I participated in the concert band again in the first semester of DP2 in order to ensure that I play the trumpet regularly, and simply to get together with other musicians. There is no concert this semester because the secondary school prepared a musical (for which I am playing in the band as well, see here), so we had more time to prepare the songs. This suited me as I had a lot of work – not only academically but also as I participated in SAISA volleyball which required three training sessions a week – and so I still played the trumpet frequently but did not have added pressure of having to prepare for a performance.

We played several songs during the first semester, starting with Pirates of the Caribbean. This is one of my favorite songs in terms of film music, and I used to play it in my previous orchestra, so it was great to play this fun song again. We also played the Sri Lanka National Anthem again, and performed on the Founder’s Day Assembly, together with a teacher choir. As I played the first trumpet in both songs, I had to make sure I play clearly and loud enough, as I often have the melody. However, since I am familiar with both songs, this was not much of an issue.

Warming up during band. Photo by Anouk Samarasinghe.

The next song we practiced was by Stevie Wonder, Superstition. This song, by being layer with many different parts, is quite difficult to play well, but sounds great, so it was worth the effort. I was the only person playing the first part together with one flute, and that was extremely challenging as the notes were complicated and it was very fast. Although I usually don’t have to practice any of the band songs at home, this one needed quite dedicated practice to get right. The difficulty is that the piece is made up of several layers, which when played together sound really good, but it is difficult as their rhythms are complicated. We also started playing a third song, a classical piece, that has a nice trumpet part, but that will require more practice for me to play.

Band is a really fun activity for several reasons. First of all, it is fun to play with others, as making music socially is very different to playing alone, and it is very satisfying to interact with like-minded people. Secondly, I play different types of music in band than I do alone, so I learn playing different genres of music and get a feeling for music like swing or jazz, as well as more classical music. I also do not have time for trumpet lessons due to a lot of other work commitments, so in addition to practicing at home, the only music I do in band (and for the Oliver musical band this semester).