Personal Narrative: The Moody Symphonic Band

It’s amazing to listen to musicians who do not normally play with each other come together and leave the audience in complete awe. That is exactly what happened on the day of Thursday November 26th 2014. The Bill Crothers Varsity Winds comprised of grade eleven and twelve students along with a few, talented grade tens went to listen to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra play. We travelled via a typical yellow school bus that took us to Roy Thomson Hall where we went right to the top level and took our seats. The seating seemed rather helpful because from a distance you could hear every instrument when you focused on it. It was beautiful. The band presented well with their “Penguin” like attire that was kind to the eyes. They appeared very organized,

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.

When the concert first began, the three instrumentalists walked with energy despite their age. The first song, “Sonata I in G-Major Op. 2, Nr. 1” by Michel Blavet, was a Baroque Sonata. There were five movements and was played by the harpsichord, flute, and cello. All movements of the song were polyphonic because of the three instruments that had different parts and equal importance. In the first movement, I noticed that the flute tended to rise in pitch. In the second movement, I noticed that the melodies often repeated. Throughout the rest of the song the tempo changed from fast to slow and the flute would usually take the lead. On the last movement, the cello and the harpsichord

The concert performed by the Allen High School Symphony Orchestra, which combines the Chamber and Sinfonia Orchestras, was an amazing concert but was not a flawless one. The pieces all sounded quite wonderful on the outside, but by diving deeper into the music and truly listening to and observing the performance with a sharper eye, there were some problems that appeared in a couple different areas, and those problems came mainly from three distinct areas: tone, technique, and musicianship.

Imagine a third grader, small and blonde, standing on a stage that practically swallows her. She gazes in awe at the bright lights that seem to tower miles above her head; likewise, she follows with a stare, fixating on the hundreds of darkened faces that remain directly in front of her. Unlike her classmates who fidget with nerves beside her, she feels a rush of adrenaline. What may have seemed to some an ordinary choir concert in a dull auditorium, was, to me, a life changing moment. Ever since this day, for 9 years now, I have had an unwavering passion for music and performing. As I aged, I found myself excitedly learning how to play 7 new instruments, but even considering the vast number of bands, orchestras, choirs, and instrumental lessons that I joined, I noticed myself

George Helmholtz, as the head of the music department at Lincoln High School, is very determined with his regular students and the gifted musicians of the band. Each semester and year at school he dreams of “leading as fine a band as there was on

The instruments in the first gathering included bass, drums, conga, trumpet, alto saxophone, shaker and vibraslap. They performed two quick tempo melodies for drums and percussion, and every instrumentalist was given the chance to hold a performance. All through the execution of the first gathering, the bass player was absence of innovativeness and specialized abilities that should have been be cleaned; his spontaneous creation was a progression of specific scales that were dull and basic. Then again, he was extremely rhythmical and had decent state of mind toward the group of onlookers, coordinating great with drums and knew how to connect with the gathering of people. Particularly, the alto saxophone player was not the same as different instrumentalists, since his tones were more vividly communicated than some other payers. His act of spontaneity was confounded and inventive too. His pitch and rhythms were exact. Notwithstanding that, he executed as harmony with trumpet player in a brief moment performing melody, where he demonstrated a decent feeling of flow. In general, despite the fact that every part of the orchestra possessed the differential musical skill, but they coordinated with each other quite

I encountered many obstacles while planning the event. Due to hectic schedules, my peers were involved in other activities and had little time to assist me in planning the concert. As a result, I realized that if we wanted a successful event, I would need to take the lead alone.

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.

On September 19, 2016, I attended a live performance at “Villa Elba Lounge” in the Bronx, New York. The group featured was “Felo Swing y su Orquesta” and the main singer was Felo Swing. During the presentation, the eight members of the group played an important role to accomplish their goal, which was entertaining. However, two of them had more than one function: they were part of the choir. But, also each one of them had to play an instrument; one a piano, and the other one a guitar. Most of the time, Felo Swing was featured as a soloist, because he sang most of the songs alone. The remaining five members of the group had also fundamental parts of the presentation: two of them played guitars, one the bongo, one the drum, and the only woman

Never could I have thought that my first concert experience was going to be in a college class, performed by various composers of classical music. During the concert, I got to listen to four performances. First, the Oxycotton was played by Tim Sanchez. Second, Samantha Post played Acht Stucke on flute, followed by Nicholas Gledhill, playing Blues and Variations for Monk on horn. Finally, the CSU Graduate Brass Quintet performed a piece named Misty. In this essay, I will share my personal experience of the concert and discuss the different elements of music seen in the different performances.

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.

The stage was brightly lit from both on stage and the front of house and the musicians were arranged in a semi circle around the podium. The back rows of the strings section were mounted on risers and high stools. They were all wearing black formal wear. They seemed confident in their playing and very relaxed and used to the stage. They all had excellent posture and were concentrating on the music without talking.

Going to a concert is an experience incomparable to any other. Here it is, the moment, every concert goer has been waiting for, the artist coming onto the stage. Hearts begin to race as the music builds each fleeting second before the artist comes out. Smoke fills the dark stage illuminated by the band's tour video playing. Then, in the center of the stage, doors begin to open revealing four singing boys. Crying and screaming

This afternoon, I went to the music concert hall where is located in the music building for the listening hour, a small noon-time concert which is performed by the staff and students from the music majors. Since it is a free noon-time concert, most of the audiences just wear the t-shirts and jeans to the concert. Dresses are not required for the concert. The performance today is given by the Ananda Jazz Ensemble. They have played “Running Away”, composed by Bob Marley; “Madalena”, composed by Ivan Linz; “Conejitos y Ananda”, composed by Abi Romero; “La Bikina”, composed by Ruben Fuentes; and “Chukaro”, also composed by Abi Romero. Because this is a Latin Americdan Journey, all of the music performed is jazz music. All pieces played in the concert are an ensemble of piano, bass, and drums. During the concert, I was trying to be a perceptive listener; I enjoyed the music with concentration and paid attention to the music’s unity and variety, such as the dynamics and tempos. I also tried to associate the music with a picture when I listened to it and understand the emotion in the music.