Personal Narrative- Marching Band Competition
This season was only the second year that I had been in marching band, even though we did do parades in middle school. The year before, I was selected to be drum major of the upcoming marching season. I was excited to meet the challenge of getting back to the state championships. It was also nerve-racking because I felt if we didn't make it to state, it would be my fault. To be truthful, later on I experienced both sentiments from some of the most influential, heart-warming, absolutely awesome friends that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. This would be the year that our band would adopt its slogan, its mission statement: Band #1.
Two weeks before school even started, the Hotchkiss High School Marching Band began its march to the state-qualifying competition in Delta. We worked four hours a day for five days, getting our fundamentals going and getting a feel for our new show. Once school did start, we started practice at 7:00 a.m. and went for two hours every day, working on music and marching. Our band was once again small (eighteen people!), but our sound was great. It was actually easier trying to teach a smaller group because of the difficulty of the moves we were attempting. Of course, I didn't help
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This is how long we anticipated the arrival of the state-qualifying competition in Delta. Soon, after we could do no more to make things perfect, the thought of beating Paonia and winning a place at state actually became a reality, so real that you could take it, throw it on the ground, and march it right in to the dirt. There was no parade this go-around, but our inspection was superb. Inspection is where our band must stand at attention while Air Force and Army officials, usually recruiters from around the area, try to cheaply make you break your
Sweat dripping down my face and butterflies fluttering around my stomach as if it was the Garden of Eden, I took in a deep breathe and asked myself: "Why am I so nervous? After all, it is just the most exciting day of my life." When the judges announced for the Parsippany Hills High School Marching Band to commence its show, my mind blanked out and I was on the verge of losing sanity. Giant's Stadium engulfed me, and as I pointed my instrument up to the judges' stand, I gathered my thoughts and placed my mouth into the ice-cold mouthpiece of the contrabass. "Ready or not," I beamed, "here comes the best show you will ever behold." There is no word to describe the feeling I obtain through music. However, there is no word to describe the pain I suffer through in order to be the best in the band either. When I switched my instrument to tuba from flute in seventh grade, little did I know the difference it would make in the four years of high school I was soon to experience. I joined marching band in ninth grade as my ongoing love for music waxed. When my instructor placed the 30 lb. sousaphone on my shoulder on the first day, I lost my balance and would have fallen had my friends not made the effort to catch me. During practices, I always attempted to ease the discomfort as the sousaphone cut through my collar bone, but eventually my shoulder started to agonize and bleed under the pressure. My endurance and my effort to play the best show without complaining about the weight paid off when I received the award for "Rookie of the Year." For the next three seasons of band practice, the ache and toil continued. Whenever the band had practice, followed by a football game and then a competition, my brain would blur from fatigue and my body would scream in agony. Nevertheless, I pointed my toes high in the air as I marched on, passionate about the activity. As a result, my band instructor saw my drive toward music and I was named Quartermaster for my junior year, being trusted with organizing, distributing, and collecting uniforms for all seventy-five members of the band. The responsibility was tremendous. It took a bulk of my time, but the sentiment of knowing that I was an important part of band made it all worthwhile.
One of the biggest decisions of my high school career came my sophomore year when I decided to try out for the role of drum major in my high school band. This decision was very tough to make due to the fact that I was a sophomore, and although I already had three years of experience under my belt as a band member at Northview High School, I knew that it would be very tough to earn the respect of my peers if I succeeded in becoming drum major. Out of the three years I had spent in the band, the biggest influence on my decision to try out came from my very first marching season, between August and December of 2012. From that year forward, after seeing many areas that the band could improve, watching how underclassmen and middle school band members
It was my final moments as a Chelsea High School cheerleader. My final banquet had quickly approached. It was then that I realized I was not ready for the season to be over. I stood in front of my friends, fellow cheerleaders, and their families as they watched and waited for me to recite my last words as the season came to an end. It took hours for me to write about what my teammates and my coaches meant to me. I did not want to sound too nostalgic since I’m not the emotional type, but I also did not want to come across as indifferent. It was a difficult task but I knew I could accomplish it.
George Helmholtz, as the head of the music department at Lincoln High School, is very determined with his regular students and the gifted musicians of the band. Each semester and year at school he dreams of “leading as fine a band as there was on the face of the earth. And each year it came true”. His certainty that it was true was because he believed there was no greater dream than his. His students were just as confident and in response, they played their hearts out for them. Even the students with “no talent played on guts alone” for Helmholtz.
My older sister loved the marching band, so I always got dragged to their performances. I could not tell what was so appealing about it all; it consisted of walking on a field while playing instruments and flags being swung in the air. Participating in a marching band was never what I intended nor wanted to do. The idea bored me, but my mom insisted.
