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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

"Memories" by Paul A

 
     One of the many things I will forever remember from my high school experience is joining Etiwanda High School’s marching band. I learned many important aspects of life throughout my freshman to senior year in the band. As a freshman I had no clue what life was going to be like and how difficult the courses would be. I did not know as many people as I should I have because I was a total introvert. So as a resort, I joined the marching band. My very first year joining was a huge blur but I do remember meeting new people and learning many things about high school. I remember on my very first overnight trip with the band, Seniors were initiating freshman room to room. From remotes going into wrong places, fat wedgies, and clogged bathtubs, this struck fear into me but a weird sort of excitement. My roomates and I started to hide our belongings and try our best to avoid our demise. Luckily, they never reached our room and relief swept through us. I also remember my first banquet night when I became drum major. I auditioned for the spot but I had little faith I was going to be selected since I was only a freshman. As the positions were being announced I grew more and more anxious. My button-up grew tighter every second. Sadly, our director did not call out my name and I felt myself melt into my seat. However, at the very last minute our director said he saved to announce the very last drum major position until the very end. I heard my name be called out and I felt the surge of happiness. I walked up to accept the award feeling proud. This year within the band taught me love. 

     The following two years of band were the longest seasons for me. The practices seemed to last a lot longer, the responsibilities began to pile up, and to add on to that, we received a new band director. The transition was difficult for many of the members but it did not matter to me. I
remember having to face many difficult situations and having to diffuse them myself. My job was getting harder and harder. Along with my responsibilities as drum major, I had to balance my academic life. Sophomore year was a breeze however, junior year was the worst. I had to learn how to manage my time properly and manage my stress levels. With the assignments piling up and the difficult responsibilities, I wanted to quit band. Certain members irritated me everyday and made me question how can their IQ be so low but I had to hide that all. I wanted the stress to disappear so I could relax. I remember during the band’s overnight trip to Utah I had to lead warmup. One of the kids decided to critique my conducting and say how poor of a job I was doing out loud. I felt my ears get red, my fists clench, and my head about to explode. However, I was unable to do anything because I had to act professional. My sophomore and junior year definitely taught me patience. 

     Though my sophomore and junior year were the most difficult, my senior year in band was the most time-consuming and grueling season. Coming into this season, I had very low hopes of achieving any high placement at competitions. However, as the season progressed, the band surprised me and we started to place very high. This was due to the amount of effort and time members had to sacrifice for practice. This season had the most practice hours and longest rehearsals. Some days it felt like rehearsals would never end but the work was paying off. Finally, championships came around and I felt nervous. Many thoughts went through my head that night. All my four years has led up to this final performance. This was going to be my very last show. I was nervous that I would forget all the important things. I did not want to make a mistake. During warm up, my palms started to feel sweaty, my knees became weak, and my arms became heavy. I thought about the multitude of hours we had to practice this season and how
much effort the entire band put in. We then performed our show for the very last time in front of the thousands of people in the crowd and the judges. After the performance ended I felt a big wave of relief. I made no mistakes and everyone felt great. Next came the award ceremony in which each band was given a final placement. One by one, the placements were called out. The announcer paused at every name building the tension. The announcer then had to call out the next placement. “And in fourth place....with a score of 94.00....” those few seconds felt like an eternity. My feet dug into the turf and my body became stiff. “...ETIWANDA HIGH SCHOOL!” I felt let down. The band had put in so much time and effort the whole season. Out of the four years I have been in band, this year was not the most talented but the most hardworking and dedicated individuals. In my mind, I believed we deserved a medal. Unfortunately, the judges did not agree. This year taught me pain. 

     Looking back to my freshman year, I am glad I joined the band. I was able to learn many important aspects of life such as leadership, love, patience, and pain. Though my final year did not go as expected, I am proud of the entire band and how much we were able to accomplish. I do not regret joining band as much as I thought I would but I am glad I persevered and finished all my four years.

23 comments:

  1. We all, being the senior class, have developed and changed over these four years. Your essay displayed this transitioning period through band in such a way that it was related to all of us. Great read! -Joshua Kidwell

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  2. I enjoyed how you described your experience of joining band over the years! It sounds like a great experience and from what I have known and what I have read from your story, band is a very time consuming and hard to manage with everything else going on in school; however, I'm glad to hear how you persevered and enjoyed your time in band. This shows how much of a dedicated and hard worker you are. I also loved how you incorporated Arianna Grande's song "Thank you, next" in the story with how you said after each year how they taught you love, patience, and pain!

