My Musical Autobiography

Music has always played an important role in my life. During my early childhood I was always exposed to different genres of music. My family had a very diverse pallet. Bluegrass and country from my grandparents, classical and pop from my mom, 80’s and punk rock from my dad. Needless to say, we’re lovers of music. My mom actually majored in vocal performance at our local community college before the music program was cut because of funding. Music runs deep in my family and my musical journey started fairly early. My earliest exposure to playing an instrument came from my grandparents. When I was younger, both of my parents had to work. My grandparents gladly took on the role of baby sitters ,second parents more or less. My parents were gone

In the early stages of my playing, it wasn’t always very fun. We had to learn scales, rhythmic patterns, and other basic functions of how to play our instruments. One of my friends in that young ensemble’s dad was actually a teacher in the class. He was a trombonist himself. I remember him always walking around the room playing Entry of the Gladiators, in layman terms, the circus song. He played it so easily and without trouble. I wanted to be able to play just like him. So from that point on I tried my hardest to do the best I could in elementary music. We had a few concerts every now and then to show the parents what we had learned. My mom and dad were the only ones that came because, well, they were the only family I had in Montana or surrounding states. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others all wanted to come see how I was doing, but couldn’t come out to

I was in high school now. Actually the same high school the same high school my dad had graduated from! I decided to join the marching band, and let me tell you, it was the best decision I’ve ever made! We worked endlessly to set the production on the field my first year. The first football game rolled around very quickly! We played our hearts out! It was absolutely amazing! The adrenaline rush of performing a show that you and your colleagues had worked so hard on was addicting. Later on in the season, our band was getting really tired and burnt out. We were losing our passion and drive. Mr. Henderson, our band director, realized this. Before one of our performances, he noticed we were being especially tired. He pulled us all into a huddle and gave the type of motivational speech only he could. He told us to think about that one person. The one person who meant the world to us. I thought of my grandpa. He told us to imagine that they were in the stands. To imagine that we were performing especially for them, one last time. At that moment it hit me. My grandpa was never able to see me play my trombone. He was never able to make it up to one of my performances before he passed. I immediately got emotional. We lined up, marched onto the field, and did our performance. I was crying the entire time I was on the field. It was the best performance of the show we had done yet. It