My band escapade began when I was a fourth grader in elementary school. I remember that I had to choose between two things that I wanted to do. Dance, which I had already been doing for about 4 years, or band which was something new that I wanted to try. I decided on being a part of my concert band. I stuck with being a part of a band until the end of high school and absolutely loved every minute of it. I had always wanted to play the clarinet since that's what my grandma played when she was younger; I did play that instrument from fourth grade all the way up to my sophomore year of high school.
When I entered high school I knew I wanted to be in band and keep going with the journey had started, and then I saw that CDO high school had a marching band for my schedule. So, I took concert band AND marching band. This was the start as to why my high school years were the best they could ever be. Alright, so here are the multiple reasons I think that marching band was just as much of a sport as football or baseball. We had morning practice EVERY morning at 6:30 a.m. During this time we would run a least a mile and then start our drills for the show we were doing for the year. Drills are when you go over and over and over your different sets and "shapes" that you have planned for the show. We would have over fifty different sets and even more when we kept working on the show throughout the semester. Marching band was only the first semester of school when football was happening. We would always do the halftime shows or the pre-game show, it all depended on where we were playing. If it was an away game we would do the pregame and if it was a home game we would do the halftime show.
We were always running around and making sure that our feet were always on the beat with each other, as well as also remembering our music, when to move, and making sure we were always on the same foot like everyone else in the band. It was definitely a lot of work. During my freshman year it was easier since I played clarinet, but then when I got into my sophomore year I started playing the sousaphone. The reason I did this was that they were low on people for the low-brass section, and only had two people on tuba. It is rare for someone to go from being a woodwind to low brass, and this is because you have to position your mouth differently, there are different mouthpieces, and different amounts of keys.
Through all of this, I learned many life lessons, gained plenty of friends, and had tons of fun. I encourage everyone to get involved in school activities or clubs. I wish I could have gone along with band into college, but it didn't fit in my schedule because it takes a lot more time than it did in high school. I will always have a place for it in my heart and I still go to the U of A band invitationals for high school to support them!
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