District Honor Band Reflective Essay

Army-All American Marching Band, a nationally-acclaimed honor band that hand-picks 125 of the most adept high-school marching band musicians from across the country every year. Though I anticipated failure, I decided to audition along with two peers. The application, lengthy and rigorous, took several months to finalize. In the end, I resolved that the result of my application would have no bearing upon me, because I had absorbed much throughout the process, identifying and bolstering my weak areas as a conductor. However, a few weeks after I submitted my application, I was notified of my selection to the 2016 U.S. Army All-American Marching Band; I had been chosen by a panel of judges as the singular drum major for the band. Amidst this staggering news, I was astounded by the overwhelming support of my friends and family. I was also receiving commendations from people that I had scarcely known, people from across the nation.

I spend a large amount of time helping out, sorting and copying music, and doing other things that are needed. I have dedicated almost all of my time to band this year, whether that be marching band, concert ensembles, Grand View Wind Ensemble, jazz band, or the honor bands I did this year. I changed my outlook on our program and knew it was the program I wanted to be the most involved in throughout high school.

I learned that even with the biggest setbacks or just stressful or hard times there is always the possibility of something good coming out of it. If I had not had the concussion I may not have gotten my varsity letter at that meet. Only having three days to practice forced me to have the discipline to put in the work I needed to do. If I had a full week of practice I probably would have just assumed I was ready without working as hard. I learned that I can be a very disciplined person and because of that now I do not always need motivation to be disciplined. As long as I really want a goal, I know I can do what it takes. I learned that setbacks do not prevent you from achieving a goal. You can work past them. Now in similar situations I try not to even think about giving up when things get hard but to just work

The Evergreen Marching Band and Colorguard (EMBC) has stewed in accomplishment, success, and hard work, for more than two decades. People don’t know, that we 're not just a normal halftime marching band--we are a competitive marching band. Like any football, drill, or soccer team, EMBC strives to compete amongst the greats. For a couple decades, EMBC has marched to success and we don 't want to stop now; however, the competitive program was close to being slashed this year, due to lack of funds. Students and parents raged at the thought of no competitive season. Competing is the best part for everyone in this program. If we lost that it wouldn’t be as much fun. We were so far in debt that if we couldn 't raise enough money, it would 've been game over.

During my junior year, all high school students of the Coachella Valley were given the opportunity to audition for the All Coachella Valley Honor Band, with a guest conductor H. Robert Reynolds. This was a significant educational opportunity I took advantage of. The audition consisted of a couple of scales, and excerpts from the music that was going to be performed on the day of the concert. When the day came I sat in front of the judge with my music and clarinet, where my nerves began to rise. Before I began to play my heart began to pound along with my hands beginning to sweat. Throughout my audition I had a few mistakes,but I stayed persistent and completed my audition. After I finished my audition, the judge said I had done great, I was

I have participated in district band auditions in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade. District band is a prestigious music ensemble that must be auditioned for in order to select the best musicians from district 7. The auditions take place in late november, early december; however, the audition process starts a lot earlier, when the audition pieces come out in May. You receive the auditions materials, and then the fun begins.

As the holidays approach, joy is in the air, and many celebratory events are occurring throughout Denver, offering joy and cheer to Denver citizens. For Denver Citywide Marching Band (DCMB), the holidays have also provided an opportunity for its members to display their talents, among which were TJ’s seniors Cassidy Cobb, Jabril Jeylani, Khem Shem Toure’, and freshman Julia Moir. TJ’s talented Spartans showed off their skills on December 4th and 5th in Downtown Denver, and greatly contributed to the merry atmosphere.

