Precious Lessons from My First Band Competition

As a first timer in a band competition, I felt a bit stressed and nervous when given a tight deadline for learning an arranged song. That leads to less sleep for three days because the first coaching will be held next week. Then, it went as I predicted. I got a major evaluation from the coach because I played the wrong notes in some parts of the bass line. The coach also tightly ordered me to lock the bass rhythm with the kick drum. But sometimes, I still make mistakes by playing the wrong note. I think anyone wouldn't realize, but the coach already recognized the wrong note, even if it was only half a step different from the original. After meeting the coach three times, I realized that the coach is a pure pianist but sometimes becomes a bass player.

Training Session | © Author

Discipline is trained more than creativity in practising for a band competition. Even small mistakes from one player can impact the whole band's performance. Sometimes, improvisation is unnecessary because the coach has arranged and locked all parts from the beginning. If we make some new improvisation, it would ruin the focus of other players & could exceed the time limit. Sometimes, we must repeat the same part of the song more than five times because of mistakes such as wrong notes or tempo. At that moment, I was nostalgic about the classical music session in my private coaching when I was a child. Now I understand why it is essential.

Practicing classical music trains our discipline and endurance to maintain good performance without making any mistakes in the long run.

A flashback to my musical journey: When I was in junior high school, my parents gave me a private guitar course for about a year. The first-course material was classical music, and each session consisted of reading a lot of partiture. Instead of strumming, the guitar was played with a tight, ruled fingerstyle while reading block notes from one string to another. About 4 months later, I fell bored because I couldn't take that guitar lesson in school or outside the course. I often refused when my friend asked me to play a song for a school event because I did not understand the chords yet.

I started arguing with my teacher about the classical music as my first lesson. But he told me that classical music practices the fundamental aspects of guitar players: discipline and consistency. Of course, it takes a long time until we master it and can apply it in a show. But at that time, I didn't understand the need for that aspect.

I said I wanted to practice pop songs because they are often used in school. I want to guess a song's chord quickly and even make a chord for a new song. After that, the course material was switched to pop music. Then, I started to learn family chords and how to guess the chords of a song. Most of the time, the guitar was played without reading the partiture until finishing the course session for a year.

Guitar Lesson | © Author

Long story short, from high school until college, I didn't have the curiosity or motivation to improve my guitar skills; I was even a bit shy about attending shows and live performances because there were so many talented players out there. Until I felt bored working on my final thesis for a day, only in the dorm because of the COVID situation. I tried to play some songs with my guitar, but suddenly, my neighbours came and warned me not to play too loudly.

Could you imagine playing an acoustic guitar without being noisy? Of course, it makes me a bit frustrated 🙃. I tried to play only the bass part of the song. Surprisingly, I enjoyed playing that low note as loudly as a higher note without being noisy. As time flies, I enjoy every bass part of the song. Sometimes, the bassline sounds clearer than the lead guitar melody. After graduating and getting a job, my first big purchase was an acoustic bass. Then, whenever I felt bored with my WFH task, I tried the bassline of various songs. 

Recording Session | © Author

Jump back to the main timeline, here I am, facing a recording session that felt overwhelming because we must take more than five records to get the best result. When I performed live for the band competition's final session, I also got a precious lesson: try to bring your own device. Don't rely on shared devices (pedals or even bass guitar) with another band because we don't know whether their setup differs significantly from mine. If so, we need extra time to set it up again to meet our needs. If we use others' bass, we cannot achieve our peak performance because we are not getting the feeling of that new stuff yet. Simply put, you need to spend extra money for all tools to be a good live performer. 

Final Session | © Author

Overall, live performance in front of band judges feels the same as other art performances I've experienced. The excitement, the nervousness, and the improvisation on the stage have the same feelings. The difference is only the form of art we bring to the audience. Ultimately, I'm very grateful to all the band members who trusted me to fill the bass position, even though my bass line lacks improvisation. It is a precious experience to be coached by a professional musician and perform with all talented players in a band competition.