I just want to say again that these kids are really impressive. I think they practice a lot more than American high schoolers, and it shows. That's not to say that American high school bands are necessarily inferior (I enjoyed my school's and my sister's band concerts, as well), but...well, that's not a discussion I want to delve into now. I'm just proud of these students. If they don't sound excellent, the fault lies with my camera, not with them.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
High School Music
The other day I attended my high school's annual band concert. Throughout the school year and even during vacation, band members can be heard after school practicing all around the school grounds. And they practice hard. I'm talking hours a day, every day, for months. These concerts are the culmination of their efforts. Unfortunately, I was only able to stick around for the first half of the performance, but I liked what I heard. Here is a clip of their first piece, and my favorite of what I stuck around for. It's a selection of pieces from the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service," which I've never seen but have heard good things about.
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awesome! how often do they practice? im curious as a band geek myself.
ReplyDeleteWell, after school they usually use some classrooms/stand around outside (if the weather is nice) and just play for hours. That usually goes on until it gets dark out. As for weekends, I can't give any first hand observations, but band students have told me they practiced for hours each day. There's probably some variation depending on the student.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that surprised me is that I saw a lot of multi-instrument playing during the show. At one point, one girl who was playing the clarinet got up and switched to the xylophone, and during another part, two flute girls switched to drums/bells (not sure if it's called the bells - it looks like organ pipes minus the organ).
Also one girl had what appeared to be a flute and and a smaller flute, and one girl had a clarinet and a smaller clarinet.