I think we all have about five or so really important life decisions we make throughout our lives. They're the ones that start a domino effect of other great things. One of mine is definitely joining band. Who knew everything that one activity could offer me- numerous trips, life skills, and great friends just to name a few. Oh. And learning to play an instrument. That happened too.
To commemorate my ten years of music making fun, I want to take you on a journey, my band journey.
Rewind to spring 2006. I'm a little fifth grader, and it's the day of the band test. It's the day that the middle and high school band directors came to the elementary school and gave the fifth graders a basic music test to gauge our musical ability. A week or so later I get a letter, a letter that said I got to move on to the next stage- trying out the instruments.
I can remember the moment clearly. We were in the cafeteria of Pleasant Hill Elementary School. The DeSoto Central High School band director held out a clarinet mouthpiece for me to blow on. If you've never blown on just a clarinet mouthpiece, imagine a really bad duck call, and that's what it sounds like. The clarinet was pretty high on my list. Two of my older cousins both played the clarinet, and they're cool people, and so being like them would be cool.
I went through the rest of the stations and then wrote down my top three instrument choices: clarinet, percussion, and trumpet (I can't remember the order...but it was definitely those three).
They said I would play the clarinet.
Skip ahead to August 2006. Little Morgan sits in the DeSoto Central Middle School with her cousin's beginner clarinet ready to go. I played through Hot Cross Buns and Mary Had a Little Lamb probably a lot like a small squeaky toy, but I must have not been that bad because I didn't quit.
The next fall I switched schools. I sat in the Lewisburg Middle/High school band hall with a smallish group of 7th and 8th graders that made up the middle school band. The rest of the 7th and 8th graders marched with the high school band since the school (and as a result the band) was still growing. I went from a section of at least twenty to four, but it was still lots of fun. It was a never-ending battle between the girl in second chair and myself to see who had the most stars each week (and therefore got to sit in first chair). Seventh grade band was fun, but I couldn't wait until the next year when I got to march with all of my new friends.
Fall of 2008 came around, and I experienced my first marching season on the field. It was so overwhelming. I had to learn how to use these things called dot books, and I had to figure out how to play and march at the same time, and I had to remember where I should go and when...so much going on. And then I had my friends that had already marched a year handling it like what looked like pros to me. I wanted to be good like them.
That year's marching show was a Patriotic theme, and near the end the entire band formed an arc, placed their hands over their hearts, and sang the line, "o'er the land of the free, and the home of the..." We were told to use a blade hand (all fingers touching) so we would all be uniform. One day in the band hall my director popped in the DVD from one of our competitions. The menu screens for band DVDs always start with a short bit of different bands...and which bit is first...none other than a close up of me with my fingers spread very far apart. Talk about embarrassed. I've come a long way since my struggling hand and band days.
That spring was my first spring to be in the high school concert band. I sat on third part and loved playing with the big kids. Fun stuff.
The next fall I felt much more confident in my marching abilities. We won State Championships that year - the first time ever for any Lewisburg organization - and it was grand. What a grand experience. Winning a state championship is a great feeling. It's knowing that all of your hard work in the hot and cold through countless practices paid off. Great stuff.
We went on to win state champs two more times while I was in high school and were the runner up the other year. Band was such a huge part of my high school experience. It taught me about music, people, and myself, and for a little teenage girl, those were important things to learn about. My band directors are wonderful people, and they encouraged me to be the best I can be- as both a player and a leader. It was in band that I discovered I really enjoy being in a leadership position. I learned about servant leadership and how some of the best leaders are those who are willing to work alongside those they lead. My best friend and I were the section leaders for our section of clarinets, and it was a joy to serve alongside her and help the clarinets have a great time and grow as players and people. Band taught me the importance and power of team work. It also kept me pretty fit. Our marching band did LOTS of workouts. In 2008 we did jumping jacks to Boom Boom Pow every day. Even to this day, when I hear that song my arms try to start moving.
Then it came time for me to start thinking about college. I had marched five years, a year extra than most. It had been a very hard-working five years, and I thought it was time I retired from marching. I had decided to just try out for MSU's wind ensemble and not March. Then the more I thought about it, and the more people talked about it, I decided maybe I should give college marching band a try. So sometime late in the school year (I think April) I called the band office, and the very nice sounding lady scheduled me an audition for May 16. That was quite late for FMB auditions. Most people audition starting in late January and into March.
I played my audition piece and scales for Dr. Aarhus and Dr. Taylor, and they must have liked me enough, because a few days later I got my acceptance letter for the FMB. I showed up on my first day at MSU, moved into my dorm, had lunch, said goodbye to my family, and headed to the band hall for the freshmen/transfer day of band camp. On that first day I made friends that I still have to this day.
I made it through my first college band camp, and then right after I auditioned for the wind ensemble and made it! I was on cloud nine. I already knew the group was taking a trip to Italy the next spring. Exciting stuff!
After that school year I knew I made the right choice to do college band. I can't imagine my freshmen year without the FMB. I had never been to a MSU football game before, so it was so cool to experience it all with the band. Getting to go down on the field was great, and marching pregame, and just everything about game day.
Also, Italy was FANTASTIC. Check out my blog post about the trip.
I got hooked on the FMB and came back for another awesome year. That was the year of the magical MSU football season! I made even more friends, and I made so many wonderful memories. My junior year I was asked to be a squad leader for the clarinet section, and I gladly agreed! It was a great year, and I loved being able to get more involved in the FMB. I got more wonderful friendships, and life is just grand.
I'm excited to head back to Starkville this fall and serve again as a clarinet squad leader alongside some other awesome people. It's going to be a great senior year! It's also hard to believe it'll be the last hoorah. It'll be a year full of lasts, and each one of them will be bittersweet. As hard as I know the many moments of senior year may turn out to be, I'm so glad a good number of them will involve band. I'm so glad I decided band was the thing for me in 6th grade. I'm glad I joined marching band. I'm glad I decided to keep marching in college. I'm just glad about band. I don't know what I'll do without it. I'll be looking for community bands every where I go, and if my kids one day decide band is for them too (fingers crossed), then I'll be such an awesome band mom.
What a great decade of music making, friend making, and memory making. What a great decade full of wonderful directors encouraging me to succeed. What a great decade of growing and and changing and what not. Hopefully there's another decade of music making in my future.
Until next time
Mo
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