I have been learning Keyboard since I was in grade 1. I am extremely happy about the fact that I still enjoy playing keyboard and now this learning has helped me in the past few months. I always used to play keyboard solely but this year few of my friends who play different instruments started playing together in a band. It was a completely different experience and very new for us. We got the opportunity to perform inside as well as outside the school in front of large audiences. Performing at school events in a band has always been fun. In school we got the opportunity to play on events- FS got talent and Farewell and outside school we performed live music at Black Bunny where it was open for anyone to come and attend. Playing keyboard alone and in the band was a completely different experience. To get the vocals and the instrument in time with one another, it took a lot of time and effort on our part. It was difficult for us to match our tempo, and picking a song that we could all like was another difficult task. The reason for this was that we were all used to playing different types of music.

LO 1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.
Throughout this experience I was able to identify various strengths and weaknesses. I came to the realization after this experience that especially while playing in a band, I still had a lot to improve, when it came to playing keyboard. I had performed several times in the band but after the very first performance I was able to identify my weaknesses due to lack of practice. My weaknesses were I was not able to remember the chords during the performances as we perform various songs and mesmerizing the chords of every song was difficult for me as earlier I used to prepare for single songs at a time and never played a number of songs back to back without break. Maintaining the tempo and synchronizing with the other instruments was also one of the areas of growth. I understood that I had to transpose the chords, which suited the vocals. I worked on this by being aware of each band member’s playing style and doing as much practice as I could with my band. Despite the weaknesses, few of my strengths were I was able to shift chords quickly which benefitted my band. Also I was able to understand the pattern from the youtube tutorials which helped me a lot. Our band kept several practice sessions wherein we worked upon our mistakes so  that we could perform better next time.

LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

This experience was a little challenging for me as I had never played keyboard as a part of any band. Performing in a band is not easy as it seems as we need to sync with other members of the band, maintain tempo so the music does not go off beat, and transpose the chords so that the singers can comfortably sing. We had no one to guide us and without an expert it was difficult to manage. Selecting the songs were also burdensome as there was one or the other song which was not heard by everyone. For a smooth performance it is necessary that every member of the band should be familiar with it. Choosing songs that suited everyone took us time. We had to work extremely hard on synchronising our paces after choosing the songs. It’s sometimes difficult to comprehend the beats and chord progressions of a completely new artist or band to listen to. I listened to the songs several times before I could adequately comprehend their structure. It was then easy for me to play the right chords at the proper time. We utilised a metronome to help us comprehend the pace and tempo we should adhere to. Even after extensive practise, we still made some mistakes. Other than the challenges in delivering the music, scheduling the practice sessions was the most difficult part as not a single time everyone was present due to other commitments. I had to sacrifice other important tasks to take out time for this.

LO 3: Initiate and plan a CAS experience 

For every event we need to schedule practice during the school hours as well as outside school. We tried to practice 2 hours every weekend and some time on the weekdays as well. We had to decide the time wherein everyone was comfortable coming to practice. We even practiced in our free slots.

LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Synchronization was the tricky part; each band member knew exactly what to do in their own section, but it was tough to time and match the lyrics to the beats. In order to correct our mutual flaws and perform the song perfectly, perseverance and commitment during practice sessions were crucial. The band’s dedication to the performance helped us prepare songs in a short time span, and I was quite encouraged when everyone in the group put in an equal amount of effort and passion to the song. Perseverance was very essential during the entire journey as first of all it was our first time performing in a band. Next we didn’t have anyone to guide and last of all it is a very time consuming thing, preparing a single song also takes many attempts and hence I had to show perseverance. Perseverance and commitment together can create a very successful band.

LO 5: Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively.  

This entire experience was about how collaboratively we worked together as a single band. Without enough collaboration it was not possible to prepare a single song. his experience also required me to demonstrate social skills. As all of the members of the band were my friends so it was easy for me to work with them. No one in the group was difficult to work with. One of the band members was experienced and skilled and so we all played according to him. It was very simple for us to perform together after practicing on it because his analysis and feedback were so precise. In this situation, everyone may add a different perspective with respect to the instrument that they play, which could help us in planning the framework of the song more effectively. It is very vital to work together and listen to everyone’s perspective. This whole experience required teamwork as a band can’t work with one person and we showed it because of which we were successful in the last event which we played in as we worked together on our improvements. We were able to do this job in such a short amount of time because we all helped to motivate one another and pushed ourselves to the limit. If we weren’t cooperating, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish this.

The learner profiles I demonstrated throughout this experience were communicators, open minded and reflective. I had to communicate with my fellow band members while stating my viewpoints as well as receive feedback. I used to provide feedback to others and reflect after each practice session on what went well and what could have gone better, so I was open-minded to the critique I got. Overall every event we performed went successful which felt empowering and was really satisfying. With more practice and experience we could have done better.