Band Night

I drive towards a band concert with a bit of trepidation. The last two years of concerts I went to I had to struggle not to laugh, and well, the first one I visited I was completely unsuccessful.
The bleachers literally shook at my laughter--I couldn't stop!
Not because they were that horrible (okay, they might have been) but because I simply wasn't prepared for what a beginning band sounded like having only heard my daughter practicing alone and my husband's professional playing.

Upon the first visit to Kat's new school the school registrar exclaimed in delight when Katarina said she had been in band. "You'll absolutely love the band teacher. He's gotten so many awards. We're very proud of him."

Indeed, Katarina came home the first day of band and couldn't stop raving about the man, his hilarious stories, and funny antics. The teacher obviously has a gift for relating to middle schoolers--they all love him. Despite the 8 million dollar sudden cutbacks the school district faced and the sudden ban on field trips, this teacher was able to arrange through his own network, a deal to take plush charter buses to the band festival as long as the students chipped in a whopping 3 dollars a piece.

Still, Katarina came home from that festival saying they did pretty good considering they had never practiced together as a band before.

"What?! What do you mean?"

"Well, the woodwinds have their own class on one day and the percussion and brass practice on the other day. We don't get to practice together."

My eyebrows rose in alarm. "But you're having a concert together?"

"Yep." She walked off to get ready to leave for the event.

I turned to Mike. "Honey, they never practice together. And while this is Katarina's second year of playing, all the other kids are first years."

I practiced not smiling or laughing while thinking of funny things all the way to the concert.

Our first hint that something was different was seeing a giant Yoshi walking into school followed by two clowns. We walked into the gymnasium surrounded with lifesize movie star cutouts from Pirates of the Carribean. The program indicated music selections from Pirates of the Carribean, Phantom of the Opera, Harry Potter, Under the Sea, Pink Panther, Lord of the Rings, and Trumpet Hero.

A hush fell over the crowd followed by laughter as pirates, Men in Black, Dorothys (from the Wizard of Oz), witches, Cleopatra, and more walked in with instruments. The students sat down in front of us, and raised their instruments to their lips.

I looked around. No conductor. No teacher. BAM! In unison the instruments played Pirates of Carribean. All the parents were looking around and whispers and points revealed the teacher, dressed in a complete zoot suit, had jumped up from his hiding place and was standing on the top bleacher conducting. It was then I noticed that every single student had an eye patch on while reading the music. They finished the piece and all stood up in unison, passed out extra eye patches to all the kids in the audience, sat back down and played 14 more recognizable movie themes. IMPRESSIVE. Fun. Enjoyable. This was no band concert, this was a musical event complete with the drummers getting a chance to have a drum off of sorts to see who could do the most impressive drum solo.

So I did laugh at this band concert. But it was okay because it was expected and desired.

I'm not scared of band concerts anymore.