This is Your Performance, This is Your Story

A place for student leaders, drum majors, section leaders, student council members, etc.

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ChIckInPIt
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This is Your Performance, This is Your Story

Post by ChIckInPIt » Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:43 am

"Being in band my whole high school career, it's been fun. It's been great! Yes, there's always down time, but the ups were far more great."

For me, band was my life, i breathed it in everyday. Band was in my head all the time, i mean, heck, sometimes i had the hardest times getting tunes outta my head while i was sleeping. Band stuck to me as much as I wanted to throw myself at it, and im glad i did. I knew from my freshman year, I wanted to become section leader, but my reasons were different from my fresh. year to my soph. year. When I first thought about section leader, I thought, ok I'll look cool cause I'm leader, I can rule others. Eventually, I got into the real spirit of band and music and realized, being a "leader" doesn't mean anything at all. If anything, it's selfish cause ur only thinking for urself when you think like "oh I can tell others what to do and be in control". I slowly changed my thought into "I choose to be a leader BECAUSE I want to help others, I want to spend time to improve musically on my own, but furthermore, help others improve as much as I did or even more.

Alright, so I've heard about how when i play, I'm pretty "passionate" or "really into" my music. Yea, I've seen the videos, i know sometimes it looks really funny, I mean, yea i know it looks funny, I've seen it. The thing is, it sounds great, and the more I'm into my music, the more feeling and heart I put into it, the more the audience and judges enjoy watching. It showed that I wasn't in it to waste their time, it shows them how much I enjoy what I do. It gives them the idea that their time is very important to me. I respected the audience and judges by putting heart and feeling into what they came to watch. Yes, I could have played everything, note by note, hit by hit, and sounded right, but what's the point? Music doesn't come alive when u see it on paper, it comes alive when it is performed with emotion. If the performer plays the music just on paper, I guarantee it will sound different from the performer playing the music with expression, emotion, and heart.

I enjoyed playing my music because my audience enjoyed me interpreting the music in my own way. I enjoyed the audience watching in awe and as if they've never seen anything better and all because of what? Because I put heart and emotion into the 10 minutes I performed to the crowd. I showed the audience that this music isn't just on paper, but that it had emotion, emotion that you can't get off reading notes. Yes, you have to know all the notes and play them all right, the basics. The basics are required, but the heart, emotion, the feeling is what the audience and judge want to see and hear.

Alright, everyone is probably now wondering "omg.....can this get any longer" or "what is the point", well I'll tell you the point. What I'm trying to say is, put your heart into what you do, and prove it to the world around you, or express it to the world around you. Most of all, prove it to urself to the point where u can look back and say, "I've done my part and exposed myself out into the world and I'm proud of it".
Just think about it, You have less than 10 min to finish the show, just playing isn't gonna cut it. It's like a college undergrad essay u turn in with your application. In those essays, yea, you have to show the admissions what you've done and what's so great about what you did. Most of all, you have to stand out, prove the point of why you deserve the chance more than anyone else in the world. In music, you show what you've done by playing the right rhythm, notes, performing the right move, and dynamics, everyone can do that with time. MOST of all, like the essay, you have to have the mindset of there are other bands from around everywhere that want the same thing as you, so why do you deserve glory more than them, why is ur performance or "story" worthy of being great? How are you going to earn your chance on the field, to be remembered, to be different, to be unique and impressive, cause that's what it boils down to, the few minutes you have on the green grass in front of hundreds awaiting your response. Your show is your story of the year for your band, what makes it as great as the other great champion bands of the past and present?
To prove yourself, the best way is with feeling and emotion. Everything alive has emotion and feeling, so why not the story you perform for the crowd? Like a story, it has it's happy parts, fast parts, glorified parts, sad parts, i mean, it's practically a story told through music. So, y not make the music come alive and make the audience feel what you are feeling? If a part is slow, pretty with light soft parts and makes you feel light or graceful, make the audience feel it. Play it with your emphasis, your emotion. If a note is suppose to be piano and slowly fortissimo, make the audience feel goosebumps on their skin or make them think "*sigh*..............wow......". If it's fast and you feel that it interprets a race, or running, give the audience that feeling of a rush by playing emtionally. In other words, put urself into the music, you have to have the mindset of being in the music, visuallizing the music when you play, imagining how it should sound and play it that way, the way u want the crowd to see. I've seen bands where they can play and hold one note so well, with so much feeling, that I can get that feeling of awe to the point where I'm like " that is incredible".

In order to play with emotion, with feel, you must, and I really mean YOU MUST have energy. Without the energy, how can you have the energy to project your show, your story? You must have the mindset that you're there to rehearsal to make your story more interesting day by day. You have to think "I want the music to sound great, I want people to love the music they hear". You must think "I'm here and focused on preparing to give the judges and audience something they'll remember". You also have to help your band mates to see this, to see that, there's more to music than notes, theres more to rehearsal than just marching and playing. You have to spread energy into the band. As a whole, if everyone was playing with feeling and purpose, think about how incredible it'd sound. Most of all, you must practice because practicing only makes you more familiar with the music. To show that you care about what you do, you must practice on your own and think to urself "I'm performing and practicing for the world to see what I can do with an instrument". You must be into what you do and you must be passionate about it.

This is your Performance,
This is your Story.

KingMattIV
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Post by KingMattIV » Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:46 pm

well, thats pretty much right on the nose.

ChIckInPIt
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Post by ChIckInPIt » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:39 am

yay, finally feedback :D

THANKS!

KingMattIV
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Post by KingMattIV » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:51 pm

Lol

Anytime

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Post by RBVT--BONE » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:10 am

Gosh, that guy from Sweetwater talking about the lack of inspiration in his band needs to read that. You sum it up VERY well. I gotta tell you... I got a little misty reading that..Ok... well... more than a little misty. :oops: Too bad theres no emoticon for that, but, RIGHT ON!!!!! THAT WAS RIGHTOUS...SERIOUSLY... :clap2: :tup: 8-) :cool2:
05-06: RAIN-Guinestera
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06-07: Appalachian Springs (Aaron Copland)
opnr---^^
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Finale

07-08: INSPIRE!! (Metheny)
Minuano 6/8
Under the Sun
Rainforest

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Re: This is Your Performance, This is Your Story

Post by gimpet19 » Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:10 pm

wow that was insprieing and if you tell that to your director theres no way you will not be section leader
i wish every band could read that it completly sums up why i do band and am so passionate about

i've been asked why i get so into what i do and i wish i could have told everyone who asked me what you just typed
bravo!! :bow: :bow: :bow: :king:
band is a sport!!!
try 200 bpm down a field and back with a 40 pound insterment!

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