Concert band always has something new up its sleeve, thanks to Mrs. Tryba. This year it’s starting SmartMusic, a new computer program that helps with practicing.  SmartMusic offers helpful practice tools, as well as basic feedback on your playing, which it records.  We are also learning challenging pieces such as “Wade in the Water,” “Chant,” and “Tribal Dance.”  A big performance that concert band is working for is playing  “The National Anthem” at the Bradley Center during a Bucks game in February. To find out what my fellow concert band members thought about these new opportunities, I had to find out myself. I interviewed three fellow musicians in concert band: sixth grader Harry Coffou, seventh grader Kate Frediani, and eighth grader Alexandra Schell. These concert band members shed some light on what their feelings are towards these opportunities.

According to 6th grader Harry Coffou who plays the trombone, SmartMusic is a good tool to use for practicing, but he is a little unsure about using it.  SmartMusic allows you to record yourself while playing with just your part or the whole band in the background. It allows you to tune and practice different scales, books and pieces of music. Finally, SmartMusic gives Mrs. Tryba the opportunity to listen to our progress.  I also asked Harry if he thought that beginning band prepared him for concert band. He told me being in beginning band last year prepared him with the music we are playing this year.  Finally, I asked Harry his feelings about playing the National Anthem at the Bucks game in February.  He said he was very excited and pumped, as well as everyone else is in concert band.

On to seventh grader Kate Frediani who plays the trumpet! I asked Kate similar questions to Harry’s, about her thoughts on SmartMusic.  She said SmartMusic is a great tool to use especially if you are having trouble. SmartMusic helps with people who are struggling with band. Next, I asked Kate her thoughts on how challenging the music is this year. She replied it is challenging, but challenging is a good thing. Also, SmartMusic and Mrs. Tryba will always be there to help. The last question I asked was if she was excited or nervous for the Bucks game performance.  She said we need to work extra hard, and then we will succeed.

The last band member I interviewed was 8th grader Alexandra Schell.  I asked Ali her thoughts on Mrs.Tryba using SmartMusic as a tool to track progress. She thinks SmartMusic is a great tool to see who is practicing, but sometimes it takes too long to download. Next I asked Ali how challenging she thinks the music is this year.  She said in the beginning it’s challenging, but towards the middle it becomes easier.  Finally I asked Ali how she thought our performance at the Bucks game would turn out. She told me that if we put a lot of effort into it, we can do it!

We were each blessed with gifts from God, and the ability to play music is one of them. All it takes is faith in God, a lot of hard work, and dedication. With these things, our God given gifts will shine through and carry us to success.