As soon as I set foot on campus, I was thrown into relationships, assignments, and sense of crazy competition. A biology test tomorrow, a trillion chapters to annotate…. and it felt like something was taken away from me: the spirit of youth and my favorite hobby, flute-playing. When I went to see my friend in the Afterschool Music Activity (AMA), I knew that would be my favorite place to be.
AMA started to prepare musicians for the Northern Regional Auditions. It has been an option for students in the fall and winter terms for over twenty years. “When Kent School participates in the Northern Regionals Auditions, our music students are competing with the very best musicians in the entire Northwest area of the state of Connecticut. When our music students participate in Afterschool Music Activity, they have the needed time to work on their music skills,” says Mrs. Kovacs. AMA does give students time to lock in for the auditions, but I personally think it offers more than that. It is about your trip to the music world and forgetting of the stresses of our lives.
Mrs. Kovacs and Dr. Bouldin will greet you on the second floor to sign you in. You walk to your own practice room and breathe your spirit out of the instrument. 75 minutes isn’t enough to prepare for your auditions or enjoy the music, so you come back tomorrow. I personally divide the days for each piece I am working on. For instance, I would practice scales on Monday and an audition piece on Tuesday, a personal piece on Thursday and Concert Band practice on Friday. When my fingers get tired, I sit in front of a piano and play the childhood music my mom used to play before bed.
Most of the musicians have a piece they are working on, either for fun or for future performances. For instance, I play ‘Concertino por Flûte, Op. 107’ by Cécile Charminade, is a wonderful piece that has been dragging me to the music world for a year. Now I am two months into AMA, and I am at a level that can fluently play the entire piece from memory, a wonderful chance provided by AMA.
Having your own space with your instrument and a piano is something more than preparing for competitions. It’s about you having full control of your time, your sounds, and the lifelong skills you would gain in such a short period of time.
