Showing Us What Is Possible
As I write this, both the 2024 Olympic Games and the Drum Corps International season are coming to an end. Both of these events highlight the best of what someone can achieve through hard work, training, and dedication. We all thrill while watching these performances because we innately respond to this display of what is possible.
Even though these are elite athletes and musicians, their achievement reminds us of the amazing things that we ourselves are capable of! Limitations seem to vanish and our minds are flooded with inspired ideas of what we could do. We all need more of this inspiration in our lives all the time!
News headlines and the challenge of simply getting through the day can weigh us down. We need to focus more on our goals and how we can make them come true.
I have spent much of my life supporting music educators who are working to create a great program for their students. No matter what kind of performing group you are trying to build, you need to show your members what is possible. This is why it’s important to take your group to see drum corps, great marching bands, winter guard competitions, and all the rest. Many students and parents (and the communities where they come from) simply do not know what is possible! I have talked to many directors who shared stories of the transformation of taking their students to a top competition just so they could see what other students (just like them) are doing!
This is true for anything we want to accomplish. Find examples of others being successful, and study them! Go to experience these places and events for yourself if possible. Even better, talk with someone who’s succeeding at something you want to do. Their stories of struggle and hardship and grit and overcoming obstacles will remind you that you can do this too!
Watching a top drum and bugle corps perform is astounding! Watching any of the athletes at the Olympic Games demonstrate their training and discipline is humbling and awe-inspiring. All of this reminds us of what’s possible, and what we can also do. I may not be able to flip across the floor like Simone Biles, but I’m reminded that hard work and determination can help me get where I want to go in my own life. This is a gift I am so very grateful for!
Tim Hinton
August 10, 2024
Photo: Phantom Regiment 2024 (make a donation or buy a t-shirt to support the corps)
