(Minghui.org) I’m a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, and a member of the flute section of the Toronto Tian Guo Marching Band, with a mission to assist Master in saving all people.
I’ve been living in Canada for more than ten years, and one thing that touched me deeply was that after nearly two years of quiet during the COVID-19 pandemic, people began to recall those beautiful things that touched them deeply before the devastating pandemic. The Tian Guo Marching Band is definitely one of them – the unique and striking uniforms in blue and white, the magnificent music resounding Heaven and Earth, which deeply resonated within their hearts and souls.
Master personally established the Tian Guo Marching Band and provided us with a great opportunity to temper ourselves, to save all, and to validate the Fa. I feel very proud to be a member of the band.
I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences with fellow practitioners and report to Master. Please point out anything not in line with the Fa in my sharing.
In 2013, the coordinator of the Vancouver Tian Guo Marching Band gave me a flute, hoping I could learn to play it. At that time, I couldn’t even produce a sound and declined the request.
The next year, a fellow practitioner from the Toronto Tian Guo Marching Band introduced me to their flute section, and after half a year of practice, I was accepted as a member and have been using my flute to help save people in numerous parades since then.
At the beginning, I wasn’t very good with flute techniques, and the sounds I produced were uneven; I wasn’t able to play some difficult parts in a piece, either. So when in a parade, in order to not affect the performance, I went quiet when it was too difficult for me, and I sometimes also made mistakes. I would give myself a failing grade in flute playing.
To improve our performance, the band invited a conductor and a few professional musicians from NY, who gave us lectures and offered us some practical advice. All these helped me a lot, and I gained a completely new understanding of the function of each section and how these sections cooperate in a band performance, etc.
I realized that all this time, I didn’t get the fingering right, as I only used the fingering for playing alto, with absolutely no idea about the fingering for high and low notes. When looking outward, I was thinking: Why didn’t anyone correct me?
When I looked within, I found that I wasn’t careful or serious enough in what I was doing with flute playing, because the fingerings for high and low notes were clearly marked on the fingering sheets, but I never even noticed them. So, I began to practice all those fingerings from the beginning.
Then, the band began to check how we performed by asking us to record each piece. I found many of my problems and practiced even more diligently, Sometimes, I would practice one piece up to a hundred times, until I was tired and felt a bit restless inside.
When this happened, I would stop practicing and start to study the Fa, and keep saying in my heart,
“When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I thought, I’m a Dafa practitioner, and enduring hardships is part of our cultivation. I’m Master’s disciple, and I will overcome the difficulties.
The next day, amazingly, I could indeed play the piece very well. I kept on practicing one piece after another, and by the time I finished recording all the pieces, my performance truly improved a lot. I also learned how to cultivate my xinxing in the face of hardships and difficulties.
I made sure that I practice the pieces every day so I keep improving, even if only for 20 minutes on a busy day. I also watched flute playing by professionals from Taiwan and tried to learn how they play with long breaths to make the sound more beautiful. I have now largely managed how to play the difficult notes well in each piece we play, but I will keep improving myself as art has no limits.
Master talked about the Tian Guo Marching Band in “Teachings the Conference in Los Angeles” in 2006. Master said,
“When the band was playing, the energy they emitted was tremendous. Be it the energy emitted, the sounds you made, or the music and notes themselves, they all had the effect of validating the Fa and sending out energy.”(Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
I thought, if we make mistakes, the notes we play would have no positive energy, and if our xinxing is not up to the standard, we would not emit as much energy either, and the effect of our saving people would not be as good, either. I must keep improving my xinxing and my flute-playing skills to be able to truly save people.
The flute is my Fa tool in saving people, and I’ve established a deep affinity with it. My flute and I have participated in a few hundred parades, from Toronto and over a dozen of its nearby cities, to Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, as well as neighboring cities in the US, and everywhere we went, we were warmly greeted by a sea of spectators and thunderous applause.
Play my role well as a flutist
We keep improving our skills so that we can better save people when marching in parades. Our band is like a machine, and each section must perform well to ensure that each piece we play is well presented with tremendous energy.
For example, sometimes we need to take over a high note from trumpets, and it is also a long note, so we must take that note and hold it as long as required. In another piece, we must play some low notes, the equivalent to the bass accompaniment, so we need to bring out the richness of the base notes.
As I became more skilled in flute playing, I was more confident to play louder. Once, at the end of a parade, the conductor said to me, “I can now hear the notes from flutists.” I was really happy as all this was possible thanks to everyone’s effort and the great teamwork.
