Graduation Speech : The Music Festival

The fear of not living up to the expectations of the people who believed in me was heavy on my shoulders as I walked into the tiny room with two stern-looking judges who only focused on the paper in front of them. I was confident for a moment, but it was only a pretension. In the beginning of my sophomore year, I decided to join the All-State Music Festival, a music program where anyone can audition to play at a festival in Anchorage, Alaska. Although the result was not what I expected, the experience has influenced me to become the person I am today.

To enter the festival, everyone had to send in recordings of the audition music chosen by All-State. It took one month to find out about the result, and it was a friend who notified me that I got first alternate. I was frozen, with a small confused smile on my face, and went to my band director to confirm the news. First alternate meant I would receive the festival music, but I can’t attend the festival unless someone in my section is unavailable. A week later, an email came in announcing that I could attend.

My eyes widened at the news and I couldn’t express my emotions like others who would jump up and scream with joy, but my grin and eyes expressed it all. Everyone clapped and congratulated me.

“Wait, wait, wait,” the band quieted down as the only other person who made All-State stood up from the back row and asked, “So Yi is going to Anchorage with us?”

Our band director nodded with a smile, “Yes.”

“YES! I’m not alone!” He sat back down while everyone laughed.

Soon, it was the day before leaving, and that night I told him, “Let’s try not to make last chair.”

The morning of our first rehearsal, I sat in the cafeteria at East Anchorage High School as the teacher chec...

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...but he talked about hoping to earn first next year. That was when I realized that I’m not the only one in this sort of situation.

In the beginning, I didn’t know if I had the ability to actually accomplish something that usually high school Juniors and Seniors attempted. I recall the feeling of anxiety and confusion when the judges had told me which music to play, but instead of the music title, they gave me just the last name of the composer. After this ordeal, I gained confidence and learned new skills through overcoming mistakes. Now, I don’t waver at the idea of having to perform by myself on stage or in front of someone and I know many different ways of learning a music instead of just going through it repeatedly. Furthermore, I’ve gained a love for more competition, wondering exactly how high I can reach, because next time I won’t make the same mistakes again.