Motivational theories in the case of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the theory of self-determination, and Brehm’s motivation intensity theory all cater to the individual. The theories include their specific discoveries while also highlighting that the individual’s thoughts and perceptions affect their motivation. Every person has different values, experiences and temperaments that affect motivation driving them to secure basic needs or to strive past them. Although these motivation theories have their similarities they differ in their specific concepts and emphases.
Earlier on I had mentioned that I did not immediately consider myself for this position. One of the items that changed this is learning that the Drum Major is able to march with the band this coming year. I feel that by doing so, I would be viewed as a part of the band, and not just the kid on the podium. This is a very
The argument over drug reform and the current prohibition has been going on for years. It seems to be an argument between a wise parent and a young teenager, but as generations change more and more of the parents seem to switch sides. While prohibitionists say the mainstream drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD, and marijuana are harmful and immoral, legalizers argue the opposite (Rachels 223). While they are both valid and interesting arguments the drugs named above still remain illegal. Many organizations and respected citizens have come to America’s attention in their support for drug reform or complete legalization of certain drugs. These people range from normal citizens who support the recreational use of marijuana to judges and ex- law enforcement agents who say the war on drugs has been a failure. The drug issue in the United States of America has been going on for years with the counterculture of the sixties up until the more recent medicinal marijuana debates today, and it seems that it is not going to go away anytime soon.
This need encompasses love, the need for intimate bonds with others. Bonds such as friendship or personal relationship become important. Once that need is met then “Esteem” or the feeling of achievement needs to be met. Finally, “Self-actualization” is accomplished. “Self-actualization is the realization of the full potential that one possesses.
Ethical behavior is necessary for a society to function in an orderly manner. It can be argued that ethics is the glue that holds a society together. Philosophers, religious organizations, and other groups have defined in various ways ideal sets of moral principles and values. The following are different approaches, from ancient and modern traditions and philosophers, depicting their meaning and understanding of ethics and how it can be applied in ethical decision-making.
In comparing the average citizen in a democratic nation, say the United States, to that of a non-democratic nation, for instance Egypt, it will be found that the citizen in the democratic nation is generally better off – free of persecution, free from fear of the authorities, and free to express his opinions on governmental matters. And while national conflicts occur everywhere, incidents like violent revolts have shown to be more prevalent in nations where citizens are not allowed to choose who governs them. It is slightly paradoxical that democracy, so inherently flawed in theory, can lead to such successful outcomes in practice. The question, then, becomes: “If democracy has so many weaknesses, why does it work?”
Each higher order of motivational need is built upon a more basic need. After physiological and safety needs are met then the individual looks to belong and be accepted by peers and groups that they identify with. Once accepted, one looks to improve their self-esteem and garner the respect and esteem of their peers and the groups to which they belong. Finally an individual is driven by the need to become self-actualized, becoming all that one has the potential of becoming.
Motivation is the reason one behaves or act in a certain way. This behavior can be found animals to humans. It is the basis in which we choose to take action and what course of action we that is. Our actions are goal orientated, but motivation is gives us the persistence of effort towards that goal The underlying driving forces that creates such motivation can be but not limited to biological, social, emotional or cognitive. In most instances, three key elements are linked to motivation. We need a direction to which our efforts are aimed and the intensity and persistence to overcome obstacles to achieve our goal. Psychologist and researchers have expanded the topic to develop different theoretical explanations behind motivation. Most theories fall in five categories which are Instinct, Incentive, Drive, Arousal and the Humanistic Theory. In the text, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, Authors Robbins and Judge focus on four of the early theories. They are the Hierarchy on Needs Theory, Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor Theory and McClelland’s Theory of Needs. The Hierarchy on Needs Theory written in 1943 by Abraham Maslow is one of the most popular and enduring influences to modern psychology. Maslow belief is that humans have requirements that are “instinctoid”. The word instinctoid describes an innate instinct seen in many other animals. The way we react to this instinct is what lead Maslow to develop the Hierarchy on Needs Theory.
In the end, no matter what may be said about me, I know that I am some what of an abstract project. I continue to grow everyday and discover new factors that define me. I know what I stand for. I love myself, and the people around me. They don't create me, or make me who I am, but they do help be define myself
Science affects the world in many different ways. With the technologies that have been discovered we can now tell how warm or cold it will be for the next week, we will know when a tornado, hurricane, eruption or any other sorts of natural disasters will occur before they actually happen. This also helps out all communities. My family loves to travel, and if airplanes weren’t invented we wouldn’t be able to go to many places. We also need microwaves, stoves and ovens in order for us to eat supper, and fridges and freezers for us to keep our food in. We also enjoy watching television and movies, and I love talking on the telephone and listening to music. Without science none of these things would be possible.