Who Stole Dr. Beat?
My 5:00 a.m. alarm went off just as it goes off every weekday. I usually push the snooze button about 5 times before getting up, by today was different. Today was the last zero period rehearsal before Championships. I woke up right away and changed into my usual exercise shorts, band practice t-shirt, running shoes, and knee-high socks. I noticed that my mom was also awake as I made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, brush my hair, and apply make-up.
"Good morning mom" I mumbled as I was brushing my teeth.
"Good morning. Do you want breakfast?"
"Yes please! I'm finally up early enough to eat some."
I finished everything I needed to do in the bathroom and went into my bedroom to pack my school notebooks and school clothes for the day. I then made my way to the kitchen where my mom made me my favorite oatmeal with fresh strawberries on it. I ate in peace as I thought of what today meant to me as well as what it meant to the band. Tomorrow was our day to prove to the school that the marching band can be successful; that we can be even more successful that the football team who is constantly belittling us.
I finished my oatmeal, got my car keys and backpack, got into my car, and made my way towards my high school.
It was still dark out when I exited my car and started walking towards the band room. My good friend Amanda, who is also the woodwind captain, got out of her car just as I did.
"Hey Becky! Ready for today's zero period?"
I gave her a smile and said, "Yes and no. I just hope people are motivated enough to give me their all during this morning's practice. How are the flutes doing?"
"They are doing great! I love them and I made sure that they have all of their music and drill down! The clarinets are another story though. They just need to be louder"
"Thank you! I can use all of the help I can get!"
As we made our way to the band room, I noticed the few early birds that were waiting for the doors to open. I said hi to them and they said hi back. Not too long passed when Mr. Rodriguez arrived and opened the band room. Everyone flocked in and started unlocking their lockers; getting their music, dot books, and instruments ready. I myself went into the director's office to have our usual pow-wow before practice.
"Hey Rodriguez! What do you have for me?" I asked.
"Becky, here's the deal. As we all know, Championships is tomorrow. Right now we're first on the grid, but all of that goes out the window at Championships."
"Yes sir I know that."
"Good. Now I don't need you to be the stressed one over here. Leave that to the staff and myself. What I need you to do is let your peers know how important this practice is and that we need to bring our A-game both this morning and at tomorrow's practice. Can you do that for me?"
"I got it."
"Great, now get your gloves on and have Tracey get Dr. Beat out and ready for practice."
As I exited his office and made my way to my locker, I noticed that Tracey looked a little panicked. She was frantically opening all of the cabinets in the band room. I walked up to my assistant drum major and asked her what was wrong.
"Oh please don't get mad. Please, please don't get mad Becky!"
"Stop apologizing and tell me what's wrong."
"I…I can't find the metronome…"
"You lost Dr. Beat!?" I stated.
"No! I put it away in that cabinet after last night's practice" she pointed to the lower cabinet next to the trash can.
"Well if you put it there, where is it?"
"I have no idea. I swear it's not my fault!"
"Relax, no one is blaming you Tracey. I'll just let the director know that we won't have a met for this morning's practice. But I swear I'll get to the bottom of this before tomorrow. That thing weighs like twenty pounds! It couldn't have just stood up and walked away."
6:00 a.m. rolled along and I went to the front of the band room.
"Alright you guys! Start heading towards the field!"
I went to my locker and grabbed my white conducting gloves, my folder with the music score and drill inside, and my tuner that also had a small metronome on it. I walked outside into the cold air that made me question why I wore shorts every day during this time. I started walking alongside my two closest friends in band, Amanda the woodwind captain and Adrianna the clarinet section leader.
"Can you guys believe that the championship is Saturday? It's crazy how these four years have gone by! I can't believe this is going to be our last championship field show! It's soo sad!" said Adrianna.
"I know right? I remember when we were just little freshmen. We were super weak and uncoordinated. Marching band has really toughened us up" said Tracey.
"Hey guys, I'm going to need you help a lot this week. We need to pump everyone up for this Saturday. We need have a very good chance of medaling this year!" I asked.
"Don't worry Becky, we got you!"
