Practice, You’re Not Perfect

Alainna-Caitlin Earl – photo by Kristen Griffiths

By Alainna-Caitlyn Earl (Whetstone Staff Writer)

I have the same feeling, every time we perform in band – whether we are on a football field in the sweltering heat or the frigid cold, on a small church stage or a large theater stage or marching through the streets of Dover.

“That could’ve gone better.”

It doesn’t seem to matter how beautiful a song is, how many times I listen to it or how much I play over notes and rhythms, and something goes wrong. I often leave a performance feeling accomplished and proud of what we had done, until I hear the playback on the videos, from the bad notes, missed passages to the jumbled transitions and mixed tempos. We come off as a band of soloists; some of us try to pick up the slack, others try to blend in, and some soundlessly finger the notes.

It is part of an “individual mindset” we need to abolish, said Mr. Brian Cass, the band director.

“There are the people that don’t care and people that do,” said Yamir Alejandro Alicea-Rivera, a drummer.

Why don’t people care about band?

“There are no inspiring role models,” said Jose Santana, French horn player.

Cass hears this complaint often. He believes that every successful group has natural leaders, people who see the problem and organize extra practice time.

“Students have many mindsets,” Cass said. “Some work hard, some do not.”

It’s well known in band that many people don’t practice because they don’t have the time, get lazy, don’t want to do it or don’t think they need to.

“‘Practice doesn’t make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect’,” Cass said. “It is a struggle that many band directors have faced over more years than I have been alive.”

Cass seems to struggle with making band fun, and motivating people to take pride in what they do. Cass recently gave out practice logs, forms we fill out to show how much we practiced, to help us practice. Of course, anyone can simply write down hours and hours of practice time, without touching his or her instrument.

“If’ you’re a part of this, not only are you reflecting yourself, you’re reflecting the band itself,” Alicea-Rivera said.

Music needs a gentler hand. It needs care and it needs practice. And it needs a certain kind of pride.

“Everyone should be proud of the job they do, and want to do it to the best of their ability,” Cass said. “I would love to hear that sections or even people who have similar parts at times take a few minutes to get together and work on their own and iron out the rough patches.”

For our band to grow in sound and size, it needs student leaders, leaders to organize practicing with others, seeing how our individual sounds combine with others. We need to memorize sections so we can look up at Cass as he conducts our tempos and transitions.

I don’t know how Cass will get student leaders to take responsibility for their sections and emphasize practicing. However, as a new band, we have time to grow.

“We are still a new entity in this college and we still have a lot of work to do for this ensemble to be great,” Alicea-Rivera said.

“In the past, we have ended the semester with a decent product,” Cass said. “Is it where it should be? No. There is always room for growth.”