When Words Fail, Music Speaks Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. -Maya Angelou. During my 6th grade year, I sparked an interest in the music world. I had attended a football game in which my brother played. It was my first time being at one of these games so when halftime was announced, I did not know what to expect. The band took their place on the field and started to play piece after piece. I was fascinated with how one stuck to a certain instrument and played it with ease.
After the final song, they received a round of applause and headed back towards the stand. Throughout the rest of the game I was no longer to focus on the game that was taken place before me. I was intrigued at how easy each person remembered the notes to the songs when only given the song title. It was then that I knew I had to be a part of that experience, and with help I was. Band Director Will Peirce had a significant impact on my life because he taught me the basic symbols of notation, to read music, and to play the flute.
One day Mr. Peirce came to the elementary school to meet students who wanted to be in the band. At first I was shy, but soon I gave it a shot. After signing up, getting my papers filled out and returning them, I was ready to begin. Music was not an easy skill to be taught, therefore, he started with the basic skills first. He started off with the basic symbols of notation, which are the variety of symbols that are used in music. The basics consisted of the staff, clefts, and notes. The staff consists of 5 lines and 4 spaces.
Each line and space represented a different note that ranged from A-G. Next was the cleft. There are two main clefts: Treble Cleft and Bass cleft. Treble cleft was us instruments known as the “woodwinds. ” Bass cleft was used by instruments known as “Brass. ” After being designated to a section, mine being the woodwinds, we began learning how to read music. I did not really catch on at first and had to learn differently from the others. Mr. Peirce noticed that I was struggling, and he taught me a different way to remember. He taught me the clapping method.
The clapping method consisted of clapping the notes, such as quarter note, half note, and whole After learning the notes and their differences, everything started to come into place inside my head. I was then able to learn the notes and how they were used on the staff. Still receiving help from Mr. Peirce, I was taught sayings to help me remember the notes that were on the staff. “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” was used to help me remember the notes that were on the line, and “FACE” was to help me to remember the notes used between the space.
Finally, it was time to pick an instrument. I wanted to be like all my other friends and play the clarinet, but instead I was chosen to play the flute. I did not understand at first why Mr. Peirce wanted me to play the flute, thought it was complicated and would be difficult to function. We started by fingering and playing one note at a time repeatedly until each note was well played. Next, we started playing notes together to make sure we knew how to go from one to the other smoothly. Lastly, we learned scales, also known as playing the letters of the staff up then down.
Soon after having these lessons of learning how to finger the notes and how to correctly blow in my mouth piece, I realized it was much easier then it looked. After a year, I was moved into the high school band. There were a small number of flutes, so we had to play very loud. We started by learning small songs. By playing a new song every day, I started to memorize the keys which made playing much easier. As the months passed Mr. Peirce placed a music piece in front of us known as “Bella’s Lullaby”. I was then ecstatic!
Bella’s Lullaby was the piece played in one of my favorite movies, Twilight. It took us weeks to learn and another to perfect. After learning the piece I finally knew what it felt like to hear music speak. The piece was full of emotion including a lot of crescendo and decrescendo. Meanwhile, after finishing the song, Mr. Peirce thought that it should be played amongst an audience. We were to invite all our family and friends to what we called a concert. After playing the piece, along with other small pieces that we learned, we were given a round of applause.
That night, Mr. Peirce awarded me with the “Most Improved Award. ” Now I knew the basic symbols of notation, how to read music in an instant, and I now know how to play the flute all thanks to band director Will Peirce. It felt great to be called an instrumentalist. My parents and grandparents were very proud of me. After 3 years of being taught by Mr. Peirce, I moved schools. After moving schools I joined the band and fitted in pretty well. From using the skills taught by Mr. Peirce, I was able to stand out from the other flutes, learn pieces quickly, and play with grace.
This got me noticed by my new band director, the late John Conner. Mr. Conner saw my improvements and asked if I could use my skills to help teach others who were struggling. My second year of being in the new band, I was awarded with the title of Section leader of the flutes. Music Literacy was not an easy task nor was learning how to play the flute. It required hard work and dedication. Today, I thank Mr. Peirce not only for having patience with me, but for also helping me find one of my many talents in life. From this experience, I have learned how to play music and understand it too.
