The Afterlife of a Band Nerd

Can You Not My Wayward Son

August 11, 2018

To be honest, I stole that title from a Tumblr username XD.

So, I've been busy these past two weeks. I'm actually on my way home from spending a week in Pennsylvania. Band and vacation have kept me from posting about stuff. So, I guess I'll do that even though it's almost two weeks late.

Day One:

The first day (Monday) was a leadership meeting day only. Jazz (trumpet section leader) texted me saying that she had a 100 degree fever, so she couldn't make it. The only other people there were: Mr. & Mrs. Davis, Fluffeh and little brother, Sam, Jules, Cam, Colby Jack, Jordan, Graden, and me. We went over fundamentals like stretching and breathing exercises, which we would teach our sections the next few days. I paid extra attention to the section leader instructions since Jazz wasn't there to receive them.

We started off with some getting-to-know you and some self-reflection games. One of the questions asked what our best trait was, and I honestly drew a blank. I just said my lack of height because I couldn't think of anything XD.

So apparently CS moved schools, so that means that I couldn't move down to second part on Carry On Wayward Son. I'm gonna die.

Along with leadership stuff, I made some copies of sheet music since I'm the librarian. We also broke for a lunch of pizza, cupcakes, and water. Sam skyped The Accomplice, who was at work. We all said hi. Apparently, Sam said that he tried pulling a Tyler Joseph when she went to his house the other day. She was talking about how she walked inside to hear Car Radio playing from the upstairs bathroom and when she walked inside, he was sitting on the bathroom floor wearing a Twenty One Pilots shirt while shaving his head XD XD XD.

A big change to the band hall was that Mr. Davis had the carpet ripped up and tile put in. It looks so much brighter in there now! We had to get all of the instruments and their cases out of the Arena classroom (which required climbing stairs) that Mr. Davis put in there so they could tile the floor. I actually managed to carry a set of quads and a sousa, which is quite the feat for me since I'm kind of a tiny person XD.

Since Jazz was absent, I was asking Mr. Davis about who was going to teach the sectionals the next day. He called Colby Jack and me into his office, and then turned to me. He talked about how CS was the co-section leader until he moved, and he apparently thought I was ready for the job! So, Mr. Davis appointed me as the new co-section leader! I felt honored. The funny thing was that I didn't apply for section leader and librarian. Apparently Mr. Davis thinks I can handle it. I wonder what he sees in me...

Day Two:

The whole band assembled the second day. I got to see all of my old section homies. Jazz showed up, so I gave her a briefing of what went on the day before. Everyone in our section paid attention and was respectful, which I am very grateful for. Usually not many people listen to me when I try to lead because I'm not that popular (apparently people think the popular ones are the leaders) and usually soft spoken around strangers. I also hate it when people stare at me, and usually people have that tendency when you're the center of attention. Everything ran smoothly, though.

When I was leading everyone through breathing exercises, I was talking about how the day before we looked like a cult with our arms raised up and doing weird synchronized breathing. When I said that, Mr. Davis overheard and gave me a thumbs-up, then said, "Band isn't like a cult, it is a cult." XD

After breathing, we reviewed rolling our feet for the newbies. We got two beginners, by the way: Squishy, and a dude that didn't show up. Then, we got together and marched as a big group and went inside for sectionals after that. We played through Crazy Train a billion times, and my lips were hurting by the end. I'm warming up to the high notes again, though, which is good. We ran from eight to twelve o'clock that day.

Day Three:

Mr. Davis had me stay in and make copies while everyone was outside doing early morning practice. I only came outside when I ran out of paper XD. I helped Jazz with a trombone sectional that she was leading. After that, we went through the same cycle as yesterday: full group marching, then indoor rehearsal.

After rehearsal, Fluffeh, her little brother, and I were the only ones left waiting for my mom to pick us up when we saw Mr. Davis head out to the practice field with a crate of orange spray cans and cable. We would've felt bad if we stood there and watched him, so we went out and helped him spray several yards of marching dots for about two hours. He was really grateful for that.

Day Four:

Mr. Davis thanked Fluffeh, her little brother, and me in front of the whole band for spraying dots on the marching field. Jazz was absent again due to something unexpected in her schedule, so I was the only section leader present. One of my trumpet sisters helped me lead our section through breathing exercises and marching drills. However, Mr. Davis pulled me aside afterwards and told me that he wanted to see me lead more because it seemed like she was taking over a little too much.

We did the thing again where each section leader traded sections. My friend, Brayden convinced me to conduct a sectional with the tuba. Honestly, I got really bad anxiety from doing that. Everyone in that section was older than me and therefore more experienced, so they were really good. And since they were really good, I didn't know what to help them improve on, so I kept stuttering and repeating myself when I was trying to give instruction and come up with what they should do. I felt like a mess by the water break. I sat down on the grassy bank on the side of the road and put my head in my hands and my knees to my chest. I was so stressed that I thought I was going to cry.

Mrs. Davis actually led indoor rehearsal with us because Mr. Davis was in the Agri building cooking hamburgers and hot dogs on a giant smoker for a cookout that we were having later that day. We had all of the sections combined this time, except for percussion. We ended the day with Crazy Train as a finale, then ate the lunch that Mr. Davis provided. I actually finished making copies instead of relaxing afterward because standing at the copier can actually be pretty relaxing because of the repetition if you ignore its screeching banshee noises. XD

Registration and schedule pickup was also that day, so I got to see my friend, Spunky (Colby Jack's little sister) and get my schedule. I got into both band and choir, which I'm happy about! However, they moved band to sixth period and kept choir at fourth, which is stupid because you can't stay at band hall two periods in a row now. I got all of the classes I wanted.

Some other stuff that happened outside of band was that I learned how to play some stuff on bass guitar! Apparently, my grandpa has owned one but next played it. He has an acoustic one, too, but it confused me too much because I'm used to ukulele. I also play my grandma's ancient, out-of-tune piano that only half the keys work on. I learned two new songs on it this past week: Truce and Isle of Flightless Birds, both by Twenty One Pilots.

Well, school starts Monday and I'm actually not getting back from Pennsylvania until tomorrow night. I'm gonna be tired.

Until next chapter!

Rey