My church has various outreach projects throughout the year, though usually I am unable to participate due to other commitments. One I was able to participate in after school got out was Stop Hunger Now, a Raleigh-based organization that the church was hosting. On Sunday, June 2, the church had three shifts during the day to pack meals to be shipped to Africa to fight global hunger. The organization uses a very efficient system that was fascinating to see in action: plastic bags traveled from station to station, a different ingredient added at each one until being sealed and put into boxes. Each meal can feed 4-6 people and is very nutritious with added vitamins and nutrients.
My job was to package the meal for shipping and to ring a gong whenever we hit the 100-meal mark (we were all supposed to cheer when this happened). After something of a slow start, everything began to go smoothly. The number of meals we packaged astonished me; everything went so quickly. By the end of the shift, we had packaged nearly 1,000, far more than I expected. I didn't think we could have that much of an impact, but in reality anyone can make a difference.
Global hunger is a very pressing issue; before we started packaging, the leader from Stop Hunger Now outlined some statistics about starvation. To be honest, it was a little disheartening; the numbers seemed overwhelming. But the important thing is to not be discouraged by the enormity of the task. We must persevere in the face of any challenges to be successful. I hope there will be a time when no one goes hungry.
Every year, the music department at Grimsley puts on Concerto Night. Students audition for the privilege of playing a concerto with an accompaniment by either piano, strings, or full orchestra. This year, three students were picked for the concert: a trumpet player, vocalist, and a pianist. Additionally, the combined wind ensemble, orchestra, and chorus would perform the first movement of John Rutter's Gloria. Normally, I would not participate in Concerto Night because the euphonium is typically not included in a full orchestra. I volunteered, however, to play the trombone parts for Gloria and the piano concerto because we lack a sufficient number of trombonists.
We rehearsed the pieces many times before the concert. The piano concerto (the Warsaw Concerto) was a modern piece featuring a very complex piano part. Overall, though, it wasn't too difficult for the accompanying orchestra; the trickiest part was the many key and time signature changes. Gloria, on the other hand, was very difficult and probably one of the hardest pieces I have ever learned. It featured a fast tempo, frequent use of accidental notes, a high pitch, and, to complicate everything further, it was written in tenor clef. Before Gloria, I only knew how to read treble and bass clef. For an entire rehearsal, I just sat without playing teaching myself how to read the notes. Given our tight schedule, I was not sure if we would be able to learn the piece, as different sections were having problems staying in time with each other and there were some balance and tempo issues as well.
We were all therefore relieved when we managed to pull it off. All the concertos went smoothly and we played Gloria better than I thought we would, especially given the short amount of practice time. It was actually sort of thrilling to have done so well. Looking back, I'm actually proud and impressed that we pulled it off. I guess that just goes to show that when given a group is given a challenge, it will generally rise to meet it. A little practice doesn't hurt either. And I now know how to read tenor clef.
Every year, the North Carolina Bandmasters Association holds auditions for honors bands at the country, district, and state levels. Every audition involves learning a predetermined solo, unique for each instrument, playing several memorized scales, and sight reading a piece you have never seen before. I have auditioned for All-County and All-District every year I have been in band, so at the beginning of the school year I went out and purchased the solo for the euphonium this year, "L'Allegro" by Koepke.
With everything I have going on, I did not get much of a chance to practice the piece until winter break. It quickly proved to be the most challenging piece I have ever learned for my instrument. Being a low brass instrument, the euphonium does not often get complicated melodic parts, and that is basically all the solo was. I practiced the solo dutifully for about an hour each week leading up to the first audition (for All-District, at the end of January), as that was all the time I could allow.
My audition for All-District took place at Cary High School. I felt nervous going, worried that I had not practiced enough. When my number was called, I first went to a room to play my scales, scales I had memorized years ago and knew by heart. But when I played the first scale, I faltered and played several wrong notes in a row. This mistake rattled my nerves, and although I got back on track, I was uneasy for the rest of the audition. I made many mistakes on the solo and the sight reading was poor. Needless to say, I did not make the band. I was upset with myself, for being so nervous, for letting one mistake throw me off balance, but most of all for not practicing more.
I got in as much practicing time as I could before All-County auditions. My audition was much better this time around, and I did make the honor band.
