Personal Narrative-Some Advice To A Band

There comes a time in everyone’s life when there is a fork in the road and we must

Orchestra has always been one of my favorite classes to go to during the day. After choosing to play the cello in middle school, I continued playing the instrument in high school. It was in this class that I had made most of my closest friends, many of whom I still love to this day. I also loved how the rich deep tones that came from playing each note of the cello and how they were able to blend with the rest of the orchestra. I knew from my freshmen year that I wanted to get into the top class, Chamber Orchestra. I thought that I would have done everything in my power to get into the class, however when the time came I could not even bring myself to audition.

I thought I was just signing up for a marching band, not a life-changing experience. It was about a week before my first year of high school started. My mom was reading the newspaper after breakfast when she showed me an ad calling for 12 to 18 year olds to join a marching band. I loved to play the glockenspiel, so I immediately jumped to join the band. I called the number and got the date, time, place, and a brief synopsis. A week after school started, we drove to Pickering High to sign up. Turns out, the band was part of the Ontario Regiment 2525 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps.

A field show in marching band is structured like a story. A beginning movement sets a mood and an introduction to your show. Then comes a slow ballad that addresses a turning point in your story. Finally comes the closing movement, your resolution.

Whenever I moved to Boyle County and found that Boyle County High School was my desired school of choice, my parents found themselves continuously urging me to join their band program, specifically marching band. I had previously been in band at my former high school, located in an exceptionally small town, in which a quality music program was not necessarily valued, much less a competitive marching band.

I have loved music since I was born, it has always been there for me. Although I love all genre of music my favorite has to be country music. You can interpret so much from one verse of music. From kindergarten to fourth grade I was in the school talent show singing. I loved getting on that stage and showing people what I could do.

Hi iam Edgardo Flores i was born in casa grande, az not that far away from our state capital,Phoenix, Az.theres nothing better to do in a hot summer than going out with the friends to a lake and have a blast riding jet skis boats and my favorite, swimming!My activites of the day are shooting,riding horses,and my favorite one is quad riding.Thats right! ive been doing these fun exciting hobbies since i was 9 years old.pretty young huh?

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

Soon after I had arrived at St. Timothy’s, Reverend Fran introduced me to the incumbent choir leader, Barb Knotts, and her husband Frank who was a Parish Councilor. I was hoping Barb would help me usher the choir through the upcoming reforms; however, both she and Frank were about to go on a two month vacation at their lakeside cottage. Until she returned home I had to work alone.

As a teenager in their high school years, there is a definite shift in my music taste from elementary and middle school to where I am today. Looking back, I listened to classical music as a snob, thinking “music isn’t as good as it used to be”, and assuming that I am the best just because I exclusively listened to what I thought was “refined.” Of course, tastes change. As I transitioned to high school I was curious about rock. One of the first bands I got into was The Strokes, especially their debut album, “Is This It”.

Once you spend a lot of time with friends, there comes a point where they are no longer just your friends. They’re your family. I have spent years in the Marching Band Color Guard, girls have come and gone, but our team was always strong. My second year on the team we got the chance of a lifetime. We got the opportunity to march in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. With this opportunity at hand, many extra practices added to our schedule. We practiced every Saturday from 9 in the morning to 9 at night. We were practicing in freezing cold weather, spinning and dancing, freezing our hands off in order to get good.

When I first joined the band, I was a quiet, emotionless guy. I didn’t have any close friends in the band either, so honestly, I wasn’t having the best time. The people around me always seemed so happy to talk to others, and it confused me in a way. But then when band camp rolled around, people started to talk to me, so naturally, I began to respond to them, and eventually I began to start conversations for myself. I was a whole lot less awkward as days turned into months, my stuttering was reduced to almost none, I'm pretty loud, and I'm pretty friendly too.

There are many groups that I am able to identify myself with, but the most principal community that I am a part of is the music community. This may seem a little general at first, but I think naming it the music community fits just right. At first, the people involved with music like band, orchestra, or choir seem like a complete mismatch of students ranging from all ideologies and cultures. In reality, we all have something in common: the love for music. This seemingly simple shared interest, is something that binds us together. We all work hard to progress and improve our musical skills whether we are together or doing a solo. Having a common obstacle is what bonds people together. That obstacle is having the ability to perform the song or

Our first group was on October 24, 2016. Amie, Amanda and I arrived early to meet with Melanie and set-up for our first group. Melanie asked us which room we preferred. I pointed out that the kitchen was less noisy then the room next to the tv room. We were able to utilize a white board and requested dry erase markers.

I am a part of a community both small and large. It has united me with people who I would never expect to have relationships with and has made my world an even closer place. My musical community is filled with musician who shares passion unimaginable.