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  3. I loved reading about your experience in band throughout high school. I was really able to feel the frustration through your sophomore and junior year. Although you wanted to quit, you endured through the pain with your efforts. This was a great piece to read and I really felt like I was able to experience everything thanks to your descriptive details. Again, great piece to read! - Jacob Ramirez

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  4. Nice job Paul! I really enjoyed your essay because the tone was so calm and reflected. The detail that you put into the essay made it easy to follow your band journey throughout the years. i really enjoyed reading about your band experience!



























































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  5. Your band story was wild and crazy and going through it myself, I completely understand what you went through. Your details portrayed how grueling the seasons were and you learned something from the whole thing. I'm glad you persevered and no matter what, you kept going and that was demonstrated through your story. Great job!

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  6. Ashley Sierra-TilleryJanuary 13, 2019 at 1:10 PM

    Paul, your sample of our president's anthem, "Thank You, Next" was refreshing and powerful. Overall, this piece provided a narrative that is genuine and emotional. Your writing was well structured and I was able to sympathize to your struggles and successes. Great Work!
    -Ashley Sierra-Tillery

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  7. It was a shame that you guys weren't able to win especially all the hard work your guys put in. I know this because I always saw you guys practice after school and practice early as 1 am. I loved your passion and determination for band and how band taught you to grow. Your very smart and a hard worker something that I always respected, good job. -Eric Chang

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  8. It was great to get some insight on your thoughts about band and what you took from it all these years. It was enlightening to see that each and every season was different for you in some aspect or another, but you learned very important things from each season that made you into a better, stronger, and more mature person. Wonderful job, and cheers to your final moments in the band program! - Sandra Mae Samin

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  9. Great job!! Reading about all your experiences in band and your willingness to stick it out was inspiring. Its hard managing school and any extra curricular activities, but you did it. You being a drum major and leading everyone while taking criticism is not an easy task. You stayed calm and continued to push forward no matter what.

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  10. Great job paul! I loved reading through your experience of high school and although we all have different memories it was really cool to know what you went through. Loved all the details.

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  11. Paul I truly enjoyed your piece on your marching band experience and how it changed you throughout your high school career and I think having you as my drum major for 2 years now improved my experience in band as well. Love you man. Keep up the great work!

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  12. Paul you did a fantastic job showing the audience your feeling through each year of highschool. While reading your post I felt interested because you showed not only your commitment but the whole band. This was an amazing post I absolutely loved all the details included. -Sofia Canseco

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  13. Paul, first I have to say I'm glad you found an interest in band and continued your journey all through high school. I find that to be a big accomplishment and I'm glad you had happiness through it all and developed so many great characteristics from it. You still have a few months left until graduation(whoop whoop), but keep pushing through with that talent of yours!

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  14. I really enjoyed your narrative. The imagery was very descriptive and I was able to put myself in your perspective because of your detailed writing. Although you guys did not win at the end, your story was even more impactful because of this outcome. The true accomplishment was the experience, after all. Great job!

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  15. Paul, I really enjoyed your reflection on each high school year and the connection you made to the reader being that all of us all high school seniors and we’ve all experienced some sort of “Im glad I did this” or “I wish I did this” during our high school careers. This was an overall amazing piece and I’m really proud of you for pushing through! -Kyleigh Leonard

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  16. I can't believe you did band for four years that's some serious devotion. The story you shared with us was amazing and I throughly enjoyed it. A job well done Paul.

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  17. I'm so mad but thrilled at the same time over that subtle Ariana Grande and Eminem references. They were so well incorporated. Overall, I loved how you used the Ariana Grande reference to convey the progression of your experience in band.

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  18. I think the progression that you’ve had throughout high school and that you described in your writing is really interesting to hear. I know I had very similar experiences in my extracurricular, so I think your piece stood out in how relatable it was. You told your story very well, and I was intrigued the entire time I read. Thank you for sharing this story with us! MER always sounds and looks amazing in the performances I’ve seen and you seem to be always practicing, so props to you.

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  19. Great job! I really liked the way you told your experiences of band throughout high school. Especially how you have changed throughout your years in the band, from a follower to a leader. Lastly, I really liked the reference to Eminem with the "arms are heavy".-Andrew Macias

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  20. Paul, this piece really shows your persistence! I love the fact that you are able to write about your true emotions and realize what you have learned from being part of Band instead of quitting during the difficult times. I am glad that you found something you truly love and found a place of belonging even though Band definitely gave you ups and downs, but this is how we grow as human beings.

    -Xiaoqing Zhong P4

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  21. Thank you for the great read Paul. It was very interesting being able to see through a window that unwound your high school experiences from your perspective. Your self reflective tone helped make this piece a little more noteworthy than the rest and I really appreciated it. -Ryan Kang

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  22. It's great to see you achieve Paul!! And it was also a great story to see how you rose to the top, plus kinda nostalgic too.

    - Luis Matute Period 4

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  23. Paul, I appreciate you sharing your story. There are many people who look back at many things in life and see how they can fix it, myself being one of those individuals. Your story is an inspiration and I hope many people follow your footsteps in the band program. Great job!

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