The Concert Band have been preparing for the Spring Gala concert in April 2020 since the start of the school year. We are to perform two pieces and they are: The Pirates of the Caribbean medley and Superstition by Stevie Wonder.

I found Superstition hard to play in particular as it has complex rhythmic patterns. I practiced playing the complex rhythms slow and it has helped me immensely. There are a lot of leaps in the cello part of this song which makes it hard to produce a good tone. My next goal to focus on producing a better tone while playing. The Pirates of the Caribbean is one favorite series and so I was excited to learn this music and it’s not a hard piece to play, yet there are sections with short scales which require slow practice. Playing these sections over and over again slowly during the winter break has helped me to play them smoothly. I am very excited and grateful to have the opportunity of performing at my last Spring Gala concert!

Stage fright was something that I had to battle last year. I was afraid to go up on stage and perform even though I was with the rest of the instrumentalists and the audience probably couldn’t even hear my part but taking part and performing in Gala concerts and at assemblies have helped to gain confidence. I now focus on enjoying what I am playing rather than thinking about what could go wrong because in the end, I don’t think that there is a purpose in performing if you aren’t happy with what you’re doing.

We have also being learning the music for Crown Imperial to be played at the graduation ceremony. This is a classical work hence, the cello part has a lot to play and is given prominence. There are sections in this piece that I love playing which motivates me to practice playing this piece at home and it has helped me to get the intonation right at the moment. I need to work more on getting the articulation, dynamics and phrasing right. I have the option of not performing at graduation as I am in this graduating class but I thought of performing because it’s going to be the last chance that I get to perform for a school event and it makes me sad just thinking about it.

unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka has resulted in the Spring Gala concert being postponed which means that Winter Gala 2019 was my last gala concert.