Personal Narrative: My Marching Band Experience

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I never thought that I would continue to play the alto saxophone into and even through high school, let alone grow to love the instrument. I had always liked music, and been interested in the instrumental side of various songs, but I’d only seen it as a hobby before committing so much of my time to playing an instrument. I’d like to think that each day I use my saxophone, I learn at least one more thing about music, the band, or my instrument all together. Throughout all of High School, I was involved with both Concert Band and Marching Band, having held leadership positions in both. While being the section and squad leader in Marching Band was nice as I learned how to teach, it was also nice being able to take a seat back in Concert Band where I didn’t have to teach anybody how to march …show more content…

I wasn’t the best marcher, often getting off on the wrong foot, and I couldn’t even think about playing while marching. As with all things though, I adapted. I learned step by step what works for me and the best way for me to practice my memorization skills and even get quite skilled at marching. The next year was much more laid back as nobody new joined and in fact somebody had quit so now the section consisted of only 3 people. While all I had to do was work on my memorization skills, I had to learn how to be more confident in myself if I wanted to perform at the level I knew I could. I knew that the only way I could play more confidently was to simply not fear any mistakes I made, which not only made me a better player, but a better student as well. Being scared to make mistakes was most likely my biggest regret during High School. Being involved in Concert Band and Marching Band has definitely helped me realize that making mistakes is the only way to be able to grow from those mistakes instead of continuously making the same

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