Reflections on Band Pt.II

In later years, one of the things that became commonplace amongst my band peers was to drop out of band for a semester, for a break or to take something else instead. They'd usually come back, but only after missing a semester's worth of activities. Not me. I don't remember ever even considering it.

Not only that, I was also a full participant in choir. We didn't technically have a separate choir class until I think my last year, when they broke up the band hour into a M W F Band section and a T T Choir section. It didn't really matter to me, I was pretty much in on everything music-related at CHS.

As a band student, you do surrender a few opportunites explore other interests or talents. Between junior high and high school, band took a period of my class schedule every day for six years.

On one hand, I look back at what I missed out on in junior high, and it wasn't that much. Most of the electives I did take were stinkers anyways - Fly Tying, Science Fiction Reading, Drawing. My non-band friends were taking stuff like that and then filling in the extra spaces with study hall sessions. So it was probably just as well that I was in band.

But on the other hand, I look back at high school and see some stuff I might have missed out on. I could have taken another semester of accounting or another business or computer class that would have served me well in college. I could have taken journalism and perhaps the yearbook my class produced would have turned out a little better. I could have put a little more time into FBLA. These were all things that I would have enjoyed and probably would have done more for me later in life than band did. But there just wasn't room in the schedule.

And now I think back and wonder - why? Why did I do it?

I think I stayed in band all those years because I needed a thing. Everybody needs a thing in high school. I wasn't good enough at either cross country or track for either of those to be my thing. FBLA could have been my thing, but I didn't join until 11th grade and even then didn't really ever put in the time to be any good in the competitions. So I was left with music as my thing, so of course I wasn't going to quit or take a break. It's good to feel like you're an integral part of something - even though I was probably just as replaceable as anyone else. All it takes to convert a trumpet into a baritone is to find someone willing to do it and give him a horn. The learning curve is pretty minimal.

So did I get anything out of it, other than a self-esteem boost?

There was a self-esteem boost - I made the IML Honor Band twice, and the Western State All-Colorado Honor Band once. I strung together a few good scores at Solo & Ensemble at ASC. During the last semester of my senior year, I switched over to the tuba and became just as accomplished with that as I did with the other things I did during that semester - track (too lazy to go out) and the AP Calculus exam (failed it). But it did make me feel versatile.

Being a band senior at the last concert turned out to be sort of anticlimactic. I think I did get special mention at that last concert for my years of continuous participation - along with a bunch of other seniors. But there was no standing ovation from the audience and no middle schoolers asked for my autograph. So that wasn't the payoff.

I didn't study music or pursue a career in music and I haven't picked up a baritone in 17 years. I don't think anyone ever looked at a college application or a resume of mine and thought - "That's the clincher, right there. Look at all that band that guy did."

It's possible that it made me a better pianist, which is a skill I still use from time to time. And I suppose it was good practice for getting up in front of people and doing stuff.

I guess in the end, what I got out of it was the good times and the memories, which sounds a little shallow. But they are the reasons I can look back and not have any serious regrets about all the time I put in. Here are just a few:

(1) The warm fall afternoons we spent standing on the football field doing nothing as Mrs. Ruybal tried to solve some unsolveable problem with our marching formation. (The problem was us - we sucked at it and no one cared.)

(2) Trips to Pueblo for band competitions where we could go around the Pueblo Mall and think we were in the big city. And getting stuck on La Veta Pass for an hour or two on the way home because of a jacknifed semi.

(3) All the halftimes of all the home basketball games for five years. Seeing how loud we could play "Great Balls of Fire" every time. I'm sure there was never a night when anybody said, "That band really sounds good tonight," as it was mostly a competition between low brass and the drums to see who could make more noise.

(4) Faking my way through an entire day at the Western State Honor Band. I was in way over my head. I couldn't even read most of the music as it was in bass clef and I had never bothered to learn reading any baritone music that wasn't written in treble clef. I'm still not exactly sure how I got picked for that one, because my audition tape was pretty bad as well. Must have been a statewide baritone shortage that year.

(5a) Traveling all the way to Manitou Springs my sophomore year so that the pep band could play at what was Centauri's first state playoff game in football in forever. It was so cold that all of our horns froze and we never played a note. Instead, we just stood there and froze and watched Centauri lose 7-6. I'm sure if we had been able to play, the music would have made the difference.

(5b) Also my sophomore year, the pep band showing up at Standley Lake HS for a first-round state playoff game - our girls were #1 ranked and the odds-on favorite to win the title. Only the band was told we could not play during the game because classes were in session. So we watched as our heavily favorite team lost by two. Again, our our rendition of "Great Balls of Fire" could have been the difference.

(6) Spending down time in the bandroom my freshman year with my friend Jesse rewinding a walkman and alternately trying to memorize the lyrics to "U Can't Touch This" and "Ice Ice Baby".

(7) One of the numbers on our repertoire was "Tequila" - remember Pee Wee's Big Adventure? Anyways, there was a point in the middle where we all stopped playing to shout Tequila!, and Partnership for Drug-Free Colorado had an issue with the band doing this at the games. We had a band conference on this issue and decided that we would still play it but instead shout Centauri! However, some of the bad kids at the game could still be heard to shout Tequila! anyways.

(8a) Anytime the phrase "Centauri hosting Regional Basketball Final" was used, what we heard was "it's time to make confetti." The first time was my sophomore year, the aforementioned 1992 Lady Falcons v. Las Animas, also the last varsity basketball game ever played in the old CHS gym. We made a small bag of confetti and hid it inside the bell of my baritone, scattering it when victory was assured.

(8b) A couple of years later, the same scenario played out except it was Battle Mountain coming to town and it was played in the shiny new CMS gym. This time, we spent the week beforehand producing a larger quantity of confetti. We raided the dumpster of a print shop and then cut up as much as we could with scissors. A good cross-cut shredder would have been useful then. By that time, we all had our super-awesome and super-bulky Starter jackets which we could use to sneak in confetti. Again, we won, and again, the band section became littered with confetti. I'm so glad our confetti efforts never went for naught. An angry custodian told us we had to clean it up, but Mrs. Ruybal said that in fact we did not. Hooray!

(9) On occassion, we played at home football games, which could get a little on the boring side. We engaged in a gum-chewing contest to see how many sticks of gum we could fit in our mouth. The answer is between 75 and 100 - depending on your resolve, how much money you have to spend at concessions, and whether or not you used Big Red as your chewing gum of choice.

(10) The annual Christmas Concert at CHS. Everyone would get all spiffed up, and there was always sort of a general feeling in the air that we were about to participate in something that was truly bigger than all of us.

(11) Twice we were able to take our horn-blasting act on the road to the state tournament. I'm sure crowds at McNichols Arena and the Denver Coliseum felt blessed to have heard us do "Rockin' Robin" like that.