Reflective Essay: How Marching Band Changed My Life

For one, it is extremely difficult no matter what role you play in the band i.e. color guard, percussionist in the pit or other member. Even though some members of the band may exert less energy than others it is really difficult to be in marching band. DCI and other competitive leagues of marching band are proof that marching band is extremely competitive. In DCI every member has to audition every year, and before auditions for DCI you have to make all-state. All-state is a marching band comprised from of the best players in a single state or region.

It was extremely difficult to plan and lead these rehearsals because I had no experience doing it. My band director always made it look easy and I learned very quickly that it was not as easy as it seemed. Planning a rehearsal required a lot of forethought because I had to know what areas of the music or drill that the band needed the most practice with. Being drum major taught me an appreciation that I did not have as a child for the job that my band director performs on a daily basis.

College Essay Topic C Throughout high school, I have been involved in many different organizations that have made a huge impact in my life. Out of all of them, I can say that two of those have not only impacted my life but have made me a better student and an all-around hardworking person. Both swimming and band has taught me that no matter what you do in life, as long as you believe and work hard, you will get through anything that life throws at you. Joining my high school’s marching band is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

So how will being an active member of the band contribute to my success at Penn State? The simplest answer is that being in the band proved to be the “key” in unlocking my drive to be something. Since the start of my freshman year of high school I worked so hard to be an excellent musician and to achieve a leadership position in the future years. As the years progressed, I managed to earn not one, but four leadership positions, and qualify to participate in many band festivals.

Going from youth sports to school sports was an enormous change. The players were bigger, faster, and stronger. Also, practice was much more difficult with stricter coaches and tougher drills. My first year of junior varsity football was terrifying. There was a select group of players who were significantly bigger than the rest of the team.

Young @ Heart There are countless known stereotypes that allude to senior citizens; many people believe: senior citizens are lazy, isolated and in poor health, the list could go on and on. The documentary Young @ Heart totally eliminates these stereotypes and discards many of the misconceptions people have towards senior citizens. Young @ Heart documents a chorus of senior citizens, directed by Bob Cilman, as they rehearse for their monumental “Alive and Well” performance in their hometown.

I have always tried to instill this type of leadership in my soldiers, having the courage to go against the grain when you believe in something. I have always tried to have this type of courage and hope that in my little corner of the world I have left some sort of legacy with those people that I have influenced. Everybody wants to leave some sort of legacy whether it be for their family or the soldiers that they lead throughout their career. All of us will not discover America, but we can attempt to emulate some of the qualities that leaders such as Christopher Columbus displayed and apply these to our lives. Columbus like many that have gone before us are examples of the Character, Presence, and Intellect ADP 6-22 (2012), that we should all strive for and will more times than not strengthen your leadership qualities.

I realized that the only way I could achieve the results I desired was to work harder, so I focused more energy into my schoolwork and it paid off. I continued to play the flute all through high school, and participating in marching band had an equally important impact on my life. Through marching band, I learned the importance of time management. Rehearsals every day after school, Friday night football games, and Saturday competitions that lasted all day greatly cut the amount of free time I had. In fact, the majority of my free time seemed to disappear, until I started working on my time management skills.

This scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for students of GVSU, and I am honored to be considered for this scholarship. I believe that I am a great applicant for this scholarship, and that I deserve this scholarship. One reason I deserve this scholarship is because of my strong academic courses. Throughout my high school career, I pushed myself academically by taking a total of 10 AP classes and 7 honors classes. These classes were all challenging, yet I pushed through with determination to complete the classes to the best of my ability.

I know how it feels to be left out, and let me tell you, it’s not fun. This year, I have been working my hardest to be someone others can lean on. My main goal right now is to be a friend to everyone. Sometimes, it’s hard to go and talk to the new girl or sit by the boy on the end of the table, because we fear that others will judge us for it, but in reality, that is far from true. When people see that you are kind and caring, they will begin to look up to you.

Just like any job, becoming a band director has its disadvantages. Band directors have a lot to worry about. They are responsible for large groups of students. In every band program, there are a handful or two of students that just do not care. They have no motivation to show up and put in hard work.

That was something I wanted to change because in order to look at the bigger picture, the smaller pieces must also be recognized. It was my first time as a leader as well as being in charge of 130 members. I tried to work with and gave my attention to each individual because they do matter, which helped the group progressed so much. The responsibilities continue to increase as the pressures of being a perfect leader begin to evolve. I was worried that people were criticizing me or blaming me for any small mistakes that I might make, but I realized that I was still a member of the band who was given a leadership position to inspire people with encouragements and positivity.

Although both stories in the assignment had different backgrounds, both Junius and Ian were affected by their peers quite a lot, for trying to make their surroundings happy. In the stories, Junius was faced under a lot of pressure when his townspeople expected him to deliver a good poem, which he was then uncapable of doing. Then, in story two, Ian also faced immense pressure when his peers had to enjoy whichever folk festival act became winner of the show, but he wanted to choose the correct option without upsetting or dissapointing anyone. To prove how Junius in source one, “Two Stanzas,” was affected by the crowd, paragraph two quickly reveals evidence. In this paragraph the author stated, “Put on their worst clothes, to sprinkle ashes

During concert band season almost everyone did not want to continue to play music because of the long-term teachers for the music classes. It slowly got to the point where no one but me in my section was going to the rehearsals. This led me to needing to learn multiple parts and led to odd points during practice where I was the only one playing while panicking trying to cover the parts equally. I repeatedly asked for them to come to the practice but rather than help most did not want to go to these practices.

Pride, poise, and professionalism; these words are the foundation upon which my high school 's marching band program revolves around. When I originally transitioned from middle to high school, the organization centered on the members. Winning wasn 't the only focus of our band, and the year formed a love of band unparalleled by anything. That year, for the first time in our band program 's history, we made finals at our last competition in Havelock, changing our program for the worse.