My School Experience

It is eighth hour on a Tuesday, this means I have band today. I walk into the band room, and I see a handful of other students have already arrived and are watching a video that is being played up on the starboard. They stand and watch as the Notre Dame marching band performs an intricate routine during a college football game. A few others hustle around to get their instruments and get to their seats before the three minute allowance is up. I hear random chit chat among friends and people beginning to tune their instruments as I gather my things and get into my seat.

The band has marching rehearsal from nine a.m. to eleven a.m, a break for lunch, and another marching rehearsal from six p.m. to eight thirty p.m. The band also partakes in an afternoon music rehearsal indoors in and an fun activity at about nine p.m. Consequently, they do not return to their dorm rooms until about ten p.m. In turn, most band members get eight hours of sleep, one and a half hours of music rehearsal, and four and a half hours of marching rehearsal. Many people think band camp is fun and exciting, but that is not always the case. In order for every marching band member to have productive rehearsals, participants have to go band camp.

East Carolina’s Concert band and Symphonic band performed on Tuesday, February 16, at seven thirty in the evening in Wright Auditorium. Being a duel performance it included over a hundred of my talented East Carolina peers led by outstanding band Directors Dr. Juchniewicz and Dr. Staub. Along with great students and Directors, the show incorporated a beautiful trombone solo performed by a fellow colleague. Although I have never attended a concert where such style of music was being performed, I did enjoy the music being played and most of them sounded as if I heard them before. The professionalism the students portrayed and maintain to the audience was breathtaking and made me honored to be their peers.

The first two or three sectionals of marching band, where you go and practice the marching music every Tuesday for four hours, were very awkward because I was by myself. Another flute showed up eventually and helped reduce the awkwardness. It was scary but it quickly became just something I did. Then the long hours, sunburns, dehydration, exhaustion, and fun started. We spent around six to seven hours outside marching, one to two hours practicing music, and one hour to eat lunch. To some people this might seem like nothing but for others it’s the opposite, and no

The concert I attended was called the Faculty and Student Recital, which took place in the Cisco Auditorium on April 11, 2017. The music that was on the program was mostly what is called “classical” music, as well as a Chinese Folk Song, an electronic composition, and variations on an Indian Tala. In the classical pieces, the instruments that were used were the violin, the piano, the cello, and the oboe. In the electronic composition, the computer was used to make music. In the Chinese Folk Song, the piccolo was used to imitate the unique timbre of a Chinese flute. In the Indian tala, drums from Ghana were used to imitate the rhythm and sound of Indian drums. The piano, the violin, the cello, and the piccolo all originate

My devotion for self-improvement had motivated me to attended every single band rehearsal, from freshmen year to senior year. Band rehearsal is a time-consuming activity that would either take place at the crack of

Working with music takes a certain type of patients. That’s why when I knew this project was present, I had the perfect person in mind because I worked so close with this person once before. So, I decided to gather my resources and get in contact with our family friend Dr. Snodgrass who is the superintendent of the Fort Osage R-1 School District and ask if I could receive her email so I could set up a facetime call with her and get this interview on the road. Her name Is Erica Gregory and she is a high school band teacher at Fort Osage located in Independence Missouri. The reasons I decided to interview her were simple. First, she was my star time teacher which meant she was my study hall teacher. As a freshman coming into high school and being placed in a study hall class

The next month, about two weeks away from the performance date, as everyone set up their instruments for another day of practice, the

Rehearsals are held on Wednesdays from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. throughout the school year.

band needs you to be here at this practice. You can miss practice but it will not be excused. At

Coming soon, I have my audition to be in the band at Drury. I’ve auditioned for many things, including the District band, our local SCA conference band, State band, and even just for my band directors for the seating chart. I’m very nervous, but recently I’ve started going to private lessons

When I was introduced to this camp-like program by my band teacher, I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was that a wide variety of music classes would be available and its location. I knew nothing of the difficulty of music, the quality of faculty, the living conditions, the food, the entertainment. Unsure of the

I am impressed with the level of collaboration that the music teacher in your district share. In my district I am the only beginning band teacher so if the students fail to meet a concert deadline the blame falls on my shoulders. Teaching by ear is not part of my district’s curriculum until they reach jazz band which is many years later in high school. We have to immediately prepare for our winter concert that is always held in December.

As I prepare for the rehearsal techniques project in Wind Pedagogy, I find this reading to be very helpful in instructing me how to prepare for rehearsing the group. There are a lot of things that I can consider and incorporate not only in Wind Pedagogy, but also when I conduct in front of an ensemble as a

A few weeks ago the band tried to play at a football game. This game, one of four home games, would have been the only time for the band to show their two thousand fifteen production of “The Game.” The director canceled their performance at the prior game due to severe weather, and the later games are senior night and homecoming. This game is the one game that the community sees the recreational football teams. Throughout halftime, the kids run across the field. However, the band had been supposed to perform as well. People from all over the country flew, drove, or walked to the stadium to see the band perform. With the stands full, and the crowd anxiously awaiting the