What about the last concert/performance are you proud of? Why are you proud of this

I am proud of my nearly perfect counting. During concerts, I usually feel very nervous and lose count sometimes. This concert, I was able to keep count throughout all the difficult parts (like when we speed up, change tempo, etc) and entered in all on the right beats. I was able to play wonderfully with the rest of the flutes as we were in tune and matching each others volumes. I am proud that this year’s final concert finished better than all the previous concerts. I am proud of this as it demonstrates my growth as a concert band player.

If you could change or fix one thing about your performance, what would it be? What would you improve?

I wish I could go back and fix my volume for some areas, as I believe I could’ve played a bit louder than I did. I would like my volume changes to be more dramatic, which I find difficult as a flute player.

Please write a few sentences to describe your performance at our concert?

I would describe my performance at the concert as professional as I always felt like I knew what I was doing, before the performance, during, and after it. I didn’t feel as nervous as usual, but also not too relaxed to the point where I felt lousy and could make mistakes. While playing, I was in time with my peers and I felt like we were one. It was a great night.

In a few sentences, please describe how this past year has gone for you in band. How have you improved on your instrument and what would you like to continue to improve on? 

This past year was a great year for me in band. It was my first year in senior band, so I was nervous about the difficulty of the songs we would play. As the year continued, I found that by practicing and the help of my peers, I would be able to play these complex songs. A fun opportunity I had in this band year was when I was given the chance to play percussion for Drums a Plenty. At first, I was terrible, I found counting was so much more difficult compared to when I was playing the flute, and I thought I would never improve. But by believing in myself, I was able to improve! I would really like to get more opportunities to play percussion and explore different instruments.

I can persevere over time to develop my ideas, and I expect setbacks and failure, but use that to develop my ideas. During my inquiry lab, I faced many setbacks, but I did not give up when I faced these failures. My first setback was my worry that there was not enough oxalate ester to test/use. Breaking the vials were a bit scary (I WAS SAFE THOUGH), but I managed as I got some guidance from the lab assistant (thank you!) and I moved my work to the broken glass bin to alleviate the risk. After collecting and filtrating all the oxalate ester, fortunately I had enough solution to work with. My next setback was when my test solution was not working! When mixing the H2O2 and oxalate ester together, I expected the glow to appear right away and to be noticeable, however this wasn’t the case. Nothing seemed to happen, and the solutions didn’t seem to mix, appearing like oil and water. I resumed my research and tried different things, like testing if the H2O2 was still active (it is), and if I added too much of one of the solutions. Finally, I tried adding some base (NaOH), as I saw online from a similar reaction that a base should act like a catalyst, and miraculously, the reaction worked! There was a significant glow and I felt relieved that all my work was for something, the end.

How did the reality of the courtroom compare to your expectations?

I expected the courtroom to be grander, like the movies, however since there were multiple courtrooms they were much smaller, making it less intimidating. Also, I didn’t prepare myself to see computers which was stupid because I should expect them to be everywhere in this generation.

what did you find most surprising or interesting?

I expected most of the cases to last hours, and to not complete any trials. Though, the first case I went to I got to completed as it was a shorter case where they were only giving the accused a sentence. Also I did not expect myself to follow along as I thought it would be to confusing, however, I was able to keep up with what the officials were saying.

how did this experience change your understanding of the judicial process?

it made me understand how complex yet organized the criminal justice system is. I believed that it would be to difficult and scary however, after learning about the judicial process in class + seeing it, i felt that I could understand the process even better.

I can gather and combine new evidence with what I already know to develop reasoned conclusions, judgments, or plans. After attending the field trip, I felt that I now have a better/clear view on how the system works, as it adds to the prior knowledge I had before attending this trip. I developed this understanding with evidence that was visual, written, as well as verbal.

Goal #1: some of the ways I plan to work to build and maintain relationships is by getting involved with the school community. I chose this goal as it will benefit me in many ways (socially and personally), and some things i will do to accomplish this goal is by joining clubs, starting my own club, volunteering, and helping with events as I joined Leadership.

Goal #2: some of my preferred strategies for maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle include using a planner, working in a clean and organized space, and to prioritize my physical and mental needs. I will accomplish this goal by looking back at my old self, and using it as motivation to improve my lifestyle.

What about the last concert/performance are you proud of? Why are proud of this?

From our year end concert, I am very proud of our big improvement from the beginning of the year. When comparing our performance from back then to now, our timing, dynamics, and tuning have improved. I am proud of this because it shows growth in the the junior concert band group, and that we can listen to each other so we are together. The difference between the beginning and this concert shows that we have improved our skills and can work well as a group.

If you could change or fix one thing about your performance, what would it be? What would you improve?

Not only for the concert but in general, I would love to make the flute dynamic changes more obvious to not only the ensemble, but the audience as well. This is difficult to do as flutes are one of the quietest instruments in the ensemble (especially when we play low notes). In the three pieces we played, there was sections where the flutes had the melody/had to stand out. I think we did a good job in Highland and Denbridge, but Fanfare could have been louder.

Please write a few sentences to describe your performance at our concert.

My performance at the final concert reflected the work I gave into practicing the pieces. I gave lots of attention to details I knew I usually messed up on, and by practicing I was able to play all the right notes at the concert. Another thing I was worried for was tuning, but that was fine as I had great control of air while performing. I was able to correctly play the dynamics written in the piece, and I hope the audience was able to tell. Overall, I am satisfied with how I did at our last concert and I am proud of my performance as I was able to display my improvement.

In a few sentences, please describe how this past year has gone for you in band? How have you improved on your instrument and what would you like to continue to improve on? 

This past year in band has felt different from the year before. The first thing I noticed was that there was less flutes, meaning that we would need to play out more. I found it difficult sometimes, especially since there is a lot of brass instruments, however, we were able to change and play in a way that supports each other. I felt that at the beginning of the year we had a lot to improve on, and we had to get used to playing with each other, but we were able to do so in the end. Something that I enjoyed from this year was the Whistler trip. I am very thankful that our young band director was able to plan and make a band trip possible, even when it was his first year teaching here. We all had lots of fun there, and developed our skills as well. By the end of the year, when looking back at older pieces, we could feel the difference from our skills before which is great. Something I improved on my flute was articulations. I would like to continue improving my skills by playing faster pieces, and learning advanced techniques.