The Beginning of the End

In 8th grade, I ended the year with an 'Outstanding Percussionist' award. It was printed in comic sans and was missing both signatures but it was still a big moment for me, because that was a moment that I realized that people could see my efforts, and it pushed me to keep going. I started preparing for marching band with the intent on being in the front ensemble. I have vivid memories of Mr. Wilson encouraging me to go for marimba, and though I did not think I would make it on, he had utmost faith in me. I kept at it until auditions rolled around, and lo and behold, I made it onto the 3rd marimba. Thus began my biggest growth spurt in music.

My first year in marching band was chaotic, difficult, and just a little rough around the edges. Having a whole new change in staff, Mr. Davenport and Mr. Wilson had practically followed me up to high school, and a lot of the old members of the band did not like the sudden change of culture. There was a bit of rebellion, and a whole lot of disrespect. I couldn't see how it would possibly be worth it.

I remember pushing off the field at our first football game and thinking that maybe band really wasn't for me, and that I would quit the next year.

Obviously, my opinions changed as the year finished, and I chose to continue into the indoor percussion season. In some ways, it was better, and other ways were worse. We had lost a whole lot of people, and after begging, we ended up having 5 whole people in the front ensemble, and roughly 17 people for the entire drum line. We were one of the smallest groups in our division, and I was the only marimba. Despite our size, everyone who was there truly wanted to be there, and we ended up making it to championships and placing 5th overall. We also ended up snagging the Music caption, which was pretty shocking and exciting.