Personal Narrative: Valley Marchmaster

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. Playing percussion took on a whole new definition in my eyes and I gained not only a greater respect for music, but for the people that created it and managed it and loved it like no other. Through my high

Brave, have no fear of someone or something. American soldiers represent bravery. The huts of the soldiers were very long and wide. The fireplace was in acceptable condition. No beds in the huts just straw and mud. I have decided to re-enlist because of inspiration, help from congressmen, and conditions are somewhat good.

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.

Music is more than that it’s something beautiful produced based on the musicians. For example when we play in class when you feel the emotion and the feeling of playing it’s just so wonderful. Music is the way kids and people show their emotions although even on a bad day we try to play well because we do not want to be the big mess up in class. Music to me is the beginning of my passion. As students, we engage in learning through a more interactive and exciting learning experience. I don’t really like listening to normal music with no instruments. When there are instruments and no words it’s like you get to add the meaning to the song. When I play my instrument I feel like I’m sending a small message and contributing to the overall message the whole band wants the audience to hear. Music means a lot to me I can’t say it’s my world yet because I have a long way to getting

I am a pioneer! My pioneer story isn’t your average Latter Day Saint pioneer story, as far as historical LDS stories go! I was raised by goodly parents, I was born and raised in Spokane Washington. I am the youngest of three children born to Jim and Shannon Newell. My brother James is the oldest and four years older than myself. My sister Kim is the pickle in the middle and the peacemaker, she is just two years older. Growing up my brother and I had a love-hate relationship, we enjoyed driving each other crazy. As for Kim and I, we have always shared a close relationship. Kim is the sister every sibling should have, she was never mean or hateful, she is the sister that I don’t deserve.

Not very many people have affected me in the same way as my friend Jake Fernholz. I have never realized the influence he has had on me until someone pointed out that we talk and think the same way. I only met Jake two years ago in track, when a pulled hamstring injury caused Mr. Kellerman to have me practice with the long distance kids. Mr. Kellerman forced me into staying on the long distance team and that is where I started to hit it off with Jake.

My favorite activity was band. I was a member of the Pep Band, Jazz Band, Drumline, Marching Band, Musical Pit (Theatre Band), and Concert Band. I have also taken three solos to contest, and have used my talent in competitions. The most time consuming activity is Marching band, which is roughly 262 hours a season. Being in the marching band since I was in 8th grade, it comes out to be about 1,310 hours I’ve spent in marching band, not including time I’ve used during school. I had the privilege to be a Captain for two years to the front ensemble, one of the biggest sections in the band. This has helped me become more responsible for myself and those who rely on me, as well as more welcoming to others.

As I peer through the thick smoke, reminding myself why I chose to come in the first place, I see a half dead man on the floor- begging for water. We don’t have enough food or clothes. There are very few of us left to fight against the redcoats. Even though on some days we are cheerful, we are starving and freezing. I am wondering if I should re-enlist or go back home. I just hope I will live to tell my story of Valley Forge. The huts are filled with thick smoke, people are sick and dying, but we are still cheerful. I have chosen to stay, or re-enlist because of the positive attitude of the soldiers, to fill in for the sick, dead, and deserters, and I want to represent our country- the reason I came.

As the late Hunter S. Thompson said, “Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.” ("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 have had few passions more intense and longstanding than that of playing the snare drum in the marching band. If you asked me now why I love the snare drum, I would tell you that it is the driving force of a marching band, and how even though it is a seemingly easy instrument, it requires an immense amount of skill and technique in order to play perfectly articulated notes. Why I actually started to love the snare drum, however, was because it was loud.

The Yankees formed us up into a wagon train, planning to take us to City Point. On the way there, I thought about the Union prisons, which is where I was headed. I read from the newspapers that the prisons were filled to their limits with soldiers and most soldiers didn’t even live because they froze to death, had chills and fevers (which killed them), or they starved to death because of the terrible food. I hope what I read was not true because Ma, Sarah and Sam really needed me alive, not dead. To take my mind off of everything that had happened, I started to read my book of psalms out loud. While I read, Private Turner (I found out his name because his fellow soldiers called him that when he told them he caught me) asked me who was I talking to.

Over the years there has been a big controversy over whether video games are relatively good or extremely bad for children. Video games are super beneficial to a kid’s learning process and have been proven to increase social skills, productivity, and stress. The fear that video games are harmful to a child, is proven through countless experiments that they are actually great for their growth and brain capacity.

Music has always been a part of my life. In definition, it is “vocal or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.” Ever since I was a young child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the entrancing melodies, and the lyrics that vary between heartwarming and heart-wrenching have always had an unexplainable effect on my life. Music seems to have the ability to change certain aspects of my world. Even with my moods, whether it is sad or mad, music will help me get through it. It has absolutely been an enormous part of my life and who I am. Thus, this is to say that I have musical talent. I am in a high school marching band, where I play any piano-like instrument. My viewpoint with music has come to a simple conclusion, without it, I would not know who I am or what to do with my life.

Throughout the history, gamers are generally thought of as a dumb, anti-social person, but recently researchers have discovered that video games could make you smarter than the average person. One person could say that video games distract from the academic goals and ultimately disrupt a person’s grades for school. On the other hand, one could believe that playing video games could actually improve social behavior, provide technical skills, increase one’s strategic skills, and improve critical thinking skills in everyday situations. Maybe catching Pokemon and shooting zombies could be more beneficial than just a recreational activity for free time.

When I was a kid, my cousin/godbrother and I really love playing video games. Video games were like an everyday drug we need to stay alive. Without video games we would have been very bored, especially when no one outside to play with. Whenever a new video game got released we will find any kind of way to get that game, but we had got a unique lessen after this and it was patience.