The Importance Of My Experience At A College Band Camp

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.

Summer before junior year of high school, I was looking at a lot of standardized tests, essays, a heavier school workload, college applications, and getting a driver's license; my most immediate concern, however, was the soon to begin marching band season. Spring semester of sophomore year I had decided to audition for a leadership position in the band, and I suppose I was the best candidate because I managed to snag Section Leader for my instrument, clarinet. As the final days of July passed by, I anticipated the start of a season where I would be mentoring and teaching my fellow clarinet players the complex art of marching band. A few days before leadership camp I received a letter in the mail from the Head Band Director, Mr. Larry Brown, and immediately I knew things were not going to be what I expected.

On Tuesday February 8th, thirteen high school band members represented our school at the Trailways South Conference Honors Band. It was held at Edgerton Performing Arts Center. The students who participated were Brett Miller, Josh Kupsche, Sierra Wirth, Chris Yezzi, Madison Graf, Tori Nizzi, Madeline Wenzel, Megan Karczewski, Noah Argus, Katie Woodward, Allison Reichert, Summer Manzke, and Arianna Wichman. The students rehearsed all day as a full band with Rick Kirby and performed later that night. It was a day filled with great music, collaborating, and lots of fun. The student performed four songs, “Three Colonial Moments”, “The Willows of the Winter,” “Call of The Wild,” and ‘Crown Imperial March.” The director of the honors band was

Congratulations to the students in 7th and 8th grade who spent a whole weekend at UMKC for the UMKC Honor Band and Orchestra. These students were nominated by their peers and teachers and selected by the UMKC staff. The nominees had to perform a solo piece to audition for seating. There were more than 25 other local middle schools participating in this festival, and Prairie Star did quite well with a whopping 13 students accepted to the festival.

Amanda Ard, freshman, is involved in the Red White Brigade band at Fort Osage High School. She plays the clarinet, and has been in band for four years. During her eighth grade school year, she got to participate in two festivals, one held at Blue Springs South and one held at Worlds of Fun. “It’s kind of nerve wracking because there are a lot of people and schools, and you don't get to see the judges, but I can shut them out. Being with the team and knowing we’ll do good helps,” says Ard.

As with most kids, I was a bit nervous about my transition from middle school to high school. One advantage I had was that I participated in band in middle school and planned to be in the band in high school. The Round Rock High School band has a history of excellence and I was looking forward to being a part of that organization. This was an extraordinary time and I looked forward to being a part of the band with great anticipation. Being a part of an organization such as this makes the transition to high school seem much easier and it seemed I had a ready-made group of friends that I could rely on and ask questions of if necessary. After all, the Round Rock High School Band has over 300 members.

Everyone encounters something they absolutely love. They call it their passion and want to learn every little thing about it. Most people don't find it until high school, maybe even a little later, but I found mine in fifth grade. From the point I first picked up the flute, until now, I have loved band and wanted to learn everything I can about it. I think about marching band now, and it's hard to think what band would be like a couple years ago, let alone before I was born. So I started thinking. When did Webster City start having a marching band at the school? Who were the band teachers up until now? What before and after school practices were mandatory? What were the marching band uniforms like? How about the color guard uniforms? What was

Freshman Band- Freshman is included in my curriculum because this allows the directors focus on the development of 9th grade students understanding of music and fundamentals. Skill ranges will vary but those that are “rising stars” will be placed in musical leadership positions that they may not obtain if they were in the upper level ensembles.

When I first joined marching band after seventh grade, I missed the first summer practice to see a concert. At that time, I had no idea how much band would come to mean to me nor the unexpected amount of dedication needed. Before marching band, music was merely a casual thing, but it has transformed this old hobby into a greater priority. After just one season, this shift was noticeable. I certainly did not consider missing two days of a Disney World vacation to march at nationals when first reading the schedule. But this beloved sport worked its ways in a few short months. Through two marching seasons and a winter concert, band became one of the most prominent activities in my life.

“Mom, I don’t think I want to go anymore.” “Ella, I already paid. You’re gonna have to go” “I’m gonna die,” I thought in my head. I’m on my way to my first band camp. I joined my high school’s marching band a few months ago and have been working all summer on my marching and music.

On April 11th, 2017 in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, I attended the GVSU “University Band”. This up-beat ensemble lasted about 90 minutes; the talented students of GVSU’s university band joined together to perform multiple different songs ranging from a Waltz to a Dixieland Jamboree. All of the songs that the band played for the audience were all well-known, popular songs that they all enjoyed. Having the opportunity to attend this concert has opened new musical paths for myself and has allowed me to enjoy and kindly critique something that I perhaps would have never had the chance to otherwise.

I stood on the podium, looking out at the field and took a deep breath. The fans in the stands behind me were a buzz in my ears as I made eye contact with every member of the band. I held my hands up and clapped three times and then SNAP! The instruments were up and I counted off, starting our first marching band show of the season.

When I attended the Crane Youth Music Camp (CYM) in Potsdam, NY for the first time in 2012, I studied vocal performance only for the reason that I enjoyed singing as a hobby. I felt lost being in a camp filled with future music majors, because at the time I wanted to be an engineer. It was not until I returned to CYM in 2014, when playing guitar and singing with my new friends, that I had my first realization. If I wanted to be an engineer, I would be at a STEM camp, but I had chosen to return to music, a place where I would stay.

Marching band does not sound interesting to most people, at least to me it didn’t. For the longest time I wanted to quit band because I never really enjoyed it, I didn’t think I was good so it made me want to give up. But my mother never let me quit. I hated her for it but I realize now that she was doing something good for me. My mother made me play the flute. The instrument that isn’t like any other, some call it a “hybrid” between the woodwinds and brass. I never liked to practice the flute, but eventually I had to. These factors, hating being in band, my mother forcing me to stick with it, and playing the flute, changed my life.

The freedom to take classes pertaining to my interests, such as music, would enable me to become a better musician and to continue cultivating my passion. I can already see myself playing along with the Big Red Band and immersing myself in the quirky culture of Da ‘Bones as they make fun of the trumpets and their hubris—and be ridiculed for the same reason as the trumpets retort “Trombones Suck.” Through such a group, I dream of joining a family with the same interests and intellectual goals I strive for within the large and diverse environment of