Julian Morfin 2nd Block Narrative, Descriptive Essay “Vibrations” -Tue 1.23.18 "Vibrations” When one plays a C-note on an instrument, he produces a vibration; this proceeds to what we recognize as sound. On a piano, when one presses a C-note followed by an E, this is known as a Melodic third. However, if one presses them together, it is considered a Harmonic third: all the way to an octave. As varied as the colors of the rainbow, the varieties of sounds, chords, and other musical arrangements one is able to achieve is seemingly endless. Simple as notes may be to play, advanced arrangements, implementation of advanced and interesting key signatures, affords a solo artist the chance to have others join him by playing another instrument, such …show more content…
as a guitar, bass, or even someone's voice. When I listen to a song, I picture a story taking place; I feel the emotions the creators of the song were trying to express. I listen to music as if it is a story being told. A well-composed song has an introduction, a climax that has a circuitous route, then a return to the beginning, a “coming full circle.” This time, the story continues by having the character learn from his previous flaws, from places where he has failed to meet his full potential. The second climax continues and describes whoever the character is, his/her/its victory or loss in the events that took place. Then the song comes to a close with the character either getting his way or failing. Music has always influenced my life from a young age; furthermore, the same went for my oldest sister. It was the year of 2009 when I heard my sister listen to the music to which I then, as now, have strong ties. She, unknowingly, introduced me to rock, and after buying an mp3 player from my brother, which he received from my oldest sister, my life literally changed for the better. It was 7th grade when I expanded my taste in rock, when I decided to look up an old song that my sister spoke to me about when I was in 4th grade. The song was called “This is War.” Shortly after, I became an immense fan of the band named 30 Seconds to Mars. This band has helped to shape me--the way I view the world, the way I relate to others.
The lyrics the songs had changed the way I managed my temper. Instead of losing my temper in school, I learned to embrace it by listening to their songs. The members inspired me to want to learn the guitar, piano, and drums. I currently only play the piano and guitar. The drums are soon to come someday. In the 9th grade, to strengthen my skills, I decided to join the school band. Hesitating on the decision, I knew it was for the best. After joining, I was one semester behind; frustrated by the thought, I understood my situation. Driven to work intensely I got caught up. I’d spend the entire block completing what Mr. Leeth handed me. By the time it was for me to leave, I was completely brain dead. I still had one extra block and track practice to attend. In the following first few weeks I was already playing with multiple mallets, four to be exact. The entire Treble Clef was like the back of my hand. When the upcoming year came, I was asked to join the Pit in marching band by Mr. Leeth himself. I refused, knowing it was a mistake I was making. I regret that decision even to this day. Too worried what others would think, or if I'll get made fun of I didn’t join. In order to improve my skills, I’ve decided to join 1st block band. Mr. Leeth even suggested the same …show more content…
idea. Forwarding to recent events, me and my sister are actually close as a result of this tie with music that we both seem to have with it. We both talk about bands and songs that we enjoy, or randomly remembered from the past. An example of our bond to music was when I was telling her to listen to a song live due to its, jaw dropping, performance which is undoubtedly superior than the studio version. I mistakenly named another song and she instantly knew that wasn’t the name of it. This was a song she didn’t introduce me to, yet we’ve talked about this artist in the past, just not the song. We’re also not the type of people who pretend to like a band or artist and only know one or a select few songs by them, meeting individuals like this actually frustrates me. 10:25 pm.
Sunday, January 28, 2018. I wrote this personal narrative based on my past, thinking that I've already been through… well, I've come to realize, more like to admit, that I've lived my day to day life doing what others say. Tired of sports and the urge to reenter the school band has made me aware that I'm going down the path that's not going to leading to happiness. Knowing I have the power, the diligence, the will, and the time to change this. Therefore I will, by completing this year’s track season, and getting my letterman for running track. Using this as a memento to never forget the times I took the actions of others and none for myself. Starting my junior year, I will not do any sports. Only focusing on my goal, which is to be on a musical skill level that suits me. Knowing what I want to be, I need not worry about others opinions, yet the opinions of my
own.
