Ramblings about marching band
Freshman year, part 1
I was as nervous as crap the day I walked into the band room for my first day of band camp, So nervous that I actually asked my dad to walk in with me.
When I walked in the head drum major was waiting with nametags and bags of candy for all the freshmen, "your Catherine right?" I nodded. "You look exactly like your sister."
My sister had also been in band, she graduated two years ago, so several people in band this year knew her.
I was then led over two an area of the band room and introduced two the assistant band director who also happened to be the instructor for the pit. He asked me if I had any percussion experience and I answered honestly, "Not really, I took a few lessons about a year and a half ago but I had no way of practicing, I do know most of the basics though".
My lack of experience was the main thing I was nervous about.
"that's just fine, anything you need to know we will teach you, Do you play any other instruments?" That, I could reply confidently to. " Yes, I'm a trombone player."
"Great! We've had people before who weren't even musicians; they just decided to be in band."
All the sudden my nervousness went away and I felt like I was ready for anything.
The first two days of camp where a Thursday and Friday and it was all freshmen, with the exception of a few upperclassmen who had volunteered to help out.
The weekend went by very slowly, I didn't like having to wait for it to be over, I couldn't wait for next week.
Turns out, Band camp wasn't everything I thought it would be. The first two days where just to get everyone settled in and to figure out for certain how many people would be in that year (there's always that jerk that signs the commitment form and everything and then never shows up).
I don't know if it is the same way at your school, But at mine the pit has to learn to march just like everybody else, even if there are no parades scheduled for that year, or anything that would require us to march for that matter. So we were out there in the blazing Kentucky heat (and believe me, It gets hot as heck here in the summer.)
At first I saw this as completely pointless, Why learn to march If where never going to use it? I understand now it's mostly for the discipline.
But I also noticed effects that had nothing to do with discipline at all. You see, I have cerebral palsy, and all though It's never horribly limited me, I have a stiff right leg. This was the reason why I was in pit and not marching.
After the first week I went to visit my grandmother and she pointed out that I was limping less, I know I had a limp, But I never paid a whole lot of attention to the way that I walk.
But she was right, My limp was almost completely gone.
At the end of the two weeks of band camp we always have a water balloon fight.
So of course it had to be all cloudy and windy and crap. But nonetheless we were not canceling that fight, We would only do that if we started to see lightning.
Despite the chilly weather, the fight was still loads of fun, afterwards, my mom brought over a towel and I dried off the best I could and wrapped the towel around me to act as a jacket and we laughed about the whole thing together.
I went home and changed into dry clothing and my mom drove me over to a gas station where we would be having the other end of band camp event, the car wash fundraiser.
Me and a friend where holding up the sign down by the road and to get attention we yelled and did dances.
Then, Some kids from our rival school drove past and yelled that we were going to lose. We yelled "right back at ya!" and I went home with a sunburn that showed the outline of my flip flops because I had not put sunscreen on my feet when I decided that I didn't want to wear socks to a car wash because They would probably get all wet and gross.
I also went to bed that night knowing the fun was just getting started.
