End of the year Reflection

Although there are a plethora of goals I could set for myself and the entire band, I think it is better first to try and succeed at accomplishing a few goals rather than trying to focus on hundreds of different ones and the fact that you can never stop improving.
As always, I hope that I can individually tune myself better using my ear and listening to the entire ensemble and trying to fit into their sound. I feel like this year we are already getting better, but we can still improve on it. Second, I want to try and unite our trumpet section more musically and just in general so we can just work better together. By the end of the year, I hope we can sound more like a single, proud trumpet with the same kind of tone and intonation of course. Third, I want to practice every day for at least an hour and be able to do all my scales by heart which would help me greatly in all aspects of my playing, especially in jazz soloing (which could be #4 on the list). Fourth (or fifth), I want to make a stronger connection between the concert band and wind ensemble this year as a whole band program. It would be a great social and musical benefit to both groups to have other music people with whom to rave about music and life. Long live band!

While I may not have accomplished all my set goals, I still feel I was fairly successful in achieving several of them. First, I believe we developed a connection between the concert band and wind ensemble this year with band parties and the band trip, and the fact that there were a mix of people from both groups in the after school ensembles. Though I still don't know everyone, I have met many of the freshmen and hope to meet many more next year. In terms of my playing, I definitely practiced more than last year, though it may not have been an hour every day, it was still at least 5 days a week. However, I learned more of my scales and developed more of my musicality with the practicing. I also feel I challenged myself this year with auditioning for districts (which was the first time I had auditioned for anyone besides Mr. C). Even though it was nerve-racking and my audition did not turn out well because I was shaking from my nervousness, it was still an eye-opening and worthwhile experience and will make me more prepared for auditioning in the future. This summer, I hope I will continue working on my jazz playing and improv as well as other musical skills with my teacher. As a whole band, I think we have improved heavily in all aspects of our playing, since we have been challenged to play much harder music with the two groups this year. While I was apprehensive of it at first, I believe it was he right thing to do for the program and we still maintained a connection to our (brother/sister/cousin?) band. Both bands played great music really well. We sound more in tune than I can remember more often (I know there were lots of flute parties) and we have tackled pieces like "Arabesque" and "An American in Paris" really well. I can't wait for next year, but I'm still shocked that I will actually be a senior this year: I honestly don't know how it happened.

-POTM

PS: I'm mad that I ruined my record of all on-time posts...they will all be done early next year!