My Journey in Band Throughout the Years
My Journey in Band Throughout the Years
This was our performance at our state championships where we performed Cirque Du Soleil "Ka" by Jay Dawson. With this performance, we placed in 8th place in our division. This show continues to be my favorite and I believe it will always continue to bring me both chills and an instant smile as the memories flood back. I believe this was our strongest year as a band.
This was performed a few weeks before our AZMBA championships in November. Exhibition is an expo where all the bands in our district come together to perform our shows. Our show was Mangione Magic by Jay Dawson, which we would take to championships and get 9th place. This show was a lot of fun to perform, and I loved the constant motivation we had as a band to improve.
This was also performed a few weeks before our AZMBA championships. We performed Night Watch by Jay Dawson. I had the privilege of playing the solo for this piece at championships. Although our performances never truly demonstrated our true potential, this was the year in which so many of us grew not only as musicians, but as leaders as well. It's disheartening to know that we will never get to redeem ourselves because of the pandemic, but it was truly a pleasure to be apart of marching band.
This was one of the pieces I had the pleasure of playing at Greater Phoenix, which is an honor band that students in our district can audition for. This past year, I was honored to have placed 4th chair for flute and play first flute. The piece is called Lightening Field by John Mackey, which is a terribly exciting piece to both hear and play. It was such an amazing opportunity and truly showed me that I could play music forever without tiring.
This was another arrangement I had the pleasure of playing at Greater Phoenix. I placed 4th chair for flute, and had the privilege of playing first flute. The arrangement is called Simple Gifts by Frank Ticheli, which is composed of four movements that contrast deeply with one another, but were extremely fun to play.
The recordings I have listed below are not those of my band. However, I wanted to feature these pieces because they were all beautiful pieces that we, as band, spent countless hours practicing before eventually being awarded for them. All of the pieces listed below were played at a competition for symphonic band at Eastern Arizona College, where we prepare two pieces and perform them in front of judges, who then give us a rating from fair to superior.
Performed my freshman year (2018), where we earned an Excellent. This continues to be my favorite piece I performed in symphonic band.
Performed my sophomore year (2019), where we earned a Superior for the first time. This piece heavily featured the flutes, and it was incredibly fun to play.
Performed my sophomore year (2019), where we earned a Superior for the first time. Although this piece was relentless on woodwinds, it was invigorating to play.