Left, right, left, right… Control your body weight. Track the arch of your foot up the side of your leg. Don’t lean. Hit the ball of your foot with the click of the block. Find a point on the horizon. Focus on the click and the sound of the instructor’s commands…and breathe!
I’m a sophomore in the Norwin Band program. I don’t know it, but I’m about to live through three of the most transformative years of my life.
Bullies
I got knocked around a lot by the neighborhood bullies when I was growing up. They liked to bounce my head off of the bus window while they called me “big ears” and “radioshack”. Sometimes they’d grab an ear and try to ‘fine tune’ my radio station.
I didn’t fight back. I sat in silence and tried to drift away.
Those bullies taught me how to ignore the pain of a current situation. I owe them a lot.
Band as salvation
I’m a christian, so I hate to say that something other than Jesus Christ saved me. But, band had such a profound effect on me. I feel like it saved my life. Let’s say that Jesus brought band into my life and He used that to save and direct me.
I was an average student. None of my classes appealed to me. I was ok at basic math and that was about it.
Athletics wasn’t my thing. Mom and Dad sent me to basketball ‘camp’ when I was very young. Kids can be ugly to each other. And basketball camp was no exception.
I was involved in a few church activities but they didn’t change my life. (Sorry youth pastors!!). We did an overnight trip with another youth group and a few kids hassled me to the point that I was afraid to go to sleep that night.
My goal in life was to be invisible.
And then the trumpet came along.
Keith
I showed musical aptitude early on. Mom and Dad must have seen that music was a good thing for their youngest. They agreed to take me to weekly trumpet lessons with Keith.
Keith was a senior in the Norwin Band. I liked him. We’d play our trumpets and talk. He never made fun of me. In fact, he seemed to like me in the way that you would like a little brother.
And Keith loved marching band. He played a recording of the high school band and I thought it was one of the greatest things I’d ever heard.
I left his lessons feeling good about myself. I don’t know if he taught me anything about trumpet playing. But he did plant a seed in me that would grow into a life-long passion.
My time with Keith was short lived. He was graduating and heading to the University of Pittsburgh to become a doctor.
This was a powerful example to me. Keith was a trumpet player in band and he was smart enough to go to Pitt to be a doctor!!
And…
Keith taught me that band people don’t pick on you.
This was my first experience of feeling safe in a public situation outside of my family.