the conductors…
From the Front Page Sections, translated…
Yang, because he’d gotten into drugs, he was sent to the juvenile detention hall in Taoyuan, he’d placed the trumpet there, and found a goal for his life, last year, he’d gotten the first place trophy for the Taoyuan City’s music competition, and the judges had nothing but good things to say about his performance. Next Wednesday, after competing in the finals, he will be out of juvenile detention, and he will head to high school to finish his education, he hoped to enter into the music department of a university, to begin a new page in his own life.
The twenty-year-old Yang is the son of a truck driver, he was young and acted up, after graduating from middle school, he’d gotten into drugs, deeper and deeper, couldn’t help himself back up again, he’d hurt both his parents. Two years ago in January, he was sentenced to spend time in Taoyuan Juvenile Detention, started taking up the trumpet, at first, he’d just picked it up, to pass the time, he’d not gotten that sense of achievement he was looking for.
Yang told, that he could be out of the juvenile detention back last March, but back then, the facility had just started a band, and he’d wanted to perform on stage for the people to see, and had he left, he couldn’t see his dreams come true; and so, he’d volunteered to stay longer, at the same time, he’d gotten involved in the band, as well as the brass-five, worked hard to practice, day and night, from the first competitions in Taoyuan, he’d gotten the first place trophy, to entered into the national competitions and gaining great marks, and it’d made his family open their arms to take him back in too.
the students in competition…
After Yang’s “graduation” from juvenile detention, he is entering into Taoyuan Agricultural High School to start his second year, he’d planned to take the entrance exam into the music department, and the conductor of the Taoyuan Symphony had, promised to help continue coaching him.
Kai, who’s also twenty years old, is the first chair of the French Horns in the Taoyuan Juvenile Detention, he’d had a wayward past too. After he graduated from middle school, he’d entered into the debt collectors, and, when he was collecting the debts, he’d beaten someone into a severe concussion, and was sent to juvenile detention for attempted murder.
Kai said, he’d never played an instrument before, at first, he couldn’t even make a sound on the French horn, after the older members of the band, as well as the conductor’s giving him tips, and he’d practiced for six to eight hours a day, he’d cracks his lips from playing too hard, and one day, he’d, gotten it. As the band made it to the nationals, they are up against the top boys’ high school, Chien-Guo Boys’ High School, “I’d never thought that I’d see this day!”, his parents are both, really proud of him.
So, this is the power of music, it’d steered these teens who were originally behaving badly, onto the right paths, and, music is a great way, to change someone’s life, and, by being in the band, the adolescents started having a goal for themselves, and, they’d worked hard, to achieve that goal, and finally, made everybody else impressed too!
Life, the Obstacle Course 