Landeros Gonzalez 1

Oscar T. Landeros Gonzalez

Ms. Muller

AM LIT COMP

18 September 2023

Journey of Revisiting Band

The world of music is a wonderful place, as cliche as it is saying music is like

another language it’s most definitely true. The way people are able to express themselves

with music is such an incredible thing, because everyone is unique, everyone's

experiences with music is different. And being able to be in a classroom full of other

students alike who have the same passion for music is a blessing, the harmonies, the

dissonances in sound from being out of tune, the cracking of notes from brass, the

squeaking from the woodwinds, sounds all produced by a variety of instruments, even if

they aren’t the best we all still try and that’s what’s important. With that being said i had

never considered music to play an important role in my life, ever since I left

my band in middle school I thought would disappear, who would've thought I

would see myself 4 years later in highschool marching band-room.

When i first entered 6th grade of course i was amazed at the diverse campus of

George Washington Carver Middle School, unlike the confined space of elementary here

was so much more “free” in a way. As my mother dropped me off at the campus i

frantically scouted for my schedule i had previously received from orientation, and there i
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saw i had a class named “Beginning Band” i thought to myself “Huh, band that’s not so

bad instruments are cool!” Of course that was my naive thinking at the time, but that

class had piqued my interest for the sole reason of being able to play an instrument. As

the day passes on so did the regular boring classes i had such as science, math, and even

english (which is not to say i don’t enjoy it) i arrived closer and closer to that class called

beginning band and of course my excitement had climaxed when i was desperately trying

to make it to class on time. For I hadn't known that the band class-room was in a rather

discrete location, right next to the science-y building where classes such as Marine bio,

Robotics, Exploration science housed. As i got closer and closer to the classroom, the

nervousness in my behavior became apparent, we lined up outside the classroom and i

noticed that some of my friends from my elementary school were there as well. Seeing

them, i reflexively scrunched up my face in a joyous motion knowing that i wasn’t

participating in this alone. We walked into the classroom and i see a tall man with glasses

and dreaded hair, with some exotic looking jordans, i was optimistic and hoped for a

classroom where the lively sounds of instruments filled the room with melodious sounds.

That was in-fact not the case, as the weeks passed by i noticed that this man, although his

love for music is clear, his mannerisms of teaching didn’t sit well with me. As he yelled

in frustration that we are unable to play correctly or were doing something wrong, and

this put me in a frantic state, wondering if I would get yelled at for not accommodating

his standards. So for that reason i decided to change out of that class, i told my mom and

she told me that the next day she’ll enter school with me to talk to my counselor about

switching classes. As that was taking its course i was just thinking about being released
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from that class so my timid personality that I projected in that classroom would be

nothing but a shell of my former self. Who would’ve guessed that I DID end up

switching out of that class, and I had art instead of it, which I enjoyed to its fullest

without feeling persecuted for making a mistake. As timed marched forward though I

realized the errors in my thinking I had previously made in my youth, which summed up

how I was babied growing up.

Fast-forward to my freshman year of Highschool but more specifically the end of

the year, and some of my friends who were also in the band, convinced me to join the

band. They were all so positive, and it made me feel a sense of great-pleasure, so I

decided that for my summer instead of doing nothing I would spend my time completing

my P.E credits in order to be enrolled in an Advanced band. To be frank I never went to

school during the summer for any reason other than orientation, and it was quite an

experience, but I felt productive. As summer P.E was coming to a close, the arrival of

“band-camp” was inevitable so I was prepping myself by asking a friend of mine who

played in the band what it was like. What I understood is that it’s an activity we do in

order to take the necessary steps to be ready. It was two weeks before school started,

although I can't remember the exact date of when band camp had exactly initiated. I

headed to the school once again not long after i just had finished with the chore of

summer P.E, i thought to myself “I’m doing all this in order to play in a marching band

after all these years?” but some odd motivation propelled me to take a shot at music

again, maybe it was the thought of showing my friends I'm committed, or maybe because
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I missed the feeling of meddling around with the saxophone’s many sounds it can

produce. Nonetheless I marched with a sense of purpose into Santee Education Complex,

and as I entered the bandroom familiar faces whom I've interacted with before eased up

the tension I felt just like in middle school. Knowing that i’m not alone, and that I have

support, I felt confident being in that room, but also nervous? Although I've seen most of

these people before, I hadn't seen them with their designated instruments. Unlike the frail

middle school instrumentation sound due to the lack of intonation skills, the sound was

more refined, and this is when I started to realize it’s not going to be as easy as I thought.

