Blog 13 The Last Blog

When I was presenting I thinks I did an okay job. I don't think mine wasn't the worst but it wasn't the best.  My project was about band and what it is like to be in band.  Band was really fun.  I did most of the blogs except for like two of them.

Blog 12 New Leaders

Today our band director will be interviewing people to be a leader in their section.  Anyone can try out to become a drum major,  spirit leader, and parade drum major.  None of the positions are really hard to do, but the only thing is many people are going to be trying out for it.   I could of tried out for section leader but I don't know if I'm going to be joining next year.  For the tubas, nobody is going to be running so Mr.Belski is going to have to pick someone.  For the french horns, all the seniors will be leaving so Mr.Belski will have to take someone from another section to lead them.  For Every other section it is just going to be how the usually do it,  someone will run against each other and Mr.Belski will pick someone.  Band banquet will be coming soon.

Blog 11 After The Concert

In class the day of the concert,  we just practiced the music we got.  Their wasn't anything hard that I struggled with.  When I got to the concert,  people were already there.  The jazz band didn't go on till 7 o'clock.  They played pretty good.  Every band had a few mistakes,  but it was still good.  The concert band played two songs.  They're called Festivo and Ammerland.  The first one was a march like song and the second one was more of a sad toon.  When our band went on it just took a couple of minutes to get ready.  At first I was a little nervous, when we started to play I was fine.  We played two songs, they were called,  Loch Lomond and Alligator Alley.  The first song was a Scottish type song and the second one was about an alligator.  When the last band went on,  I was just waiting outside.  They played two songs,  one of them was Cartoon.  I don't know what the other was but I'm pretty sure that it was good.  I left early because I didn't want to help clean up the stage. 

Concert 5/14/14 blog 10

We are preparing for our concert next Wednesday.  We are only going to be playing two songs,  Loch Lomond and Alligator Alley.   Both songs are really easy.  There is just a few places where I struggle with.  On some places I have to play a couple of high notes.  Other than that, I'm fine on everything else.  The concert will be a Kennedy high school.  This will be our last concert of the year.  After the concert their will be two things to practice for, finals and graduation.  The finals will be a week or two after the concert.  After the concert it is just practicing for finals.  It will be boring not playing any more music as a group for awhile.  Soon after school we will start to prepare for next years marching show.  Hopefully the show for next year will be even better.  It will be sad to see some of my friends leave after being with them for two years.

Preparing for Finals Blog 8

In class we are preparing for our finals everyday for a couple of minutes.  The first part of the test is to play five notes for 20 seconds each with a short break in between.  The next part of the test is to play to different notes without using your tongue to stop the air.  The hard part about it is that the different notes,  one will get lower while the other one goes higher.  Another part of the test is to articulate different notes and play different styles.  Their are other parts that we still haven't got yet.  Hopefully the next few parts will be easier than the others.  The finals this year compared to last years is a lot harder.  The easiest part for me is probably playing five notes for 20 seconds. The hardest part for me is playing different notes in different octaves without using your tongue.  I still have to practice everything else.

March 3 Festival concert

We had a concert at Kennedy high school.  The concert was okay because we didn't really see other schools play.  Most bands, they can get a score of good, excellent, or superior.  Our band got an excellent.  We were doing good in both songs until the towards the end of the second song.  There was few parts were people messed up and it was obvious.  I only messed up on some parts where I haven't practiced it as much as the other parts.  I didn't mess up on my solo which was good.  In class the next day we got to here what the judge has to say about the music.  When it got to my solo he said it was was good.  Our teacher went over with us about what we can do better.  Tomorrow or Friday we will get new music.  We won't be practicing the first music piece as much,  but we will keep on practicing the second piece.

Blog 4 2/28/14

Today in class we had our woodwind instructor to direct us.  It was a little different than normal.  When I went to go get my instrument I see that it was gone.  I had to use one of the old horns to play.  The horn was okay but it wasn't the same.  On some notes it would make a funny sound, but on my other horn the sound quality is so much cleaner.  As we were playing one of the songs, a different band class came in while we were playing.  t was a little nervous because we have never played any of our songs in front of people.  The other people in the band room were just staring at us while we played.  The worst part was when ever we would mess up they would have that look people would give when something is wrong. We are still in the learning process of the song.

Blog #3

 Today in class two of our music instructors where there.  We only practiced Missouri Shin Dig.  We have gotten better since the last blog.  We have a concert in three weeks.  The hardest part from the music is counting.  We usually count 1,2,3,4,  but now we have to count to two.  All the notes are the same but shorter.  The hardest part for me is my short solo.  I get nervous because if I mess up I'll mess up other people.  I really only get nervous when the teacher or instructors are looking at me then I will more likely mess up.  After the solo I'm usually pretty fine, maybe still have jitters after the solo but I'll be fine.  The more I practice the less I will become nervous.  But overall the music will sound good and we will be getting for music festival soon. The more we practice the better we will become.

Blog #2

We are still working on the same music for a couple of weeks now.  The hardest part is Missouri Shindig.  Most people, the counting for the song is different from a lot of other songs.  Most parts aren't together with other sections and if your not counting in time then you can mess up and maybe other people.  Since I'm to only player in my section it can be hard at times because no one can save me if I mess up.  But most of the time I usually have the same parts as the tubas or the trombones.  Its also pretty cool because there is no one else playing the part and if I do something good they know its me.  The other Sheet of music is A Monmouth overture.  Were not practicing as much on this song because it is pretty easy and we played it mostly correct the first few times.  We only have to work on articulating the music phrases.

Blog 1 New music

On January 14 our band in 3rd period got new music.  We got three pieces called:  Missouri Shin Dig, Jessie's Well, and A Monmouth Overture.  They all sound pretty good but my favorite one is A Monmouth Overture.  There is some parts that is challenging but most of it is pretty easy.  The hardest thing about the music piece is counting the rests.  In Jessie's Well,  this is probably the easiest piece will have.  The only thing about the music is being in tune with everyone else.  The last and hardest piece is Missouri Shin Dig.  It is really hard because their are a lot of short rests in the music and if you lose count you can easily mess up.  My part in my opinion is cool because I don't have the hardest part but its not the easiest one.  Their is some lead parts that I get and their are also a lot more of the background music that I have to play. 

Blog 10 During and after the concert

The first concert went pretty well.  The first group to go on was jazz band and they played really good.  The group I was in was next to go on.  The two combined periods had about 90 people.  It sounds a lot different in the band room with half the people.  During the show,  while we were playing my instrument,  the first valve got stuck.  The entire time we were on I was trying to fix the the valve.  The valve guide to guide it down was chipped of a little bit and the valve could spin.  I still tried to play what ever I could.  There are multiple combinations for many notes but some notes can't have any buttons valves pressed down.  It was hard trying to play because sometimes I'll forget that I can't play then I would play the wrong note.  After our group was done the next group was going on.  I share an instrument with someone else and they didn't know about the valve getting stuck.  I'm sure when she was playing it the valve got stuck and she tried to fix it.  Overall it was a good show all the groups played well.