Aidan Orbeta

lucky to have spent the last couple of months writing the show for the @morristowndrums winter percussion ensemble alongside my dear friend, tara (slide 3). i also got the opportunity to help teach them for a couple of rehearsals. they had their first competition in the history of the ensemble (!!) yesterday, and i couldn’t be more proud.

to put this into perspective, this program came from scraps for a budget and a super new yet determined group of students + staff. now, we’ve created a foundation for our future winter perc ensembles, which is something extremely monumental for this school.

through this experience, i noticed something that might be weird to some people, but is valuable, especially to musicians: being mentally present is arguably more important than trying to get better. i found that it released a lot of the anxiety that came from trying to correct every mistake, and it also increased my level of fulfillment. at the rehearsals before the show yesterday, i was attempting to teach and fix every little detail that i could. i became so stressed that i nearly missed out on how happy it makes me feel when i see all these students learning this art form, trying their hardest, and having a good time with their friends through this ensemble. on top of that, i would’ve missed the fulfillment that comes with seeing the amount of teamwork from the staff and parents. if i kept on stressing, i wouldn’t have realized the value of all these good things happening. and yes, it’s cool to be good at music, but i believe it’s much more healthy to be mediocre and fulfilled (yet still striving to improve) than to be the greatest and still feeling like there’s something missing. obviously it’s ideal to be good and feel fulfilled at the same time, but i digress.

we haven’t reached where we want to be yet, and that’s okay for now. instead, we gave each other a level of satisfaction and we helped the ensemble progress. moments like these make me realize that everyone involved in this ensemble inspires one another to do good things, and to that, i’m super thankful :)