This evening was the annual band banquet and the very last band event of Matthew’s last year of high school. The title of the event was a misnomer as it actually wasn’t a banquet but an awards ceremony/end of year celebration/seniors’ spotlight with light refreshments. Basically, it was a chance for the band kids to look at all they have done this year, thank this year’s band leadership, introduce next year's band leadership, and recognize the seniors who have finished their high school band journey. While not all the seniors received awards, the band teacher did present some to those students he felt most deserved them. Matthew received the Quincy Jones Musicianship Award, for contributions and creativity in multiple areas of music. He also received his music letter award as well as the eight additional bars he earned for participating in many music related activities over the past three years. There is only one student in the school who earned more bars in music than Matthew did (the president of one of the choirs) and Matthew is very proud of how much he has accomplished.
This year’s band experience ended as it started for Matthew, with some disappointment, frustration, and maybe even a little anger. He didn’t always see eye to eye with the band teacher and honestly, he had just cause for irritation on many occasions. But we won’t dwell on that, we’ll just say that Matthew was extremely dedicated and gave his all to the band program for three years. He spent hours and hours practicing and without any professional guidance, despite years of trying to find a private teacher for him, his ability increased remarkably, and he came away an amazingly skilled trumpet player. He set some high goals for himself and accomplished most of them, still giving his all those that didn’t quite come to fruition. He has faced some challenges and been put in some difficult situations, but he has risen to the occasion time and time again. While not an actual award of any kind, I think the fact that he was the only student invited to play with Hot House West at the last Jazz Mentors clinic and performance of this year speaks highly of his technical ability as well as his musicianship.
I think overall, Matthew is leaving the high school band program with a bit of relief. He is ready for what’s next. And when he returns from his mission, he is very much looking forward to joining the college band community.
On a lighter note, I have several other band related comments. First, the cupcakes I made for Matthew were about a million times better than the Walmart bakery quality cupcakes the rest of us got. AND as of this evening, I have officially unsubscribed from the band calendar. And it makes me so very, very happy. Because some events were on there twice-once as an all-day event and once with actual times, although most of the time they were just listed as all day events because obviously no one needs to know what time things are actually happening. And there were events almost every single day for something or other related to band. And every once in a while, the band teacher’s dentist appointments and such would show up on the band calendar…basically, being able to unsubscribe has been a fast, easy way to clean up my entire calendar. So, I guess that means I’m a little bit relieved to be done with the high school band program as well. 😂
No comments:
Post a Comment