Community Band

I went to Community Band this past week with LLB.
A friend of mine begged me to join and after a year of listening to her whine and plead, I succumbed to the peer pressure.

I arrived at Community Band practice. I sat down in the flute section - I took the last chair because I am new and because I stink - I haven't really played in over a year. As I put my instrument together, I looked down the line at the other 4 flutes. My friend, J, had my old Bundy that I let her borrow last year. The other 3 had silver open holed Gemeinhardts with gold lip plates. I thought to myself, "OMG! What have I done? These people are professionals! I'm totally out of my league". I mentioned that little tidbit to J. She smiled and said, "Nah... just wait."

The director told us to get the music out. I glanced down at the music that J put in front of me. I saw a sea of black notes and accidentals. I should have grabbed my instrument and run and hid in the bathroom. I gulped. I tried not to hyperventilate. I don't particularly like Sousa marches. As a matter of fact, I hate Sousa marches - they freak me out. I can't play Sousa marches without a LOT of practice or a couple of (or 3) alcoholic beverages.

LLB on the other hand, decided she would just play the first and last notes in every measure and if she could get a couple notes in the middle of the measure, that would be good, too. She's smart. I'm not. She sat with a high school boy we know. She played the first trumpet parts. That's not easy stuff. She loved it... of course she did.

I managed pretty well. Basically if I just relax and let my brain take over, my fingers will do what they were trained to do all those years ago. Sometimes, the brain is a little behind, but hey... I'm old and it's rusty.

On the way out, the directors stopped LLB. They were mighty impressed with her tone, sound, and playing ability. I'm sure their first impression was that the sweet little blond kid couldn't play squat. They were wrong. She kicked butt.

The high schooler she sat with went home that night and told his parents, "That LLB, wow.. she's good. She can't wait to be up at the high school to be in the band. But, she doesn't just want to be in the band... she wants 1st chair!" (That would be his first chair, thankyouverymuch.)

Yup... that's my girl!
As for me... If you need me during next week's community band rehearsal, I'll be in the handicapped stall.