I’m a junior in college, and I played clarinet for the first two years of college and played in symphonic band my freshman year. My senior year of high school, I marched clarinet and I was assistant drum major and I loved every second of it.

Three years ago, I was exactly where you are--knowing it was my senior year, knowing that at some point, all of this was going to come to an end. Marching season was already over, and my entire focus was on my marching band music, Bon Jovi. The one thing I didn’t realize, however, was how quickly the year was going to fly.

I had been told, over and over again that your senior year was going to go by faster than a blink of an eye. I wasn’t a huge fan of school, so I was ecstatic over this news--except for the fact that I didn’t realize what that meant for my days in high school band. Over the course of a few months, marching band ended, as did my days of playing clarinet.

Then, before I even had time to wrap my mind around it, my Christmas concert was over, and it was break.After break, I practiced my audition for honor band and played my heart out. All that was left was my very last concert as a Cedartown High School band student.

I remember sitting on that stage, the lights shining down on me, and looking out into the stage of band parents for the last time.

And I cried.

Not huge, wracking sobs, mind you, but enough tears to make my eyes--and my cheeks--a little shiny. It has not hit me that my band days have officially came to an end.

This is my advice to the seniors in band:

Cherish every minute of it. You may feel like graduation can’t come soon enough, but once it’s actually here, you’ll wonder where your years in band went. You’ll wonder how you will go on with your life without band, but you can do it. You may not be in your band anymore, but you’ll find another band. You’ll find a band that will make you one of theirs. You will find a new band to make yours. If band is really that important to you, you will never be without it. Music is everywhere, if you only care enough to find it. Music is inside of you. Most importantly, however, band will forever be apart of you. You will always have the memories, the pictures, and the stories of your time in band, and these are memories that are impossible to spoil.

Do me a favor: don’t let the rest of this year go by without stopping to think. Don’t be like me--don’t take your senior year for granted. Remember every moment of it, cherish every moment of it, and above all, have fun.

You’ve put your time in--you deserve it.

Good luck, and have a wonderful rest of your high school band career, my friends.