Being part of something great

Somewhere on the Ashrbook website there is an essay I wrote about this very same topic. But instead of just copying and pasting...I'm going to tell you a story.

Picture 11-year-old Michelle. She's been playing the piano for about 3 years at this point and is loving it. Both of her parents were in band in high school, so when it was finally the day for the 5th graders to try out instruments...she was very excited. Finally when it was her turn to try out an instrument, she asked for the one she had thought looked and sounded the coolest: The French horn.

And she was able to play it. So the band directors marked her down with it and sent her home with the required information. Upon arrival home the conversation went something like this:

Dad: So what instrument do you want to play?
Michelle: FRENCH HORN!
Dad: Oh....

Somehow we made it work...and I was renting my very first French horn for band in 5th grade...and by 6th grade I had a school-owned instrument. And playing French horn continued up until I graduated from Ashland. It was an escape for me...a way to express myself...and a way for me to feel like I was part of something important.

My fondest memories from high school are all about being in band. Marching band with the constant practices in the summer...waking up at 6 am to march...marching in "rain, snow, sleet, sun, or fire" as our director told us...Thursday night practices until 9 (but always later because we were "not going home until we get this right"), Friday football games in all sorts of weather, and Saturday competitions. Concert band with tryouts and contests, and jazz band with several festivals. All of which gave me the greatest high I have ever experienced...playing in a band.

I remember the feeling of stepping onto the field at state competition for marching band. Complete silence in the stadium as the announcer calls us to the field. The way our response to being called to "Attention" echoed throughout the stadium. Then marching a 10 minute long show...complicated moves, meshes, and steps...keeping your horn up...and hitting all of the notes. And the feeling of knowing you did AWESOME in that show. The crowd rising to its feet when we finished. And the grins on all of our faces as we marched out of the stadium. It was an awesome feeling and made the months of practice and agony worth it.

The moment that sticks out the MOST for me though would be my junior year at our district contest for wind ensemble. We were playing a REALLY AWESOME SONG called "Into the Raging River." To this day it is the best piece I have ever played. The French horn part was beautiful and had soaring melodies and counter melodies. And at the end there is this completely AWESOME part where we had to go up to a high note and hold it for a long time...and everyone could hear it. At contest, the director was getting so into the song...and when we hit that note PERFECTLY his face LIT. UP.

It was basically the greatest feeling in the world.

And then we hit it again for the last part.

We walked off that stage KNOWING that we had received a superior rating. I remember looking at the other people in my section and just grinning like an idiot. It was awesome.

We took our wind ensemble to state contest that year. Where we proceeded to ALSO get a superior rating.

I bring all of this up because I went to a concert tonight on campus that some of my Upward Bound kids were in. And while I sat there listening to the music...I realized how much I really miss that feeling of playing in band. The feeling that I get when I'm on stage with everyone and where everyone's part MEANS something. If one person messes up, the entire song can fall apart.

It was being a part of something greater than myself.

I miss it so much. Band meant so much to me when I was in high school and undergrad. If I could find a band that fit my schedule...I would join it in a heartbeat.