One of the most influential things in my life thus far is music. I’ve always listened to it and a good portion of my family members fit the drugs, sex, and rock ‘n roll persona. I grew up listening to classic rock and golden oldies. As I grew older, I learned to find my own genres. In middle school, I joined band and I stuck with it all through high school. I was in the marching, symphonic, and jazz bands which was a lot of work.

Playing the trumpet for seven years is a very big accomplishment, but I’ve got to be honest, up until around two years ago, I was a terrible trumpet player. I was god-awful at best. Some might say I’m being too critical of myself because after all, being in band was supposed to be about having fun.

I was always intimidated by one trumpet player and I cared too much about what others thought about me. That’s what hindered a lot of my progress. After I stopped caring about all of that and just cared about improving for my own good, I started to get better.

Of course, this wasn’t an overnight sort of thing. Just completing the first step took years to do. Playing music made me more confident too. And because I was more confident, I was increasingly active in playing the trumpet. My next challenge: Electric guitar.

I also took leadership roles in my time with band. I was a section leader for two years with a 20+ trumpet section. Joining jazz band provided more visibility for the band which I was happy to do, and so did auditioning for district band every year.

These past seven years has been an example of a recursive process of improvement. Much like drafting an essay, sometimes I have to start over, take breaks, and throw things when I don’t get something right. Practice, be it mastering the scales or revising paragraphs, makes perfect.