My middle school is known for our jazz band. Definitely not as good as we thought we were, but not bad. My instrument of choice in the band was the flute. Most of the time it sounded like a suffocating bird instead of an instrument, but despite my inability to actually produce music myself, I appreciated jazz band because of how our conductor taught us how to play it. We would listen to it, break all the parts down, and then build it back together with the instruments we had. This construction and reconstruction method taught me to appreciate music for all its parts and complexity. I learned that different artists don’t just play music, they are able to use their voices or their instruments to portray a certain set of emotion and values.