Walking into the music hall of my high school was one of the best feelings I could remember. Students and my peers would be sitting in the hallways, you would hear perfect harmonies, guitars being strummed all in sync, students laughing, some reading or some would be eating. It sort of felt like I was in the tv show “victorious” which seemed pretty cool to me. The feeling never gets old, completely immersed in the music department, passing every classroom as well was also very humorous. You would see a lot of kids and keyboards and in the next, you would see the strings class and in the next, you would see the choruses practicing.

My class was the very last classroom in the music hall. It was the biggest and it smelt of dust, it has wooden walls, for the better acoustics. The classroom would never be too cold or too hot, it felt very welcoming when walking in. My music teacher seemed very intimidating at first, he was very funny in every type of way, he could play any instrument in that classroom which was very impressive to me. In that classroom, we learned many important things about musicianship, but what stuck to me the most was hard work, determination, and punctuality. Three very important things and my life and one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in that class and high school, even now. Walking in I never really knew what to expect, you know regular music class, we practice and practice for the pieces we would be playing in concerts hosted by the school. But this class was much different than expected, I have never heard of homework in music class, or working 10x harder for sitting in a certain seat. Being the first clarinet and the first chair, let’s just say it was one of the best and worst things that have ever happened to me. The best because, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced so much hard work for results, I’ve always been pretty laid back in everything never really trying my best.

I remember being late to his class all the time, feeling his stare follow me for a whole century as if he was a scientist and I was the specimen. I look back and I’m like how could I disrespect my favorite teacher in his classroom. Forgetting my mouthpiece on purpose so I wouldn’t get to play that day. Music is hard when you play it, I felt like this class was not the best fit for me, I needed to go to beginner band, not concert band.  Until one day Mr.C  said something very important to me, “Samantha, you can’t be another tragic story of quitting this class, knowing you have the potential. I know it does not sound so serious or anything major but he had a point, how was I just going to quit this class because I was getting yelled at due to my lateness and being unprepared. Once Mr.C said that to me it was almost as if a switch had turned on in my brain, and that’s when I knew I needed to have the first chair. Every month the whole band individually would submit their videos playing the piece from home and that video would guide the teacher to sit us in our designated seats. So there was always that opportunity to level up or for someone to sit on your seat, in my opinion, that made it very competitive to be the best in your section.

I remember taking my instrument home every Thursday-Monday to practice at home the pieces and scales that were not asked for but helped with your playing. This is where the worst moments of my life began, where I learned to change my perspective in music class. When you are practicing a piece you don’t just play it so many times from beginning to the end until you get it right, you start from the end to the beginning, you start wherever it may trouble you, almost as if you’re changing your perspective. Wanting to be the first chair until the end of my junior year was very stressful due to keeping my grades up, and keeping my seat. I changed my perspective to value the hard work I was doing, the commitment I saw in the results of my hard work. I began to truly enjoy practicing music, accomplishing a music video without crying after I would stop recording.

I had Mr.C for the last two years and I would constantly be switching seats my senior year from first to second and second to the first seat. The girl who was also the first clarinet with me was tremendously good, she was so good I couldn’t even deny it, and that’s when I knew the time and experience correlate hand in hand. I realized that what I also needed to sound  good was the amount of time I was  playing my instrument, she has been playing clarinet for over 5 years, while I was there trying to outplay her with my 2 years of experiences Sophomore year was when I picked up that clarinet and it was senior year, I was in the symphonic band which was the best and the hardest class, I realized that I had done everything I could do to be the best I possibly could be, to treasure being first clarinet second seat, not having the pressure to tune the whole band. This reflected on my entire classes of senior year, to treasure how far I have come, how much I had grown in one class with one teacher. I hope that this would stick with me wherever I go, punctuality, hard-working, and determination