The old adage certainly proved true: practice makes perfect. I also learned not to stress out about every mistake. I let the error on the first scale get to me, which ruined the entire audition, even though one botched scale would not have affected my overall. It's important to persevere and try your hardest until the very end.
On Martin Luther King's Day, the GHS marching band participated in the NAACP-run parade. For the parade, we had prepared the funk song "Fire" by The Ohio Players. It was a little challenging to learn how to play in a funk style, but I feel that we had a pretty good handle on it by the time the parade arrived.
My section was much better at marching in step this time; I had made sure everyone practiced during class. We also played the piece without any major mistakes, always good for a musician. Overall, it was an enjoyable parade despite my dislike of marching band, mainly because of the enthusiasm of our audience, many of whom seemed to genuinely like our performance. It is also a privilege to make music in honor of one of America's greatest figures.
On December 14, 15, and 16, I competed in the first big championship swim meet of the season, the H20kie Winter Championships in Christiansburg, VA. The winter championship meet always serves as a major milestone in the season, halfway between the start of training and the end of the season in April. It is the first test of one's improvement after months of training.
For me, the meet was all the more significant because it was during my junior year; the improvements I make this year will determine whether and where I might swim in college. So I went into the meet hoping to show some gains in my races, though I was also nervous, fearing that I would perform poorly. Over the course of the meet, I competed in the 500, 200, 100, and 50 freestyles, the 200 and 100 backstroke, and the 200 individual medley, all spread out over the three days with prelims and finals for each event.
Apart from being exhausted, by the end of the weekend I was pleased with my performance. I had swum personal bests in most of my events and had finally "broken" 50 seconds in the 100 free, swimming a time of :49.91, a goal of mine for quite some time. I was not so happy about other races; I did not go as fast as I would have liked in the 50 free or 200 IM, an event I have not significantly improved in since I was 14, but that is part of life; we win some and we lose some. Although my gains in speed were on the whole modest, they gave me optimism for where I will be at the end of the season. Now, it's back to the pool for more training in pursuit of my goals.
From October to December, the youth group at my church sold Christmas trees to raise money for Glory Ridge, an annual week long mission trip to the mountains of western North Carolina in July. In order to so, youth manned a table outside of the sanctuary on Sunday mornings to raise awareness of the fundraiser, answer questions, collect money, and distribute order forms. I worked on two of these Sundays, personally convincing at least five members of the congregation to order trees from the youth group rather than purchase them on their own, an ability of persuasion I had no idea I possessed. Perhaps I am better at persuading people than I previously thought.
The most exciting part of the sale, however, was the day in December when the purchasers came to pick up the trees. We untied and trimmed the trees, ranging in height from 3 feet to 10 or more, shook off any loose pine needles with a treacherous red machine, covered the trees with netting by using a baler, and then strapped them to the tops of peoples' cars. The whole venture was understandably chaotic and a surprising amount of fun. Things went smoothly enough after organizing an assembly line-like procedure, and four hours later (with our bodies sticky from tree sap) we had finished.
Thanks to the sale, we raised over $4,000 for Glory Ridge, where the money will be used for work projects in Madison County, which has the highest level of poverty in the state. Poverty is an enormous issue that sometimes seems overwhelming, but every little bit, like what we will do at Glory Ridge, helps. I am also now a self-declared expert in Christmas tree baling, so there's that too.
On December 1, the GHS Marching Band participated in the city's annual Christmas Parade. We spent the last two weeks of band class preparing for the parade, rehearsing our selection, a medley of carols including "Deck the Halls," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "Joy to the World," and practicing marching in straight lines, a deceptively difficult task. You have to coordinate each and every move with the person in front of you and the two at your sides. Memorizing a new piece of music is already challenging enough without knowing you will have to play it and march at the same time.
Our performance in the parade went smoothly enough, though the cold weather made it difficult to play and there were times when my section was not completely in step with each other or with the beat, something we should look to improve for our next parade. I have never particularly liked marching band, and consequently I was not looking forward to the parade. However, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, simply because I love impacting people with music. The whole purpose of a musician is to create music for others to enjoy, and by marching in the parade we did just that: we played music to help the residents of my hometown welcome the holiday season and enjoy the day. There were looks of genuine excitement in the crowd as we passed and people cheered and sang along to our notes. I think all musicians get a simple joy out of playing for other people, and it makes up for the drudgery of rehearsal and the difficulties of learning and performing.