I came to the understanding that only by all sections in the band cooperating as one body and us all keeping up with high standards, can the pieces we play be more beautiful and touching to the spectators, so that we can fulfill our mission to save more people.
Cultivate myself in severe cold and scorching heat
What touched me most in those hundreds of parades we have participated in is that the Tian Guo Marching Band established by Master is not only for saving all people, but also enables us to succeed in cultivation. It is Master’s immense grace for us to accomplish ourselves and save people at the same time.
Two major parades in Toronto are held in the summer and around Christmas in the winter, and we would need to get to the assembly spot one to two hours in advance. If we are placed towards the end of a parade, the waiting time is even longer.
We normally wear the ancient costumes for our parades, and since such costumes fit well, we cannot wear other clothes underneath, so it is rather cold for us to wait for long hours in winter; in summer, they are a bit hot to wear as they have a vest inside, and the boots we wear can be hot during the summer weather.
I know that enduring hardships is part of our cultivation, so I always stand straight while waiting to start in a parade and never chat casually with others. Master said in the same teachings in Los Angeles,
“That day during the Chinatown march, countless gods in every dimension of the heavens—gods filling the sky—were beating military drums. And many, many heavenly soldiers and generals were charging forward.”(Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
I’ve come to the understanding that when we march in a parade, Heaven and Earth join as one energy field. If we are bothered by cold weather or scorching heat, or if we chat about everyday people’s stuff, deities in Heaven would be upset, and the righteous energy field would be negatively impacted as well.
Sometimes, on a rainy day, as soon as we recited “On Dafa” or played a piece of Dafa music, the weather improved for the better. Once it was raining hard and we had to take shelter from the rain. We recited “On Dafa” with strong righteous thoughts, and very soon, the rain stopped.
On another occasion, as soon as we played “Falun Dafa is Good,” a ray of bright light cut through the thick clouds, the rain stopped, and the weather changed, becoming pleasant.
There have been many similar cases over the years, but nothing has ever stopped us from marching in those grand parades to save people.
I learned from Master’s Fa teachings that music and fine arts were passed down to humankind by higher celestial beings, and traditional music carries strong positive energies. Dafa pieces in particular are full of positive energies as they embody the universal characteristics of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, as Master said in the same Fa teachings in Los Angeles.
“And the energy emitted as Dafa disciples played the wind instruments was very powerful. You’ve seen in movies the enormity of the blast waves produced by the explosion of an atomic bomb, right? Well, [the energy emitted] was even more powerful than that.”
“That’s why when the band proceeded down the streets in the march, the many people who were watching—and I was watching those ordinary people’s minds—they were basically numbed. (Audience laughs) And the Chinese people were just watching, expressionless. Their minds were blank. “What’s going on,” [they wondered]. Their bad thoughts were all cleaned out, and afterward they started to think again (applause) and said, “Wow, Falun Gong is so amazing!” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
It is truly the case. Our longest parade had to be the Calgary Stampede, also the largest one in the world, which attracts millions of spectators annually.
The parade lasted nearly two hours, and we had to walk on a slope at one point. However, we didn’t feel tired at all. Many people applauded and cheered for us, while some others just stared at us with a blank look in their eyes, just like what Master said in his teachings.
Once, we took part in a parade in a big city. The main viewing platform was set up inside a circular indoor building with many steps. As we marched in, thunderous applause erupted, and on the big screen, we saw our band surging in like a tidal wave. It was truly touching and breathtaking.
I was often moved to tears while playing the flute in parades. Many times when I played the piece “King of Falun,” my eyes teared up. If I couldn’t control myself, I might start choking. Just then, I heard the deep, resonant melody of the lower register, and it touched me deeply. It was as if I saw our sacred vows being fulfilled, and Master’s immense compassion nourishing all things in Heaven and on Earth, with countless beings saved, and all things renewed. At that moment, my body felt light and airy.
I understand that as a member of the Tian Guo Marching Band, if I cultivate myself well and play the flute well, with a pure and clean state of mind, the sounds I produce would be powerful to eliminate evil and wake up the conscience of people; if I fail to cultivate myself well, the energy I generate would be weak and ineffective, let alone save people. Everything depends on how well I cultivate myself in Dafa.
My role as a flutist in the Tian Guo Marching Band is for assisting Master in saving all beings. I will keep practicing and improving myself so that I can play the pieces more vividly to save more people and to live up to Master’s compassionate salvation.