Sweat dripping down my face and butterflies fluttering around my stomach as if it was the Garden of Eden, I took in a deep breathe and asked myself: "Why am I so nervous? After all, it is just the most exciting day of my life." When the judges announced for the Parsippany Hills High School Marching Band to commence its show, my mind blanked out and I was on the verge of losing sanity. Giant's Stadium engulfed me, and as I pointed my instrument up to the judges' stand, I gathered my thoughts and placed my mouth into the ice-cold mouthpiece of the contrabass. "Ready or not," I beamed, "here comes the best show you will ever behold." There is no word to describe the feeling I obtain through music. However, there is no word to describe the pain I suffer through in order to be the best in the band either. When I switched my instrument to tuba from flute in seventh grade, little did I know the difference it would make in the four years of high school I was soon to experience. I joined marching band in ninth grade as my ongoing love for music waxed. When my instructor placed the 30 lb. sousaphone on my shoulder on the first day, I lost my balance and would have fallen had my friends not made the effort to catch me. During practices, I always attempted to ease the discomfort as the sousaphone cut through my collar bone, but eventually my shoulder started to agonize and bleed under the pressure. My endurance and my effort to play the best show without complaining about the weight paid off when I received the award for "Rookie of the Year." For the next three seasons of band practice, the ache and toil continued. Whenever the band had practice, followed by a football game and then a competition, my brain would blur from fatigue and my body would scream in agony. Nevertheless, I pointed my toes high in the air as I marched on, passionate about the activity. As a result, my band instructor saw my drive toward music and I was named Quartermaster for my junior year, being trusted with organizing, distributing, and collecting uniforms for all seventy-five members of the band. The responsibility was tremendous. It took a bulk of my time, but the sentiment of knowing that I was an important part of band made it all worthwhile.
George Helmholtz, as the head of the music department at Lincoln High School, is very determined with his regular students and the gifted musicians of the band. Each semester and year at school he dreams of “leading as fine a band as there was on the face of the earth. And each year it came true”. His certainty that it was true was because he believed there was no greater dream than his. His students were just as confident and in response, they played their hearts out for them. Even the students with “no talent played on guts alone” for Helmholtz.
It was my final moments as a Chelsea High School cheerleader. My final banquet had quickly approached. It was then that I realized I was not ready for the season to be over. I stood in front of my friends, fellow cheerleaders, and their families as they watched and waited for me to recite my last words as the season came to an end. It took hours for me to write about what my teammates and my coaches meant to me. I did not want to sound too nostalgic since I’m not the emotional type, but I also did not want to come across as indifferent. It was a difficult task but I knew I could accomplish it.
My first week of school, everyone encouraged me to join a club or a team. Of course I did not want to, until I heard we had a track team, and even then I did not know if I wanted to pursue it. In my mind, debating if I should dedicate myself to track was a hard decision. I was about to not only give this sport my time but also nothing but
Mauricio, being a freshman that was just placed in a random band class and having no knowledge of playing any type of instrument, is now a close friend that has had a change of heart about his views of marching band. Many can say, himself included, that he was just a “kid who was in a group of guys” that he called his friends, always one to get into trouble for the most childish things, but when joining this fine art he was able to “find structure and balance out [his] life” and “find his love for music”. When joining band, it can impact one’s life, no matter what circumstances you are in, it helps you find who you are as a person, and give you confidence to be able to pick yourself up after a downfall. Mauricio was able to discover his love for both saxophone and drumming. To this present day Mauricio now a junior in high school is the section leader of percussion. Having that position is not as easy as it sounds, it took him countless days and section leader battles to get him to where he is now. Making the heartbeat of the marching band sound incredibly sensational. Mauricio has overcome his obstacles and his so called “friends” who first judged him for being a part of the “lame” marching band, now salute him for not only being able to play two instruments, but for also expanding his horizons to play all different sorts of
Some of the most influential things in my life have changed me so much and shaped me into the person I am today. If it wasn’t for my friends and family I wouldn't have nearly the amount of musical knowledge that I have now and I’m so grateful that I can be somewhat well versed in a topic that I am so passionate about. And when I get into the topic of my friends and family I always have the feeling that I am extremely lucky to have so many great people that care so much about me in my life, I always have someone to lean on when I’m going through a hard time, and I always feel like they support me in my choices to be in the BHS Drama Program. The BHS Drama program is something that I look forward to every day after school and honestly it gives me the motivation I need to go to school and get my work done. There are so many other things that I’m grateful for but if were not for these things than I would be a completely different person than I am now. I’ve made so many memories and shared so many experience with just these things alone, they take up almost all of my
It is impossible to fully comprehend the appeal to the Gulf Coast High School Band Room unless you are actually a member of the band. All members of the Gulf Coast High School marching band spend the majority of their time in the band room, which is like a second home for most. The room itself does not appear to be anything special. It is a large room with a high ceiling, bright fluorescent lighting, and pink and green padding on the walls. The hallway maintains a terrible odor which nobody can quite determine the source of, and the white, vinyl tile floor is covered in a layer of disgusting things one can only dream of. Still, for some reason it remains a haven to about twelve percent of the student body. At first glance, it does not look like anything special, but when you open that big, gray door and step into the “band world” it becomes clear that it really is an amazing and wonderful place. It feels like the center of the universe.