We finally made it to the football field. The astro-turf was slightly wet due to the morning dew. Most of the band was already there. There were just a few stragglers behind us. The saxophones had already set up the heavy podium and the color guard was setting down their flag, rifles, and sabers. I instructed the band to form a block and get ready for a block jog. They did so and I had my good friend, who was also the drum captain, Josh hit the glock and set tempo. I made my way to the front of the block with my assistant drum major Tracey by my side.
"Mark time, mark!" I commanded.
"Ready, front!"
The entire block started walking, in step, at a moderate tempo. Josh then picked up the tempo and we started jogging in step. We ran around the track twice before Josh slowed the tempo down and we finally stopped. My body was warmed up alright, that's when I was reminded why I always wore shorts even though it was like 65 degrees out. I then lead the stretches, jumping jacks, and push-ups.
"Alright guys. Get water."
As I dismissed them I called Amanda over.
"I think I should give them a motivational speech. What do you think?"
"Go for it Becky! Haha! They need all the motivation they can get!"
"Haha! Alright then."
I announced climbed on top of the podium and announced to the band to gather around because I had something to say.
"We as a band have come so far since band camp and I would like to thank you guys for all of the blood, sweat, and tears you have put into this program and band family over the past five months. I know it has been a pain to have zero period every day during those five months along with three hours of Wednesday night rehearsals, but in the end, we have to make that time worthwhile. Now, as we all know championships is this Saturday. I want each and every one of you to let that sink in. We are soo close to the finish line. We cannot give up now. Thanks to Facebook, I know that a lot is going on this week. So if some of you decide to go to Stacy's party this week, I better not hear any complaints of 'I'm tired' next morning during rehearsal. If you make that choice, you better damn well live with the consequence. I also know that some of you are going through stressful times with homework, college applications, and AP classes, but you know what? If previous band kids were able to balance that out, we sure as hell can. I also know that some of you are having difficulties relationships wise, and that some of you are recently single. Yes, it sucks a lot, trust me, I've been there, but you have to push that aside for now. This is the final stretch. We need to bring it this week like we brought it last year. Do you guys remember what happened when we did that? We won 1st place! I know all of you want to win, so lets give the other bands a run for their money and show them what this regiment is all about! If we go down, we're going down swinging! Now make the most out of this rehearsal."
The entire band clapped and I could see the determination in their faces. Mr. Rodriguez was already in the stadium box.
"Everyone set at the beginning of the drum break."
The band did so and rehearsal finally began. We started off running rep after rep of the drum break which was at 180 beats per minute. Even though we didn't have a met, we still had our drum line that is basically the heartbeat of the band. We then went over the closer and did a couple of stand still music rehearsals of the closer. Whenever anyone messed up, they would go down and give themselves pushups. Mr. Rodriguez noticed that a good amount of the members were out of breath so he let us have a water break. By then my arms were very sore from conducting.
I sat down at my podium and rank some of my water from my one-gallon thermos. Shortly after, Mr. Rodriguez told everyone to set at the top of the second movement. We did countless reps or the first part of the second movement, as well as all of the visuals. After an hour of intense rehearsing, it was time for a run-through. I could tell that the band was very tired. I called all of the section leaders over to my podium.
"Alright guys, you and I can tell that everyone is tired, so I want you guys to keep their energy and spirits up for this final run-through. Can you guy do that for me?"
They nodded their heads and went to set at the top of the show with the rest of the band. I stood up on the podium, held my arms at the set position, and started counting the band off.
"Set! One, two!"
Throughout the run through, I noticed a change in the sound of the band. Their tone was a lot clearer and the dynamic changes were more apparent; something we as leaders and the staff have been trying to fix for weeks now. Their legs were straight and in time and their toes were up. Their horn angles were always towards the stadium box, where the judges are during competitions, and their direction changes were sharp. This happens every year, but it still surprises me nonetheless. They brought their A-game.
The final chord was played and their last horns down was crisp. I turned around and saluted the director. The band then relaxed and came to the sideline to wait for the director to dismiss them and my assistant drum major came up to the podium. Mr. Rodriguez walked out of the box and came to the end of the bleachers.
"Great job this morning you guys. Just keep this energy up and I'm sure you'll be ready come championships." He then pointed to Tracey and I. "They're all yours drum majors."
The band turned to face us.
"Band ten hut!"
Once we commanded that, the band set at attention.
"Remember to pick up your bus slips from the office door. Great job guys!" I said.