I did know one thing though, the atmosphere in that bandroom was much more

breathable like I could be myself. The first few days of band-camp were nothing more

than bonding activities to help get to know each other, and this did help quite a bit with

familiarizing the unique individuals in the band. When it came time to receive our

instruments, i was nervous, for my fellow peers had initially thought i’ve had a decent

amount of experience with the saxophone, which is the instrument i chose in middle

school, and present day highschool. Opening the rather vintage case of the saxophone, I

noticed the reflections beaming off the beautiful brass color, seeing it once again it

intimidated me for when I had previously tried to tame this instrument it had not gone

well. That same day I received my instrument I decided to try it out when I got home, but

I knew the sound I was expecting was not going to come out no matter how hard I tried.

Unsurprisingly I struggled very much returning to the saxophone after 4 years, and I

knew it was going to take lots of work, not to mention the importance of being able to

read sheet music. There were two other saxophonists at the time, a junior named Jose,
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and my buddy Joshua whom I've known since elementary school, and I knew they knew

that I was a HORRIBLE saxophone player. It was no surprise that i started like a complete

beginner, and seeing everyone else play with such ease, such freedom made me feel

incredibly slow. My experience of trying the saxophone after 4 years can be summed up

by 2 words: A Nightmare, as i nervously constructed my saxophone, i set my

embouchure in place ready to produce a sound, and instead of that previously conceived

sound in my mind being projected a honk came out. I knew that a tremendous amount of

work was ahead of me and i was prepared to adjust myself accordingly. I did not want to

be one of those underlying band members who harmed the sound because I wasn't good

enough, so when I had the time I practiced until i was either satisfied with the progress

i’ve made, or tired. I was even considering leaving band once again because of the

burden it had just laid upon my shoulders, as the weight kept on getting heavier the

option of leaving band didn’t seem so bad. Practice sessions consisted of me not actually

playing what my band director had told me to practice, but rather, the Pep-tunes he had

given us, that’s what i loved about music, the freedom of expression. It wasn’t too long

before I actually started to produce what they call “music” although it may have not been

the best, it was my best attempt, but there was an underlying fear about to arise from the

shadows. It’s as if it crept up onto me ready to strike me at my weakest and that was

marching, i had totally forgotten that this was a Highschool MARCHING Band so this

concept of marching was completely new to me. If playing in a stationary position was a

struggle for me, then the thought of moving AND playing frightened me. This just meant

i had to work harder and harder for our band’s competition that was approaching at what
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seemed like mach speed. The football games was an experience like no other, as we

played off to the night on the stands and the other schools' bands responded with their

own music. I liked this feeling, I felt a part of something, a contributor to a bigger cause

in a way, and I was determined to continue my journey of music. Band camp opened my

eyes, a good environment is able to boost a person's morale and their behavior in so many

positive ways, so I was ready to experience band once again.

school called El Sereno Middle school. The bus got closer and closer to the

campus which was fairly far, a 20 minute drive most likely from Santee, but as we arrived

i noticed the different busses that were at the middle school as well as their garden they

had. Stepping off the bus i was nervous to get my instrument out the trunk compartment

of the bus, but i didn’t let that hinder my progress in All-City. I saw from afar the

gargantuan line of students from a variety of schools holding a variety of cases

presumably different instruments. As me and my friends walked towards the line we

conversed about how we thought the experience was going to be, or how the experience

was for those who had already done it their previous year. After what seemed like

countless hours standing in line we finally started to arrive to a desk where a lady sat and

asked for our form and names i believe. I did not have my paper on the time so i would

have to turn it in next time, but after that i started walking to the cafeteria seating area

with my friends for they had told me that’s where i previously went last year. As we

waited i saw a man standing on some sort of platform, he had on dark glasses and a

sporty techwear of somesort , and he began to speak. I’ve only heard some things about
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this man, who was named Mr. White but he seemed like a prominent authority figure

since he was the one who lead this program for quite some time. Of course i was nervous

not knowing enough about the instrument i chose to march the Rose Parade with, but i

persisted and at some point practiced trumpet more than my main instrument. Rehearsals

went by and I started to get more and more confident with my playing, i finally felt like I

was CONTRIBUTING to the band's sound even if I'm one of 300 players. We did some

nice events such as Disneyland and Bandfest where we went to go perform our 5 songs

that were selected for us to play that year which were Level up, Shakedown, Lets get

Loud, Patriotic Medley V and Spanish Skies. The most important aspect about being in

All-City for me was marching band was the Rose parade, that’s what the whole band has

been working up to til that point, January 2nd 2023 but also because i wanted to prove

that i was able to do this.When that day came i was filled with adrenaline from the

moment i woke up, we had our uniforms with us to put on at home so when we arrived to

school at 4 AM we would be uniformed and ready to march once we arrived at the

location. I was so excited to finally march this parade, and my mom had recently gotten

me a silver trumpet for christmas so that’s the trumpet i decided to march with. As the

bus drove us to our designated location there was no sense of fatigue since the day i’ve

been prepping for has finally arrived. Once we had made it to the location the sun had

already popped out greeting each one of us with its beams, as those beams bounced off

my silver-trumpet i knew that this was going to be the toughest day in band. The whole

band walked in unison to our starting point of the Rose Parade, and me and my friends

