Personal Narrative: My School Marching Band

I have been in my school marching band since my freshmen year and it has been one of the most positive influences of my life. Not only has it taught me the value of hard work, but it has also allowed me to become a leader within it.
I remember my first year in band. We were introduced to the leaders in the band and what their jobs were. The captains are in charge of the different sections in band, while the drum majors were in charge of the captains and all the band students. They were described as “the model band member”; what the band directors hoped every student to aspire to be. The leaders were supposed to deal with conflict, control the practices, teach students to be better musicians, and to make the band a more united group.
Near the end of my freshmen year, I decided to audition for captain for the next school year. While I didn’t get chosen, I didn’t let it deter me.

When our band camp began during summer, they had chosen three captains for my section.

However, since my section, percussion, was so large, it technically consisted of two different sections: drumline and the pit, which included instruments such as keyboards. For the most part, the captains had prefered to be in drumline, so the pit, of which I was a part of, was left alone for the most part. Since we had no one to guide us, we were unfocused in the beginning. I decided then to take an initiative and to focus our group. As I began to do this, our work ethic increased and it became very apparent that we were doing better than we have in previous years. Seeing this, my director decided to promote me to captain, something which surprised me as this usually did not

happen.
As the year continued, I became a better leader as well. I was able to break the tension between arguing band members, teach and improve on the music reading skills of people, and also was able to become well acquainted and welcomed everyone, which increased the positivity as a group; they saw me as someone they could trust and also voice their disdain to. I even offer to help many of them on subjects outside of band, such as mathematics, social studies, English, along with science.
My leadership will continue to also have an impact in my college and career life as well. It will allow me to become more involved with organizations that interest me and impact the community in a positive way and allow for other people to follow in this general direction while also allowing for them to become influential individuals of their own. For example with something more recent, I hope to start up a summer camp at my high school for elementary school aged children that would allow them to experience the fine arts such as art, music, theatre, and dance.
Being a leader in band and also in my school has influenced my goals in that I want to become more involved with my community and improve it. Being a part of group has allowed me to see what a few people can accomplish.