Tracey and I then commanded, "Band dismissed!"
They replied, "Thank you sirs!"
I was sitting in my first period percussion class talking to my friend's about the missing metronome. I was the TA for that class and had no papers to grade.
"Yeah Figgy, this is soo stupid. I mean, who would steal a metronome? They don't even have the main part of it! It's useless."
"I don't know. This has never happened before."
"Can you keep an eye out for it? And listen around? Someone in this school has to know where it is. There's also the possibility that the culprits bragged about their theft and rumors may be flying around."
"Yeah Becky, I'll keep a heads up!"
"Thanks Figgy!"
I was getting slightly irritated by the time third period rolled by. I was sitting in my statistics class doing an assignment when I heard the two girls who were sitting behind me whisper the word "marching." This immediately switched on my eavesdropping mode.
"Yeah, I can't believe Todd, Frank, and Ravon actually found a way into the room!"
"How did they manage that?"
"I heard they stole the janitor's keys."
"What did they take?"
"I don't know exactly what it's called, but it looks like some kind of speaker thing."
"Haha! Why did they take it anyways?"
"I heard that they wanted to mess up their practice. They said that they always hear that thing in the morning so I guess if they don't have it they can't practice."
"Why would they do that?"
"I don't know, they're stupid. Maybe all of that tackling finally lowered their IQ low enough to snap."
They both giggled at the last comment. I sat their trying to control my anger. It would be the football team's top players behind all of this. I can't say that I'm surprised. After all, the marching band has always butted heads with the football team. Heck, I almost cursed out the football captain for interrupting our Wednesday night practice once. Even though I'm a girl, there's no way in hell that I'm going to submit to them.
I made it to my fourth period AP English class and told some of the band leaders, who were also in my class, what was happening.
"What the hell?" exclaimed Josh. "So what's the plan? How are we gonna get it back?"
The other three leaders, Amanda, Adrianna, and Sydney, the saxophone section leader, all looked at me.
"I was just going to go to Mr. Rodriguez. But I'm going to give them a piece of my mind first. Can you guys come back me up?"
They all smiled an evil smile and nodded their heads.
The rest of the school day went by and when the final bell rang, Amanda, Josh, Adrianna, and Sydney were waiting outside of my AP Economics class. We all walked to the track where we knew that the three stooges would be running since they do so every day after school. We walked on the track and stood in their paths. Once they reached us they stopped running and looked at us.
"What do ya'll want?" asked Ravon, the captain, "Ya'll are messin up our runnin time."
I looked at all three of them.
"I believe that you guys took something that belongs to the band."
They looked at each other and started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"Ya'll be trippin. We didn't take nothin." said Frank.
I glared at them.
"You guys think you're real funny don't you? You think that just by taking our met speaker it would stop us from practicing? You guys are stupid. We have a drum line you know? What have we ever done to you? Heck, we go to your home football games and cheer you on! You guys know that we have our championships this weekend, and yet you still stole our met? Something tells me that you're trying to sabotage us. Well you know what? You failed, just like you did at the last three games. And what we been doing? Oh, just winning first place, sweepstakes, and high visual performances. Are you guys jealous of us or something? Sure seems like it. Well you know what, I want you three to know something. We as a regiment are strong and competitive. We also don't let anything get in the way of our goals. I want you to know, that I personally don't take shit form anyone that tries to harm my band in any way. So you know what I'm going to do know? I'm going to go to my director. I'm going to tell him what you guys have done. He then is going to contact your coach and your coach is going to make you guys return our met to us. Oh, and here's the best part. The school has a zero-tolerance for stealing. The punishment for that is a week's worth of suspension. Looks like you guys are going to miss your play-off game."
The look on their faces was priceless. I can hear them mumble to themselves as we walked away.
"Oh my gosh Becky! That was just too great!" exclaimed Amanda.
"Yeah dude! They're shitting bricks! Haha!" laughed Josh.
"Well they deserve it." I stated.
We walked towards the band room with the feeling of self-accomplishment. Now that that little issue was taken care of, we could finally focus on bringing home the gold this Saturday. Once the school finds out what those three jocks did, they will know that we deserve respect around this school. And once we bring home a 1st place SCSBOA plaque, we will have given them even more of a reason to.