Pride Sample

I think my biggest achievement is playing trombone for 5 years. Straight. A lot of people

just do band because it's an easy class and it's not very intellectually intensive. All you really

have to do is try. Not a lot of people take their Musical talent and cultivate it. I decided to take

the plunge and go into freelance work when I moved in to Merced and it's been going fairly well.

Playing for bands in restaurants in other places is very liberating. Those experiences are things

I’m never going to forget because it takes a lot out of a person to go out in front of a crowd to

play music that they barely know.

To this day I'm still awful at sight-reading but I can play by ear just fine. Joining

marching band in Middle School really help me find out who I wanted to be even though at the

time I wasn't thinking about who I wanted to be. I just wanted to get to class on time. But now,

trombone is such a huge part of my life that it's something that I can barely refrain from talking

about when I have the chance. It makes it difficult to hang out with other trombones in my

section because they don't really seem as enthusiastic about the instrument as I do and that's

not bad, because not everybody has to be super into music, but I just wish that I had other

people to express the love I have for it without looking like a complete weirdo.

Getting back on track, though, playing trombone has really brought me out of my shell

and has taught me what real dedication and what real work does for you in the long run. So

many times I've thought of quitting but I hear some new music and I just want to keep playing.

At this point trombone is part of me as a person. Without it I don't think I would be the same.

others see me as strange because of how much I put into music and the arts but those are just

things that I like to do. Trombone is something that I would gladly do for the rest of my life and I

never get bored. As much as I do complain about playing the same songs over and over

because of my short attention span, I still play to the best of my ability. Because it's not just
about me. Whenever I play, I'm in a band, so I have to play for the band. Being in a band

forces you to be a team player, and forces you to consider what other people are doing around

you. It's not like a sport like track and field where you're only focusing on your own skills. It's

about fitting into an ensemble and blending in, but not so that your erased, it's so that the band

is a whole can sound good.