I joined a band

In continuation of my series on things I did in 2024, today I want to talk about the band I joined. It was one of my favorite things I did in 2024, and in some ways I feel like it was a turning point in a difficult year for me.

In college, I joined an a cappella group, an experience I always look back on fondly. Arranging a large chunk of the group’s repertoire gave me valuable transcription and writing skills, and leading a whole group of capable musicians taught me a lot about approaching music-making as a collective effort. On top of that, it was just a ton of fun to work on cool music and perform with my friends.

After graduating with a degree in choral composition, one thing I’ve struggled with is the declining rate of my musical output. I still love choral music, but I think I’m at a stage in my life where I’m less inclined towards solitary musical activities like solo composition. For a while, I missed having something like my a cappella group, a space that was not only musically challenging, but socially fulfilling.

Fortunately, in the middle of last year, while I was stuck in this frustration of not being able to write choral music the way I wanted to, a friend from my old a cappella group invited me to join his band. He had started it with some college friends, including one of the beatboxers from our group, who had gone on to learn drumming. I ended up joining, and I’m glad I did.

As I thought, working on music with people is just what I needed right now. The performing aspect is always fun, but personally, I’m enjoying the planning-oriented aspects of being in a band (writing, arranging, recording) even more. It’s refreshing to not be stuck with just my own ideas (or lack thereof). Having other people’s ideas to work with and bounce off of energizes my own creativity.

Just recently, we did the first show we’ve had in a few months. In that time, our old bassist left and a new one joined, and we took time to rework our set somewhat. It was really satifying to see how much we accomplished just in that period of time, and I’m excited to get back into the studio and start working on new stuff.

Have you ever been in a band or musical group? Have you ever appreciated the opportunity to do something collaboratively that you used to do alone? Let me know your thoughts at my Ctrl-C email: gome ​@ ​ctrl-c.club.