Mississippi Lions All-State Band: A Personal Narrative Of My Life

Meet my Jazz band. This is a picture of us in New Orleans my junior year during spring break to play Jazz. I decided upon this picture because this band has had such a profound impact on how I frame my future.

I have always been a particularly musical person. When I was younger, I wanted to become a singer when I grew up, but upon joining the choir in elementary I realized I did not have the talent for singing that I thought I had. Continually singing off key and never sounding as good as my peers did, I decided to confine myself to singing at home where only my family could hear me. Despite this revelation that I was, in fact, a terrible singer, I still wanted to participate in some type of musical performance and decided to join the band in middle school. After trying out various different instruments, I settled on the flute and quickly fell in love.

For many years I have been known for being a very talented athlete. But what many people do not know is that I was once in the Elba Marching band. Being in the band has taught me a lot of things, like reading music, discipline and organization. The most interesting thing about the band was that we had to learn how to read music. At first this was a challenge for me, but I soon got the hang of it.

I also became very proficient on those very early on. I soon moved to where I live now. Before I even moved I already had contacted the band director at Germantown Hills Middle School, Eric Loring, to see what their program was and to see what instruments they had available. I ended up starting the oboe, which till this day is the love of my life. During the Seventh Grade I was introduced to the Central Illinois Youth Symphony.

Unfortunately, the pleasure of playing for others turned into technicalities with my focus solely on practice and dedication. With this intense focus, I lost sight of what I loved to do. During my freshman year, I suddenly decided to learn the flute to join and support the marching band in my brother’s senior year. Although I nearly passed out the first time I tried to play, it was phenomenal getting to perform with the seniors in their last year. As I picked up the flute, after quitting orchestra, a smile would cross my face as I discovered the enthusiasm for what I loved to do.

("A Quote) When I sit back and think of all the ways band has changed my life for the better, I realize it was not just the music, but also those who are in the band. Wirt County Tiger Marching Band was literally my go to for the longest time, especially after my parents split up, the only people I wanted to talk to were those in band. I started band when I was in the fifth grade and I played a clarinet for about two weeks and realized that I had made the biggest error thinkable. After two weeks passed I then tried out the trumpet and

At church, I was beehive and mia maid first counselor and the pianist in the primary. In the musicals I was a lead dancer. I am a member of the National Honor Society. I volunteered to teach children music lessons after school as part of a mentor

As a freshman, I joined the chorus as a soprano. It was slightly intimidating that year because I was the youngest person in my section. Everyone

Music it’s here, it’s there, it’s everywhere, and it’s been here for millions of years. From the cave men beating sticks on rocks, to boys performing for their king, to where people just listen to music to have a good time and goof off. But music comes in eras where a certain style, taste, and artists rule the charts. The 1970’s was the end of a music era and the start of one that still holds true today. The fashion, the music, and the politics.

The band program taught me how to push through the difficulties and struggles that would allow me to become a better performer in the end, and taught me the importance of respect and courtesy, whether it be for volunteers with the band, my bandmates, other bands, and so on, and how far simple manners can go. Most importantly, though, this band taught me what it was like to be dedicated and passionate about something. In the past two years, I have developed a love for playing music that has given me more joy in life than anything else in the last four years, and due to that caused me to learn a new instrument, get more involved with our music program, created friendships and relationships that will last, allowed me to become a more rounded person, that is better equipped to handle my future. I have grown greatly in the last few years, and this is all due to the band program, which I will never be able to repay for all it has done for

As a nervous freshman about to embark on my high school journey, I had the choice to end my band career. Despite not knowing at all what to expect, I decided to pursue the fine arts into

To the average person, the high school marching band is nothing more than a bunch of geeks that play during half time at the football games or monopolize the benches by the band hall, but to me, it is so much more. To me it is a family, a safe haven, a creative outlet, a home. I have been involved in marching band for three years, going on four, and I wouldn 't trade the experience for anything. When I entered high school as a scared and awkward freshman, I immediately had three hundred people that I could rely on. The program quickly became like a second home to me and opened up a whole new path in my life.

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything” (Plato). If my childhood was filled with anything: it was imagination. From my earliest memories of my cousin, and I putting on a sold out concert on my papaw’s front porch; to putting my baby dolls to sleep with lullabies. Music has always been a big part of my life: it was the one thing I could always count on, no matter where I went; and that still stands true today.

I have learned how to read musical pieces, how to play different piano-like instruments, and how to better organize my thoughts and critical thinking. I am a sophomore in high school and have been for a while now. That makes the experience of me being in band a time period of one to two years. Band has changed me for the better, whether it be me learning how to navigate myself through life or music, it has been there for me for a long time now. Without band and music, I do not know who I would be.

Marching band was fun I was very sceptical about getting all my music memorized but Ms.Snider made it very easy and kept encouraging me to get it done, along with the other members in my saxophone group. I had watched the marching band as a kid and I never thought that it was as hard as it really is. Getting all the steps and starting on your left food is very important when staying in step and getting a good rating at contest. My friends and I got even closer, and I made a lot more friends.