(Clearwisdom.net) On July 4, 2007, the Texas Divine Land Marching Band participated in a parade to celebrate Independence Day in the city of Arlington, Texas. The Parade Marching Unit Assessment Committee awarded the Divine Land Marching Band its first prize. Names of all the prize-winners were published on the website of the Independence Day celebration. The Dallas-Ft. Worth Area and Star Telegram, with a readership of tens of thousands, carried detailed reports about the prize-winners in their newspapers. When members of the Texas Divine Land Marching Band heard the news of their award, they said, "This is all due to the mighty power of Dafa!"
The band consists of Falun Gong practitioners from Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. It was formed only two months ago, and most of the members had never played any musical instrument before. How did they manage to learn the musical skills within such a short period and perform so well during the large-scale parade?
A few months ago some practitioners suggested forming a Divine Land Marching Band in the Dallas area. When practitioners heard about it, they all supported it. A Western practitioner from Dallas told others he had seven years of band experience while in high school and believed all that experience was a preparation for today. He volunteered to coordinate the technical side of the band work. Another practitioner had planned earlier to coordinate the band, but when he saw the Western practitioner volunteering, he quickly realized that it was a process of letting go of oneself. He was still happy to help with some specific tasks.
With everyone's effort the band was formed; however, they encountered a lot of difficulties. Most of the band members had little knowledge of music, let alone playing a musical instrument. Time was also an issue. Most people are working and have families. They need to take care of their children, and there are also a lot of other things that need to be done to validate the Fa. Furthermore, practitioners are living in different cities, and Texas is rather big. They would have to spend a lot of time commuting to come for group practice. What could they do? It was very hard, so hard that it was almost impossible to achieve anything. Although local members were required to practice together every day after work and should also practice on weekends, due to family matters and the difficulty with children, not everyone could make it. Their progress was thus very slow. Time was getting close to the Independence Day Parade in Arlington. Practitioners realized that it would not work if they continued in the same way. They started to share from the perspective of cultivation. Through constant sharing they came to understand that the band was an important project in their Fa-rectification cultivation and they must do it well. Also, learning pieces of music and how to play musical instruments was not to validate oneself, but to validate the Fa. Once practitioners had fully understood the principles from the perspectives of the Fa, there was a huge turn in the situation. Practitioners from various cities would gather together on weekends to practice and also practiced in an intensive manner every day. Their playing skills made rapid progress.
The Houston coordinator is a young practitioner. Although most members are his seniors, he still holds them strictly to every detail. He said, "The training process is also a cultivation process, and there are tests to pass. Sometimes I get a bit impatient, but when I realize that playing musical instruments is also an important project in validating the Fa, not validating oneself, and Master is also strengthening us, I made good progress in my practice."
John is a 14-year-old boy. He has played the violin since when he was small, so he has developed a good sense of rhythm. He was thus assigned to learn how to play the drum and picked it up quickly. Still, he would come each time and practice together with others. "Because we are one body," he said.
Mr. Li from Dallas was well prepared with musical skills. When he heard of the plan to form a band, he started to learn trombone from his son. As he started earlier, he learned how to play the trombone two months ahead of others. But when he learned that there were not enough people to play the trumpet, he volunteered to learn the trumpet and started from scratch again.
Mr. Dan is the eldest in the band. Once he went to Washington, DC and watched the Divine Land Marching Band play. Afterwards, he could hear the tunes all the time. He realized he should join the Divine Land Marching Band. He encouraged himself with Master's words, "When it seems impossible to make it and it is said to be difficult to make it, then you may just as well try it to see if you can make it after all." (Zhuan Falun) Through hard work, he became a band member.
With practitioners' diligent training and practice and the wisdom bestowed upon them by Dafa, the Texas Divine Land Marching Band showed their talent two months later, conveying the blessing of Dafa to people through their wonderful performance.
July 9, 2007
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