By Lydia Scanlon, Student at Encore
Encore Music Academy is a great place to play amazing music and instruments. The very nice and caring staff help you find the right instrument and devotedly show you how to play. Also they will give you really helpful techniques on how to play and go through every piece you need help with whether they gave it to you or not. For example, my wonderful teacher, Lea Botta, will go over my band music as well as my personal music for Junior Districts, as well as music for my private lessons and Wind Ensemble. It is nice to know that there is someone who really knows what they are doing to help you with whatever you need to learn.
I have been taking lessons at Encore Music Academy for about three years. That doesn’t sound like a long time, but because I have learned so much in a pretty short amount of time, it feels like I have been studying and improving for many more years. I started playing in the Wind Ensemble about one year after I joined the Encore family. It started out with just four people playing clarinet. Then we added a flutist while Lea played played bass clarinet to add harmony to the group. This was very successful, and then other big changes happened. There was another flute player, and Lea went back to playing clarinet. I took over the bass clarinet and my Mom played the piano. Now we have two clarinets, a bass clarinet, a piano and a flute. We have improved a lot.
Normally when we go to the practice on Mondays we set up and tune for about ten minutes. Once we are all tuned and sound really good, we pull out a piece that we have been practicing and see what everybody knows and work off the weakest spots first. Then we will usually play it again and again to try to make it sound like the composer would have wanted it to. We do the same with the next piece and the next until practice is over. Or sometimes when we get new music, we will sight-read it and get a general beat and tempo so when we go home we know how to play it. And when we see each other on the next Monday we know what to play and we develop an understanding for the new music we had gotten just the week before. Then we just do the same thing every week. When you join Wind Ensemble, you get new skills for playing your instrument and it helps you learn to play in a group with others. It expands your horizons and helps you to be better in other groups, such as your school’s band or a personal band.
I thought being in Wind ensemble with my Mom would be embarrassing, but it is actually pretty cool. It is really helpful to have someone that is with you to be a second pair of ears and to help you if you don’t understand. I am even luckier because my Mom is also a music teacher, meaning she is really good and helps me with some of my music. If I don’t understand how to perform a song, I have my Mom to tell me and explain what to do or how to do it. I love being in the same group with my Mom because she normally plays the same bass line as I do so it is really easy to get the beat. With my Mom helping me along with the same part it makes my life easier. She and I can practice at the same tempo and be able to master each and every group lesson.
I think my favorite piece we have ever played would have to be Clarinet Polka by: Herman A. Hummel because it was a really fun song to play. It was an upbeat song and a very light and flowing song. We had to play this song for a high school senior that played clarinet in the Millis High school band. We accompanied him in the concert and it was really cool and fun to be a part of. If you want to have lots of fun, get better at playing an instrument and become a better musician, then come be a part of the Wind Ensemble hosted by Encore Music Academy.