I was about nine when the music teacher laid out a set of instruments before me. A small school only had a small band, so there were only a few choices: drums, piano, trumpet, trombone, and saxophone. I tried each instrument out so I could get a feel for it. I knew I did not have the coordination for drums. The piano seemed boring to me. The trumpet was a little too high-pitched. The trombone sounded fun, but I didn’t care for its awkwardness when holding it. The saxophone seemed perfect. Not awkward to hold, not too heavy, and I liked the feel of it. I chose the sax and played it for three years of elementary band and six years of high school band. Never once did I regret my choice.

The only thing I regret concerning my saxophone is not picking a college that offered some kind of music program. I was determined to find a place where I would at least be able to keep playing, but educational programs, financial aid, school size, and distance from home all played a larger role in my college decision.

I thought about starting a band through student life when I arrived on campus, but as I thrust myself into my studies and my involvement in other clubs, I quickly lost interest in organizing something. Now it is summer and I tend to find some time between work and hanging out with friends to get my tenor sax out and play a little bit. During the school year, I am often too busy to get playing time in, so now I am finding myself a bit rusty.

I guarantee that I would not feel as nostalgic towards my past experience in jazz band without the music program in my high school. There were always chances for students to challenge themselves musically. Every student in band would participate in the holiday concerts, but some select students would participate in music festivals outside of band practice. There was CASMA, which was a one-day event where students from all schools would get together, rehearse, and perform in front of an audience. NYSSMA was a day festival where students would play challenging solo pieces in front of judges.

A third music festival was the Northeast music festival, which gathered students from all around northern New York in Lake Placid for a three-day band experience. We rehearsed hours at a time, usually spending somewhere in the neighborhood of eight hours a day rehearsing for the final concert. It sounds like torture, but if you are a band geek like I was, rehearsing for hours was actually fun (except for the winded lungs and chapped lips).

I have no shame in admitting I was a band geek. I went to a school where being in jazz band was actually the norm. I know that in larger schools, being actively involved in band is social suicide, but I never had to worry about that. Even if I did, I truly believe that I would not have cared, as no student should. Music is a great form of expression that I always utilized to relieve stress and get my mind off of things.

Young kids often do not have control over what happens in their lives, and I was certainly no exception. I constantly found myself gaining weight and receiving a fair amount of bullying because of it. I was called names and made fun of on a regular basis and I had no clue how to control it. Music, however, was different. I controlled how the music sounded and how difficult the piece was. The saxophone did not play me, I played the saxophone. What I just said probably sounds like the ultimate “duh” statement, but music was the only area of my life that did not talk back to me. The saxophone could not tell me that I was fat and worthless.

I find it disappointing that struggling high schools are having to make decisions that cut into the music and art departments. I do not know what I would have done without band. In my opinion, music and art provides the ultimate therapy for artistic children, just as athletics provides therapy for the athletic child and a good book provides therapy for the academic child. Where are children supposed to turn for a stress reliever if the best therapy for them is not offered by their high school? Schools are supposed to foster growth and personal development, but instead they are forced to hammer mostly useless information into the skulls of children through state regulations that require pointless standardized testing. Yes, that was a stab at Common Core.

Fortunately for the Common Core program, this article was not meant for a political discussion about the future of high school education. All and all, I just want to give a quick message to the current high school band geeks out there, as well as anyone else with a passion. Do not ever stop enjoying what you do. Do not ever stop playing. Nothing good comes out of it. You get rusty and eventually you do not feel like picking up an instrument again. If band is your passion, never let go of it. Nothing good comes out of letting go of your passion, especially if that passion offers you an escape from the stressors of the real world. The only thing you should be cutting out of your life is toxicity. Your passion is not toxic.