In my previous school, I had played the trumpet for a year, and although my main instrument is the flute, I felt I did not want to let go of my trumpet too. Therefore, I chose to play the trumpet in the jazz band at UWC. Because I used to be in a brass band, the atmosphere of a jazz band was very new to me, by how it was made from the rhythm section and the horn section, and the significance of the base and the guitar. I also felt more of a groove that I wasn’t that much conscious about before.
However, I was also pleased by how there was a lot of skills that benefited me from my experience in a brass band. For example, I realised that I had good ears for getting the intonation same with the others, and how I was quite good at sight-reading. On the other hand, I feel I still need to work on being more conscious about the band around me, so that there would be more of a sense of unity in our performance. I also found new challenges for improvisation, which is something that I have never done before. I am still scared to play something which is not on the sheet music; something I’m not told to do. On the other hand, I think developing my improvisation skills would lead to my creativity, and I am willing to learn from my band mates who are very good at improvising.