Each day, people all around the world are faced with failure. When failure falls upon us, it tends to influence the way we think and the things we do dramatically. Whether the influence is a positive or negative depends on how we respond to failure.
Anna Phillips, a concert band sophomore, is one of the many Leesville students who has come face to face with failure and overcome it with positivity and pride.
Last spring, Phillips auditioned for the 2013-2014 Symphonic Band. She put forth effort into preparing for her audition, taking lessons and practicing nightly. Unfortunately, Phillips didn’t make the cut and was placed in Concert Band.
“When I didn’t make [Symphonic Band], I felt pretty depressed because it is a childhood dream of mine to be in marching band. Ever since my cousins joined when they were in high school, I wanted to be like them,” said Phillips.
Although not making the prestigious band disappointed Phillips, she was able to take away an important life lesson.
“For this year, I think not making [Symphonic Band] was for the best. I wasn’t prepared for the responsibility that comes with being a part of Symphonic and marching. I’ve learned to just keep trying and never give up,” said Phillips.
Phillips also learned that good things often stem from failure – things that inspire us to succeed and become stronger as a person.
“When you fail, you are more motivated and you are stronger afterwards. [Failure also] inspires me to be the best person I can be – one that is caring, supportive of others as well as myself, confident, strong, and smart,” said Phillips.
In addition to normal, every day students, some of the most famous and successful artists/musicians have faced failure. Whether they were discriminated with harsh criticism or turned away from every record label they tried to sign with, they are no stranger to failure.
One example of musicians who’ve faced failure is The Beatles. When one thinks of the legendary Beatles group, failure isn’t usually what they associate them with. But it’s true, even the most successful groups never start out that way.
When The Beatles first auditioned to be signed with Decca Records, a British music label, they performed a total of 15 original and cover tracks. After their audition, The Beatles received the OK to start recording and were told they’d hear the final decision in the following weeks. Unfortunately, Decca decided to reject The Beatles and told them guitar groups were on their way out and that they had no future performing. This was Decca’s worst mistake.
The Beatles proved to be very successful, selling over 2 billion albums in the course of 54 years. A few failures didn’t stop the group from going on to be some of the most well known musicians ever.
Jimi Hendrix, another famous musician, also faced failure before he became world renowned. When Hendrix was first starting out in 1967, he agreed to be the opening act for The Monkees, a popular british boy band. As predicted, Hendrix was not well received by The Monkees fans and was immediately booed off stage. He was only able to open up for a mere 7 shows before finally dropping out.
The negative reception didn’t stop Hendrix from becoming legendary, though. Hendrix is now recognized as being one of the greatest and most influential people in the history of rock music.
The failures of both students and music legends are inspiring, and in many accounts, work to motivate people to become better. Learning from failure is vital to reaching goals and becoming successful. Without knowing failure, we wouldn’t know success.
