Exhibit: Jazz Band

Benchmark: Teamwork/Communication

Skills: TC105: Express one’s point of view in a teamwork setting and TC106:  Give and accept feedback in a positive way.

 

Jazz Band is a class where we all put in our knowledge to figure out what we are supposed to do.  We have to talk, give feedback to one another about who should have a part, how the parts go, and what we could do to better ourselves.  All of this is in the pursuit of a great performance and, through working together and by all of us putting out two cents, we accomplish this goal.  Our jazz band is a collection of independent minds that combine through communication into one superpower of music.

 

In jazz band I play the valve trombone and currently I am the trombone that has been there the longest.  Being a senior member of my section comes with a lot of responsibilities; usually, that involves (TC105) expressing one’s point of view in a teamwork setting.  The music we play is actually very difficult; it is music that professional musicians would play and be paid to.  A good portion of our time in that class is spent in sectional, which is where we break off into our instrumental sections and practice together.  We go over every song with a fine toothed comb and find every problem and fix.  That is where my job begins; being a senior member I am responsible for telling people what they are doing wrong and trying to help them fix it.  For example if we were to go through a portion of the song and I noticed that our balance was off, I would have to stop us and say I need more of this part and less of this one.  This of course is always in my point of view; to someone else we may sound really good but to me and to what my ear wants to hear it does not sound right, so it is my call on how we play it.  The same thing goes for rhythms; counting in music is one of the hardest things to do especially once we got into more challenging music.  If people in my section do not understand a part it is my job to tell them exactly how it goes.  It may seem like there is only one way to play something which is not true at all.  We play many styles of music and with different styles comes different weighting on notes which changes the rhythm.  It is my call which weighting we should use depending on the style, because in the end we all have to match each other to have a song that makes sense.  Though my word is usually what we go on we always (TC106) give and accept feedback in a positive way.  When I work in sectionals I am working with my peers and we all have our own opinions on how something should be done, so we give feedback to each other to try to improve our final product and understanding of music itself.  Kim O’Connell, Clay Herwat and I have really assumed leadership positions within our section and we go over things together and give feedback to one another about how it should be played.  Multiple times I have, in all honesty, messed up a rhythm and tried to teach them it and one or the other would kindly tell me if it went like this, and I would realize my mistake and we would move on. We never shied away from speaking our minds and pointing out problems and this led us to being one of the best sections in our jazz band.

 

Your point of view and the feedback you give and get from it are some of the most important building blocks you have in life.  As an art director my opinion is needed by all of the people under me.  They base what they are doing on what I say.  Essentially it is my vision of what the client wants, being made by their hands.  I will always accept criticism from my clients to create exactly what they want.  As a young adult I was afraid to speak my mind but as I grew up I realized that things were much easier.  When I did things were always done correctly and it made my school life much easier.