Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Building leadership skills
Building leadership skills
Building leadership skills
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The bright stadium lights blazed overhead. I stood at the sideline of the field, with my clarinet at my side completely frozen. Like clockwork I hear the loud quadruple broom of a base drum.Suddenly, I am alive. I have always loved music. But I haven’t always been sure that music is the right path for me. I attend a small school, however we have one of the largest high school bands in our region. Our marching band is vastly more popular than our football team, and consequently is held to a much higher standard. However, being apart of such a large and intense marching band does have its challenges. I’m not the best in my section by far and as a result, I have faced a large competition. Early on, I struggled to make friends with others. During
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.
Band is family. When your student walks onto campus, he or she is instantly adopted into the strongest society on campus. They will be spending their school days among the top achievers on campus, with fellow students who look out for one another and steer each other away from trouble instead of towards it. Teachers, staff, parents, and volunteers watch over all the kids as if they were their own.
People only have passion for something they enjoy. Marching band needs to become more enjoyable for students. When you watch other bands perform, you can really tell which bands are enjoying themselves because the majority of the time they are better than the ones that just meander around playing their instrument with no real emotion. Now know that I am not saying we should just goof off more and not really do marching band, but we should make the marching show more interactive instead of just marching from one place to another. We should do more stuff like the poses at the beginning of the Batman show or how in the 80’s Show we did that lung thing during Don’t Stop Believing. Students enjoy
My older sister loved the marching band, so I always got dragged to their performances. I could not tell what was so appealing about it all; it consisted of walking on a field while playing instruments and flags being swung in the air. Participating in a marching band was never what I intended nor wanted to do. The idea bored me, but my mom insisted.
One of the biggest decisions of my high school career came my sophomore year when I decided to try out for the role of drum major in my high school band. This decision was very tough to make due to the fact that I was a sophomore, and although I already had three years of experience under my belt as a band member at Northview High School, I knew that it would be very tough to earn the respect of my peers if I succeeded in becoming drum major. Out of the three years I had spent in the band, the biggest influence on my decision to try out came from my very first marching season, between August and December of 2012. From that year forward, after seeing many areas that the band could improve, watching how underclassmen and middle school band members
A community is a group of people who share something in common whether it be location, interest or a common goal. Communities are what bring people together and that is exactly what happens in marching band. Marching band is a way for people to find their place and make friends. It is very important not only for growth in music, but also for growth in character and friendship. There is only one requirement for marching band and that is to be able to play an instrument and be willing to practice hard. The people who join marching band do not need to have similar like and dislikes, majors, or even anything remotely in common.
When someone asks me what marching band means to me, it’s very difficult to come up with a simple answer that everyone can understand. Marching band means belonging to something bigger and more worthwhile than just a “team”; It means having a stake in something that is a treasured part of both our school and our community. Even if it means going to bed feeling every muscle in my body ache and knowing I may wake up feeling worse, I always look forward to doing it all again the next day (and the next year). Marching band is a challenge that pushes the limits of my physical and emotional endurance in such a way that I can’t wait to come back for more because I know I will be a better person for it.
Where I learned how to become a leader through the leadership ensemble within the marching band. Where in my senior and fourth year of marching competitively, I became the Drum Major, and earned the Best Drum Major Award at the Roxbury Marching Band Classic Competition. From marching band I progressed into jazz music, where I became the lead alto saxophonist in the top jazz band at my school during my junior and senior year. I was also one of three saxophonists in the top band at my school. I picked up the clarinet, the flute, and the soprano saxophone on my way through high school, and have played all three as well in my performing ensembles. I played in the pit orchestra of the theater production of “All Shook Up”, and was the principal saxophonist at my high school. Too be short, I am very involved in all things music in the past and currently. Band and music have been a place for me to rely on, something that brings me joy when sad. Allows me to express myself through sounds and through instruments. It is truly a talent and a hobby that I hope to continue through college and through life because of the joy it brought me and creative outlet it was throughout my
They argue that there is not much to marching band. In truth, there is a lot to marching band. A person must be able to play the song on their instrument. Some instruments are even heavy. Then that person must learn the drill. After that they have to put the drill and music together. Some bands even memorize their music. These bands will do this at least three times. They will also practice basic marching. If a person works hard, they could even get a scholarship for college. In most schools a student can get a gym credit for marching band like other sports. Unlike other sports there is not a bench. Everyone plays the whole time. Finally, there is no quarters or innings. A band gets one shot to be the best. That is why marching band is a
I have been a member of marching band ever since I was in eighth grade. Marching, and music itself, was almost part of my DNA, with my entire family having been involved in musical organizations before me. My journey into the world of marching band began as a timid, reserved, and anxiety-filled girl who did not know anybody else involved in the organization. I was convinced that I was going to hate it, and came home from most of our summer rehearsals in tears. That was when older members started reaching out to me; they invited me to lunches and dinners during band camp, and sat with me during breaks so that I did not have to be alone. Eventually I made other friends my age, and I did not need to cling to them as much, but I still considered
According to Martha Graham, “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” To me, dancing is more than just a hobby, it is my life. My dance team is also more than just a team, it is my second family. Each girl on my team has her own unique personality, but somehow, we all get along well. We are all such good friends and have had to make it through many difficult situations already, but all it has done was bring us closer together. The girls on my team are all caring, talented, and funny.
Music is one of the most fantastical forms of entertainment. Its history stretches all the way from the primitive polyrhythmic drums in Africa to our modern day pop music we listen to on our phones. It has the ability to amaze us, to capture our attention and leave us in awe. It soothes the hearts of billions, and it is so deeply rooted in my life that it has touched my heart as well. Everyday I walk to the beat of the song stuck in my head and hum along to the melody. For me, to listen to music be lifted into the air by the hands of your imagination and float around for a while. You forget about your worries, your troubles and find peace within the sound. Every chapter in my life is attached with a song. Every time I listen to a certain song, thoughts of my past come flooding back
Ever since I was a small child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the
People underestimate band, they laugh and scoff when we call it a sport but I know that band is about hard work, dedication, and cooperation. Marching Band is like one big machine, when all parts are working together it runs smoothly, but when one part of the machine stops working then the whole machine stops
All in all, people will believe that marching band is and isn’t a sport. Just keep in mind, the next time you see your local high school or college marching band, look at there legs, and how they’re always in sync with each other. Listen to the music, and how smooth it sounds, even with them moving on the field. And look at how they always facing forward, doing there best, to keep things