Ned Goals...
Page 1 of 1
Ned Goals...
n.sneath.saxtothemax Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:03 pm
"So, my goals for this year. Personally, I would like to do what every dedicated musician wants to do: get to a point of mastery on my instrument. Everyone says this, though. However, let's ask ourselves: does everyone do it? The answer is no. Like many things in life, achieving musical mastery is easier said than done and requires hard work and dedication. To be completely honest, I've never dedicated as much time as I should to the pursuit of perfection. Thus, my goal for this year includes spending more time. At least once a week, I would like to bring the ole' sax home and shred for at least two hours. These are all things I feel I can do personally and I think these are reachable personal goals. So, one down.
For the (Concert) band as a whole, I have thought hard about what OUR goals should be. First, we need to represent complete dedication, at least in the classroom. If we can spend one hour focusing our attention completely on the rehearsal, I think that the sound and skill of the band will increase ten-fold. Too much time is wasted on lapses in focus and all it takes is a personal reminder. If you feel like you aren't focusing all of your attention on the rehearsal, remind yourself. My second goal for the band is to perfect one piece. I can say with confidence that there are mistakes and flaws in each of our pieces. This is not to say that we don't sound good, but we aren't perfect. In order to achieve this goal we need to complete our first goal, complete attention in the band room. These are simple goals and tasks that can be completed. GO BAND."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that was me a couple of months ago. So naive, am I right? I mean who actually thought I'd go home and practice? I sure didn't. To be honest, I was never one for practicing because (weird brag coming) the music in class never challenged me enough to the point where I thought I would mess up the piece if I didn't practice. Boy, how wrong was I?! I will say that I practiced more this year than I have before but that was for Chamber Winds. However, I realize now that one doesn't have to be miserable at their instrument in order to practice. If you can play a piece with 95% proficiency then sure, you don't have to practice in order to pass it off as good, but even a little bit of practicing goes a long way. It doesn't matter where you are with the piece, in order to try and 'master' your instrument, it's all about exposure. I could play "mary had a little lamb" 4,986,9873,146,735,000 times and be that much closer to mastery of the instrument. I didn't do that because I'm not insane, but I did make an effort to play my sax, no matter what I played. Sure, exposure to difficult music makes a huge difference, but just pure practice and taking baby steps can do the same. I have seen that when teaching myself an instrument, such as the guitar or banjo, just playing the instrument at all brings me that much more knowledge of the instrument and allows me to be more familiar with it. So yeah, basically, practice is everything. It doesn't matter what or when you play, just play! I feel that I have done a better job of this. I personally would say that I achieved my goal partially. B+
Now for the band as a whole. Mr. C has said this 908134750932485623089456723984756 times (like sick right?) but: the Concert Band has improved by leaps and bounds in this school year! We may have had our shaky rehearsals (and believe me I don't exclude myself from the blame) but overall we were attentive and involved in the music. We may not have 'perfected' a piece, but we came close! I personally noticed a greater interest in the music as the year went on, and that is due to our confidence. At the beginning we had this whole idea that we were 'bad band', but as we played the pieces and went through each rehearsal I think we realized: "Hey, we can do this!" I think as far as the Concert Band goes, A-. I think the goals I set were a little hard to reach, but we did a great job! We were attentive in class, got more involved with the music, and created a great community of both younger and older students. Together I think we achieved more than any of us thought we could. Way to go team!
For the (Concert) band as a whole, I have thought hard about what OUR goals should be. First, we need to represent complete dedication, at least in the classroom. If we can spend one hour focusing our attention completely on the rehearsal, I think that the sound and skill of the band will increase ten-fold. Too much time is wasted on lapses in focus and all it takes is a personal reminder. If you feel like you aren't focusing all of your attention on the rehearsal, remind yourself. My second goal for the band is to perfect one piece. I can say with confidence that there are mistakes and flaws in each of our pieces. This is not to say that we don't sound good, but we aren't perfect. In order to achieve this goal we need to complete our first goal, complete attention in the band room. These are simple goals and tasks that can be completed. GO BAND."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that was me a couple of months ago. So naive, am I right? I mean who actually thought I'd go home and practice? I sure didn't. To be honest, I was never one for practicing because (weird brag coming) the music in class never challenged me enough to the point where I thought I would mess up the piece if I didn't practice. Boy, how wrong was I?! I will say that I practiced more this year than I have before but that was for Chamber Winds. However, I realize now that one doesn't have to be miserable at their instrument in order to practice. If you can play a piece with 95% proficiency then sure, you don't have to practice in order to pass it off as good, but even a little bit of practicing goes a long way. It doesn't matter where you are with the piece, in order to try and 'master' your instrument, it's all about exposure. I could play "mary had a little lamb" 4,986,9873,146,735,000 times and be that much closer to mastery of the instrument. I didn't do that because I'm not insane, but I did make an effort to play my sax, no matter what I played. Sure, exposure to difficult music makes a huge difference, but just pure practice and taking baby steps can do the same. I have seen that when teaching myself an instrument, such as the guitar or banjo, just playing the instrument at all brings me that much more knowledge of the instrument and allows me to be more familiar with it. So yeah, basically, practice is everything. It doesn't matter what or when you play, just play! I feel that I have done a better job of this. I personally would say that I achieved my goal partially. B+
Now for the band as a whole. Mr. C has said this 908134750932485623089456723984756 times (like sick right?) but: the Concert Band has improved by leaps and bounds in this school year! We may have had our shaky rehearsals (and believe me I don't exclude myself from the blame) but overall we were attentive and involved in the music. We may not have 'perfected' a piece, but we came close! I personally noticed a greater interest in the music as the year went on, and that is due to our confidence. At the beginning we had this whole idea that we were 'bad band', but as we played the pieces and went through each rehearsal I think we realized: "Hey, we can do this!" I think as far as the Concert Band goes, A-. I think the goals I set were a little hard to reach, but we did a great job! We were attentive in class, got more involved with the music, and created a great community of both younger and older students. Together I think we achieved more than any of us thought we could. Way to go team!
n.sneath.saxtothemax- Posts : 9
Join date : 2011-09-26
Similar topicsPage 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum|
|
|