Personal Narrative: North Rangers Marching Band

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.

Kaitlyn Hatchett Mr. Bergmann Senior English P5 28 August 2015 The Benefits of Participating in High School Band High school band is often looked upon as an activity where a bunch of nerds get in big, bulky, sweaty uniforms and walk around the football field during halftime all the while playing music that they have memorized. Although this is 99.9% true, marching band is much more than that and if you think about what was just stated, that takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication. Marching band provides students with life lessons and skills that can never be forgotten. There are some major “plus factors” of being a part of a high school band such as: students get to be around other students that they normally would not associate with,

I was born and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi, an area immersed in a relaxed coastal culture and a vibrant jazz and blues heritage. Gulfport is located right off the Gulf of Mexico and less than an hour from New Orleans, Louisiana. Living near the Gulf, heavily influenced my childhood, I would spend weekends at the beach, and long hours traveling to distant islands far from the coast I called home. The music you would hear at the beach were always from timeless Americana artist; such as, Bob Dylan and Jonny Cash. My parents, not musicians themselves, were infatuated with the music of the late 1980’s from artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, and Journey. My particular favorite artist from that time period was Queen, and my love for rhapsody

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.

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.

Throughout my life, I have participated in a lot of activities and have had several

Presently, High School has been changing point before going to college and beginning my dream. Before my breaking point I need one more step. I required the doubt to decide if I would be joining an extra curriculum activity, demanding decision for a freshman to make before even meeting my teachers. A month before I started school, my brother convinced me to join the Hawthorne High School Band and Color Guard. I meet the band director Mr. Hughes, who has always believed I had a talent and did his best to polish my color guard skills year by year to be the outstanding person he sees. By junior year I was designing choreographies for my team, corresponding then as their captain, their leader. I did not complete the year there. Opposite to Hawthorne,

At the end of the year for auditions, I decided to try out for Symphonic band, the top band in our school. Because I was in one of the last bands, a lot of people told me this would be very difficult to do. When the results came in I found out I had made symphonic. I was very proud of myself with how much I had improved within just a year. I even got the Academic Excellence for Concert 2 band award at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours working with my peers, building friendships while working toilsomely to perfect one show each year. When we weren’t on the field practicing, we were performing at football games or at community events, bringing the community together with a sense of pride. Being a part of the marching band has taught me to put the betterment of my peers over myself and I have made it my goal to make the people around me the best that they

“Alright, everyone. Take five for water and be back here at...6:33- no, make that 6:35. ” These are the words that I live for. Those few minutes of sweet relief from the strenuous weight of an instrument and the ever repeating show. “Start a page 25 and go until the end of the movement.” Directions like “Let’s do that a few more times and then we’ll move on” and finally, at the end of the day, “Everybody set up at the beginning of the show for a full run-through.” The directions barely getting through your mind past the notes, rhythms, sweat, breathing, and laughter. This is music. This is family. This, is marching band.

The experience at school was a defining life moment for the transition because it caused me to be an independent individual. The school had a very demanding level of study with a very burdensome load of work. With this big work load I was taught, and learned, how to work at professional level in both my academics and my artistic requirements. I also had to learn how to get my work done and also practice my vocal technique in a timely fashion while keeping my mind and body healthy.

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.

I stood seven steps from the start line, hands sweaty and lips trembling. It seemed as if at any moment I would break the position of attention: feet at a forty-five degree angle, knees slightly bent, chin just above the horizon, and shoulders up, back, and down. Though I always dreamed of representing the Benicia High School Panther Band as their drum major, the lone figure in front of the block of blue and gold wearing a white British uniform and a brown bearskin hat, it never occurred to me that I was finally there. There was no way I could not be nervous; it was the last marching practice before my first competition in my career. Nevertheless, there was no escape.

It all came down to this. All of the long hours of hard work, all leading up to this one final practice. Next Saturday the Liberty High School Marching Band would be competing at the FootHill Band Review and every member had to give it their all if we wanted to have a successful practice. It was a brisk October night, the leaves on the trees were turning a beautiful auburn, and the sun disappearing into a golden sea behind Mount Diablo. As we got into our formation in the parking, I felt the brass slowly turning my hands numb as I held my trumpet.