I seemed to find my voice, and my teacher proposed the idea of me joining Circle of the State with Song. I gladly accepted the offer. It was considered the next level of proficiency in music at that age. Preparing for the exchange with other schools in a few months, one day there was auditions for the best of best to be in the Indiana All State Honor Choir. There were about twenty of us in Circle of the State with Song from Winamac. I thought I should audition for a spot because the worst they could tell me is that I did not make the cut. In the past, there have been little to nobody that had made all state, so it is quite an honor to be part of

I was a part of the elite Symphonic Orchestra and I applied for District Honor Band. I even joined the Jazz Band where I learned how to play the

I had to get that audition, if I did I was in. Honor band always had at least one kid from our band in each section. All I had to do was get past Mr. Higgens. I had been stressing that whole week and now it was time. This year the clarinets would go before the saxophones. After everyone had played was when the audition sheets would be handed out. The clarinets played and it was clear who would be given a sheet and who would not. Then it was time for the saxophones, first chair went first as always, that meant I had less time to freak out. Before I knew it, it was my turn. I was just as nervous as I was last year, yes, I had improved but I still had an immense amount of self doubt. I pushed everything out of my mind and began. I got through smoothly, but of course it was hard to determine if I had done well since I was hard on myself. The rest of the saxophones played through and we all waited as our conductor jotted down notes. He picked up the honor sheets and began to pass them out. Only a couple of the clarinets were handed a sheet, he then turned to the saxophone section. He passed one to first chair, then there was a second in between that I swear lasted for hours, my heart seemed to drop but also was under attack at the same time. My mind went to chaos. “This is silly, I'm in sixth grade and stressing out over this?” “ Life will go on if I don't get it.” “ But if I don't I'll always remember.” “This stupid piece of

Audition day came and I was confident enough in my work ethic and assumed I was going to advance to the next stage in the competition to become an All Stater. However, the results weren’t in my favor I came out 3rd and it motivated me to become more of an overachiever and learn my music faster. My junior year in high school I went into full gear and I prepared myself even more for the region audition. I came out first and I still remember my reaction. I was happy but still determined to become an All Stater. My area auditions came around and I was more excited than ever. I had practiced everyday of Christmas break. I went into the audition excited and confident. Finally, the results came out and I came out first chair and at that moment I knew that I wanted to do this for the rest of my

For the talent part of the event, I planned on playing Pirates of the Caribbean by Jarrod Radnich. My instructor tried to change my mind into playing a more classical piece for the judges. She said the judges would take points off of my score if I played this piece. I ended up in the same boat as to when I was 12 years old picking a piece for my festival. Again, I set out to achieve what I wanted to do. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to learn that piece because it was difficult. I also had to have courage to play what I thought would suit me best. I was up against other contestants who were playing classical piano pieces. It did make me doubt myself at some points, but I kept my goal. I played Pirates of the Caribbean and won the 1st runner up scholarship. I definitely proved my instructor

But during my junior year the head coach began to have problems with me. He started pulling my play time to the point where I never actually got to play. He and I began having bigger and bigger issues as the days went on. Our football schedule was year-round. We had practice and weights every morning at 6am during the spring. Practice Monday through Thursday in the summer and then every day during the week in the fall. With all of that time you could see there wasn’t much time away from the team or the coach. This caused there to never be a resolution of the issue. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and after my junior season in the fall I let my coach know that I was no longer playing football. This was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Football was my life. It’s all I knew and all I spent time doing. It was a huge adjustment to suddenly no longer having to get up and go work out in the morning and no longer had to stay after school for practice. At the time, it was hard but I became content with my decision and I knew that I made the right

At the end of ninth grade, I auditioned for the Broken Arrow Show Choir. I didn’t care about which one I would get into, I just wanted to keep that part of my happiness. I did everything perfectly: I sightread, I sang my prepared piece from my favorite musical, and I danced so well, that even the older kids complimented me. I made it, I made Tiger Mystique. All I remember thinking was I got to stay with my best friends, doing what I loved. But my

When I joined the concert band I joined so I could learn about music so eventually I could make my own music in my free time and I never truly expected to go far in the band; I failed my first playing test. But after a while I started putting some effort into playing, then the next year I heard about an audition for a band that takes only the best students of their grade to form one colossal band. I practiced for four months until the actual audition and the auditioning practice took quite a prolonged time due to the sheer amount of pupils. In the room where I auditioned it was quiet and all you could hear was me. When I was finished, I felt rickety thanks to my rather bland and consequently boring ending. To me, I speculated that I wouldn’t