The start of the 2002 track season found me concerned with how I would perform. After a disastrous bout with mononucleosis ended my freshmen track season, the fear of failure weighed heavily on my mind. I set a goal for myself in order to maintain focus and to push myself like nothing else would. My goal for my sophomore track season was to become a state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. I worked hard everyday at practice and went the extra mile, like running every Sunday, to be just that much closer to reaching my goal. The thought of standing highest on the podium in the center of the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, overcame my thoughts of complaining every time we had a hard workout. When I closed my eyes, I pictured myself waiting in anticipation as other competitors names were called out, one by one, until finally, the booming voice announced over the loudspeaker, "...and in first place, your 2002 100 meter hurdle champion, from Hotchkiss, Connie Dawson." It was visions like these that drove me to work harder everyday.
My music had wrapped itself around and around inside of me. It took away my inhibitions and filled me with a new confidence. I had the power to do anything, if only for that one set. I wanted to be on top of the world!
Sure, there are times when we listen carefully to the music behind the songs we hear, we may focus on the rhythm or the harmonies, but we never think of what it took to make the sounds that we are hearing. In this paper, I will explain the physical musical instruments. I will describe and define sound in psychic terms and then describe how different instruments create their unique sounds. There are so many different kinds of music, and thanks to the variety of instruments, the combinations of sounds that we can make are limitless. Before we look at musical instruments, we have to look at music itself.
It begins on a nice hot July morning, with birds singing and flowers in full bloom; ok, not really. But how awesome would it be if it worked out that way. It really would put something beautiful into this mesh of words. Actually it really didn't have a starting place, but starting people. A band. All the people in this band and all the people that surrounded this band were a part of my life for almost eight months. I don't really understand why, but at first I really did enjoy hanging out with these people. I guess maybe because they were 'cool', but I mean we never really did anything cool. So basically we sat around pretending to be cool, because we were considered cool. Or maybe it was just the others that were considered cool. I really don't know, but pretending to be cool was just not all that cool to me. I don't understand how people can hang out with the same people day in and day out, just to belong. I did for so long, but I really can't tell you why, It reminds me of a song. One of those songs you know all the words to but don't know the name of it or who sings it, you know?
I can almost remember that day like it was yesterday, I awoke like on any other school day. It was a gorgeous May morning, the rays of sun flittered through my miniblinds blinding me as if I hadn’t seen light in days. I sluggishly dragged my limp body out of my warm bed, retiring to the bathroom to perform my normal morning rituals shower, shave, brush my teeth, get dressed, do my hair, and all the other regulars. As I looked at myself while combing my hair, it hit me like a speeding express train, I was about to graduate. I couldn’t help but smile, but at the same time I felt like a part of me was drifting away. A tear came to my eye as I realized what was about to happen to me.
If felt like I was drowning. One day I woke up and realized that I’m here for a reason and I’m not going to give up that easily, which is why I picked the song “Hero”. I finally was starting to realize why I was here and things were starting to become clear but I still needed help to get out of the funk I was in. I picked the song “ Hall Of Fame” because this song means that, whoever you are you can be anything you set your mind to. If anyone says you can 't, take that as a challenge to prove them wrong. This song represents the part in my semester that I realized I can’t just sit around and wait for someone to get me out of my funk I need to pick myself up and get out of it myself because I was meant to be here and I need to do whatever I could to succeed. The reason I picked the song “ Survivor” was because I survived the funk I was in and didn’t let it get to me. This song talks about surviving without a certain person but I’m looking at it in terms of me surviving that rough time of my semester and getting myself out of it because I am strong and I will make it through college. “Stronger( What Doesn’t Kill You)” was the next song I picked because at this point in the semester I realized that college isn’t going to be easy and I shouldn’t expect it to be easy because like the song says “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I
My life has been full of so many events. I’ve lived through many hard times combatting my anxiety and depression, while having family problems, and trouble with many other areas in my life. School was a daily problem, and a problem that couldn’t really be avoided or fixed. I really hope that the rest of my life goes in this upward climb pattern that I am in right now, although I expect to have my ups and downs, but now I at least know that I am prepared for them.
... to go to the upcoming competition, I decided that I would step in to be the voice of reason between the two groups. Although these two groups consisted of the majority of my friends and the conflict was about an issue that I obtained some knowledge about, I placed my friendships aside and refused to let my opinion sway me in the way that I felt would resolve the issue. I knew that letting this situation go on without turning it in would leave the band lacking, but I also knew that refusing to turn it in put me position in jeopardy. I made my decision based upon the band as a whole and that we would need our entire member to compete at the best of our abilities. My position as drum major did not really matter to me at the time of resolving the issue. It was then that I realized what my mother and father had been trying to instill in me for the last seventeen years.