Band Geeks Rule

Better Than Before

For year two, Mr. D. told himself, "This is going to be better than the last one." Once again there were new freshmen, or as the seniors like to call them "freshies." Let me introduce you to a few of them. There was Andrew , a percussionist, and Dilian Hill, a tuba player who didn't do marching band his freshman year (for shame).

This year the band had grown to 30 students and the field show was titled Aviation: The Sky, Heavens, and Beyond. The show music consisted of "Gadget", "Stairway to Heaven", and "Never More". The first field performance took place at Tenino High School. Sarah Wilson was the drum major that year. Although North Mason High School Marching Band took 2nd place in the percussion battery battle, they did take "Outstanding Drum Major", "Outstanding Brass", and first place in A division.

Both Jacob and Steffen had returned for more band adventures. However, this time Jacob wouldn't have a senior sax player to follow; he actually had to learn to do this stuff on his own. Jacob did have an upperclassman as the section leader, but Jacob knew more about alto sax than him. Still, with no senior to rely on Jacob pushed himself to learn the music and the drill himself. Doing this made him more confident in his skills as a musician.

They both also remembered how awesome the band trips were. Believe it or not, the long bus ride can be fun. There is something incredible about going to parades or shows with all of your band family. Like I said before, not just a band, not just friends. . . but family.

At football games, the band would say, "I'm with the band". Also, at games and other shows, if one band member got muddy, everyone got muddy. If it got cold everyone got cold. If it was hot or dark or anything, we went through it together. That's what made us so close: we went through anything and everything together.

After marching season came concert season and just like last year, Mr. D. held winter and spring concerts at the high school. This year some of the students from the previous year moved up from concert band to symphonic band, which is usually reserved for upperclassmen. Concert band is mostly the freshman class, but there are exceptions, because of how it fits into the student's schedule.

In symphonic band, the music was more challenging to learn and play. Most students couldn't even sightread the music, that's how hard it was, but just like marching band, Jacob said to himself, "Challenge accepted." He worked long and hard on the music, always pushing himself to be better. However, Jacob also had a friend in the class and they would make funny faces distracting each other while they were playing. I mean, come on, it can't be all work and no play. . . We are high school students after all. Mr. D., of course, caught them many times and got mad (but it was all in good fun). That year, the jazz band, Jacob took the role of "lead jazz guy." That is a huge deal: Jacob was honored to be the lead. He also felt a lot of pressure on him during every practice and show, but he persisted.