Band - "Absent Road"
Formed 5-member band with friends, leveraging 10+ years’ experience playing drums and guitar
Practice with bandmates every week
Performed in school events including Rockfest, school idol, spring and winter concerts, regular recitals, and beginning- and end-of-year assemblies, and held community charity activities.
Beginning:
Band members often had different opinions on choices that needed to be made. On stage cooperation was also very important as our band used metronome and needed to be constantly following the backing tracks. I am the drummer so that responsibility falls onto me.
Development:
Our band members developed our communications and listening skills to make sure everyone's contribution was addressed and we came collectively to a best result for the band. On stage we used non-verbal communication skills to make sure our intentions were transferred.
Results:
Our band succeeded in performing at countless events both inside and outside of school.
Music has been a huge part of my high school journey. The band that my friends and I found is probably the most significant. The general goal was to form a band where music enthusiast similar to myself can bring what we have to the table to help all of us. Have a fun time doing what we love together.
You might think that the process is "I happened to have a few friends who played instruments so we formed a band together". The reality is actually the opposite, as founding members of the band, we were actually that familiar with each other at first. Music is what brought us together and gave us the chance to know each other better through further interactions. In fact, I still remember the first official rehearsal and how everyone was slightly awkward at first but immediately went away as we started playing together.
The band quickly grew in seriousness and we would perform at almost every occasion that was offered in and outside of school. This meant that we needed to work with many other people at different places, in charge of different things, such as sound engineers and stage directors.
Apart from interacting with people outside of the band, more interactions were happening within the band. Communication is the key to any successful interactions and result. Firstly, when practicing, it is impossible to not have points that one would like to share that someone else might not agree with. This is when communication and listening are both important, in a discussion like this, I would constantly listen and evaluate the idea given by one person and look at it from both my own and their perspective before responding. This always results in the best idea being generated and adopted by the band.
Secondly, it is also important to communicate on stage, which, in my opinion, is the real magical part. It was hard at first, but as we got more experience working with each other, sometimes it just takes a look or a simple gesture to communicate something we want done on stage. For example, we sometimes start with a improvised build-up before the actual song begins, in one case, the guitarist will start first, then signal the bass to join in, then finally look back quickly and signal me, as the drummer, to join in. From there, as the person controlling the tempo and progression of the entire song, I will take over and use my playing to constantly remind my bandmates where we are in the song and to maintain the designated tempo.
Overall, music has brought me invaluable friendships and experiences that has influenced me and helped in develop in countless ways as a whole, not just in music itself. It has also helped me learn important experiences in developing my skills and communication and leadership. Additionally, this project has also allowed me to incorporate skills from all across my learning journey to accomplish a seemingly easy and entertaining goal.