My name is James Stachewicz. In 2019 I was brought back to music by my uncle, Andrew. While I was spending time in Busselton with my cousins, he pulled out a guitar and taught me “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple. I quickly got the hang of it and eventually mastered the riff. Once the holidays had ended and we were back at school I took interest in music class and wanted to present my new guitar skills to the class.

On the way out of class, other classmates and I started joking about making a band however it became a reality, and everyone invested in the idea. After putting time in rehearsing every lunchtime and trying to make our band a success, the Director of Music listened in and tried to fit us into the contemporary band program.

When we got into the program our band was allocated to music tutor Mr. Ablett, (also our bass guitarist), to rehearse every Tuesday at lunchtime. This helped me build teamwork and cooperation within a group of people. The skills I had to practice were mainly timing to keep up with the group and playing chords perfectly.

Once my band, “Traversal” was finally ready after all the months we put into practicing we performed in a live gig at the Mojos Bar in North Fremantle. This performance was a success and the crowd was very pleased which gave all the band members great satisfaction and a reward for all the hard work our band put in.

This experience has taught me some lifelong skills including teamwork, leadership, and the value of perfecting my skills to achieve my aims. This example of my application to learn and develop will give me the confidence to apply to any task and illustrate my ability to work in a team and lead as required.