my life when I enjoy and appreciate the present. When I was in grade nine there were many solo opportunities in Jazz Band. Whenever Ms. Hunt, the conductor, would offer one to the band or my section I would wonder what people would think of me if I took it, even if I really wanted to take it. But by the time I was finished thinking about it and built up enough courage to say I’ll take the solo, someone else took it. I missed out on the opportunity to gain the confidence for a solo and increase my improvisational skills on my instrument. Therefore, I had to learn that over thinking things and not taking risks in the moment can create a loss in opportunities the hard way. I missed out on many solo opportunities in grade nine and some of grade ten, but I had recently caught on to the fact that you just have to go for it. I learned this lesson again, but in a better way, when I performed. I always felt like there was nothing else going on in the world and every moment I had on the stage was like my last. It was like skydiving - when you jump you don’t think about what you are going for have for dinner or what school assignments you have to do, but you enjoy the moments it lasts. As I kept performing, I started to learn that a lot of the excitement of performing comes from being in the moment and it’s the thing that makes a performance intriguing. I then began to apply that to my everyday life and realized that it wasn’t very different from performing. I learned that if I live my life in the moment and not always worry about the future and what’s ahead, life is much more enjoyable and exciting. Thus, the music room has provided me with the knowledge that living in the moment is important to take advantage of opportunities and enjoy the world around