Miguel, and Rubi who were from North-Hollywood High School were marching right
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beside me. We stood there waiting for our cue to start marching and playing for 5.5 miles,

my heart was beating fast, I was revving up to start marching the 5.5 miles I’ve been

waiting for, and as the crowds cheers pierced the whole atmosphere it hyped me up til the

point I could march this whole parade with ease. As the drum-majors gave us the cue to

move forward, the cadence of the drums started playing and that immediately set me into

motion. The more we continued the parade the more apparent the cheers served as

dopamine boosters, so i was able to rejuvenate once a while thinking of my mom and

grandma and how they were spectating me, somewhere in that large crowd or on

television my family was looking at me, i was going to make them proud. Marching and

playing 5.5 miles may have seemed short to me at the time but the Rose Parade made it

feel like 10 miles, the ending never seemed to arrive, just more and more marching. Then

I saw the famous bridge, although to the average person this bridge is merely just a

bridge, to All City it was a sign to muster up that last bit of strength to reach the end. Sure

enough that bridge was able to give me a significant amount of energy before arriving at

the end, as the crowds cheering grew louder so did my aspiration to finally complete this

Parade. The cheering crescendoed to such a force til the point that my playing was soft

compared to their cheering. When I saw the end of the parade the relief settled in, sweat

dripping down my face as my feet were slowly starting to give away as I succumbed to

the thought of resting. When we arrived to the end, the instructors who walked with us

throughout the whole parade gave us the instruction to finally celebrate. It was a glorious

feeling, everyone was incredibly proud, happy, tired, and a whirlwind of emotions just

settled in on all of us. I went to go look for my friends to celebrate with them and sure
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enough we were all experiencing the same type of feeling, and it was nice, nice to see

that the fruits of our work delivered, we made it to the end.

Last but not least my band competition, it was MY ultimate test, it was my own

way i was able to see if i truly have made progress as a musician, it’s what the band has

been working towards for this whole time anyway, december 3rd. I was prepared but also

nervous, for it was my second time tackling music and experiencing an endeavor like

none-other. As I arrived at school I was hopeful, ready to put on that Santee Marching

Band uniform with pride. It was a Saturday so it added spice to what would be known as

another boring weekend. As I got closer to the band room with my friend Joshua we

nervously opened the door and saw a plethora of other band members assembling their

instruments as well as uniforms. I quickly went to get my Tenor Saxophone and brought

it to my seat and set it up as fast as I could. Before that though i had put on my marching

band uniform, since we had to be dressed before arriving to our competition which was

the LAUSD Competition which took place in Pierce College. However a most

unfortunate fate was bestowed upon the whole band and we didn’t even know it. As we

were all ready and set in uniform our band director delivered the dreaded news that we

had no bus. Suddenly all the smiles on all our faces were wiped off when we heard that,

my heart sunk just at the thought of our competition being canceled simply because we

weren’t provided a bus. Although our band director was determined to provide that

competition we worked so hard for, he devised a plan for us to arrive at Pierce College in

separate vehicles. Seeing him so determined got me more fired up to perform at this

competition, i knew that we all individually put in work to piece this show together. We
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warmed up rather quickly when we got there since we were fashionably late compared to

the other bands who had arrived there, seeing so many other bands though was a sight to

behold, it was nice to know that i wasn’t the only one crazy enough to do band. I myself

was in charge of helping with moving the marimba which was quite the hefty percussive

instrument to manage while also carrying a saxophone. There was a PRETTY big uphill

we had to cross and i could only imagine, oh wait no i fully felt the pain of dragging the

marimba up what seemed like a mountain of sorts that went on for ages as the weight was

being held by my right hand. When we had arrived to the field though i was tired, out of

breath from the marimba, but shortly after we were up, as our director instructed us to

line up to our spots on the field i walked onto Pierce’s Colleges field with the goal in

mind to play my best. As i played throughout our show my mind was racing, my heart

was racing like never before in hopes to not mess up our show’s dots that we practiced so

hard to work on. As we ended our last movement however we stood there, i stood there.

That’s when i realized i had stood there, i had completed what i thought was the

impossible, i was there, i preformed with the very same instrument i abandoned back in

middle-school. I loved every single moment of that day, december 3rd was a day i’ll

never forget as a core part of my highschool journey. That day showed me that

perseverance is what mattered if you truly cared about a certain passion, and that practice

does matter. Resilience was the name of the game when it came to succeeding in music

for me, never have i thought i would see myself even touching music ever again. It was a

surprise but a pleasant one at that, later on that year i went on to discover my love for

piano and jazz, and play more instruments that concert year. Music really taught me to
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keep my head up and never give up, and i truly regret leaving band in middle school,

because now that i’m in highschool i truly know that is my passion, it’s apart of me.