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Mt. Carmel Music - Student News
The Irony of Winning
Something incredibly ironic always happens when our band starts winning at tournaments. Instead of marching off the field excited and pumped up after an awesome run-through, people become extremely critical of both themselves and the rest of the band. I hear people complain about the tempo, the quality of our sound, missing step-offs, and numerous other parts of our performance. And what always ends up happening? We all watch the tapes the following Monday, and all of the minor details you thought were such a big detail on Saturday night are forgotten. You realize, looking at the big picture, our performance wasn't nearly as bad as you made it out to be. In fact, it turns out that most of the scores actually increase by a significant amount.
To be completely blunt, this drives me crazy. I guess the reason it bothers me so much is because I feel like people are focusing so hard on the negative aspects of their own personal performance, instead of realizing how fortunate we are to have such an incredible show this year. It's not every year we beat our biggest competition at our first tournament. It's not every year we evoke such excitement and pleasure from the audience, let alone satisfaction from the judges. If you don't believe me, talk to any other senior or Mt. Carmel graduate and I guarantee you they can tell you which shows stood out the most based on the success it achieved.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't be critical of ourselves, or that we shouldn't hold ourselves to high standards. I'm not saying we should be arrogant about our winnings either. But before you start ranting to your friends about how much we "sucked", especially after we take home 5 3-foot-tall sweepstakes trophies, think again. Sure, we didn't "technically" have competition, but I think we all know which band showed up that night and won it overall.
No performance is flawless. There will always be a few mistakes here and there, and each week, the only thing we can do about them is remember not to repeat them. A year from now, you're not going to remember that one time you forgot your step off at letter I in the third movement. The only things you'll remember are the happy memories you made along the way, and the way you felt after you walked off the field.
If there is anything you take away from reading this, just remember to savor every single moment you're on the field performing. It's funny-I'm finally coming to terms that marching season is halfway over, and everything the graduated seniors have told me is starting to come true. The season is flying by; after this week, we're halfway done with all the tournaments. So why spend the last few weeks we have of the season acting negative and being stuck on insignificant mistakes? Stay focused, work hard, and continue to push through the rehearsals, even when it seems the most difficult.
Enjoy every opportunity you have left to put on your uniform and step out onto the field. Don't let the limited time we have together go to waste. I'm so excited for what the future has in store for us, and I'm already incredibly proud of where we've gotten so far.
Keep staying humble. But let's kill it at Poway.