The second Wind Ensemble concert of the semester, the final one for seniors, was approaching quickly. Lily knew it was the last concert for Roberto, Amanda, and Keith, so she was determined to be perfect. That meant many more lunches, study halls, and occasional gym classes in the practice room. It was going to be a great concert (though she told Mr. Locke she wasn't going. Some things would never change).
She was talking to Kelsey, Bailey, and Tony after school. Tony was a junior percussionist, and was 1st chair in all-state. Therefore, many people said he was the best in the state. He and Lily were pretty good friends, though Tony could be annoying, had an ego, and was kind of lazy if he wasn't playing. Today, they were talking about decorating.
"So, we're doing these star garland things on the stands, and there's going to be a 'Congrats Grads' banner hanging somewhere, but I don't know where. The color scheme is black, gold, and silver," Kelsey explained to Bailey. They were staying to work. It was expected for Kelsey, but Bailey was staying because she wanted to. Tony was staying because he wanted a ride from Kelsey's brother. Lily was just listening.
"Can I help?" she asked impulsively, cursing herself after the fact. Of course they wouldn't want her help! There were already a bunch of people, and they were all older.
"Sure," Kelsey said. "Let's go." Lily, pleasantly surprised, followed her into the auditorium. Inside, Corey, a trumpet player, Fraser, a horn, Roberto, and Amanda were already sorting through bags and setting things up. "I brought help!" Kelsey called.
Tony immediately made himself useful by directing Roberto, Corey, and Fraser in hanging the banner. "A little to the left, no, not your left, my left. Good, now make it higher, no, that's too high!" He lounged comfortably in the 16th row.
Amanda put Lily and Kelsey in charge of stands. They tried to put just the star garlands on, but Lily didn't think it was working. "They're not showing up," she said. Kelsey walked back a distance and looked.
"You're right. Hey, I think I know where there's some crepe paper in the band room. Maybe we could put the garlands on top." Lily followed her back down the hall. In the band room, it was dark, but Lily and Kelsey both knew their ways around. They looked over by the back of the band room, hunting through boxes.
"Found something!" Lily called out. There were crepe paper streamers in yellow, white, and black. Kelsey smiled.
"I knew it was around here somewhere! Come on, let's go," Kelsey said. Lily followed her back to the stage, clutching the large box with both hands. Inside, she called out, "Look what we found!" Roberto and Amanda came straight over to examine the contents.
"Good finds," Amanda said. "I'll take these," she said, grabbing one of the yellow rolls and the white roll, "and work on the banner for the bottom of the stage. Why don't you two work on stands?" Lily nodded eagerly, and sat in front of one to work. She and Kelsey worked quietly, occasionally asking the other politely for scissors. The star garlands had wire in the middle, and Lily's arms were getting scraped. Kelsey was noticeably more efficient at wrapping the stands with crepe paper, while Lily was getting hopelessly tangled.
"Were'd everyone go?" asked Kim when everyone had been silent for a few minutes. Roberto was straightening out the banner, and Amanda was working on the streamers that would hang on the raised stage front.
"Tony got bored and left. He decided getting a ride wasn't worth it," Roberto explained. Lily wasn't surprised. "Fraser, Corey, and Bailey went to get more stars and crepe paper for the stands, even though I don't think we need crepe paper anymore." Within minutes, they all finished their respective tasks, and could only wait. Lily and Amanda sat in the front center row, a few seats apart from each other. Kelsey was in the middle of the front right section, and Roberto sat on the stage. The conversation turned to the upcoming prom.
"You're not going to your senior prom?" Amanda asked, outraged. "Why not?" Roberto shrugged.
"I don't really like dances. Besides, it's all grinding now anyway. I didn't even know what grinding was until my sophomore turnabout." Lily giggled. She had learned about grinding long before. Roberto shot her a look, and she stopped abruptly. "I usually just end up in the corner with the other band kids. I don't see the point." Lily thought he was right. Just then, Corey, Fraser, and Bailey came back in.
"We have more crepe paper and stars," Fraser said, putting a shopping bag down on the stage. Lily took the cardboard stars, and taped them to the back of the stands. They older students were discussing what to do with a few more of the stars and garlands. They decided to hang them by the banner, a garland used as a string with stars falling at various lengths on either side. When they decided the layout, they started working.
However, they had been there for at least two hours, and most of the students were getting bored. Lily, however, had to be perfect. So she kept at it. While the others were starting to put supplies away, she was standing on a chair (she, unlike the others, was too short to reach the pole to hang the stars on her feet), and tying the garland. That's when Mr. Locke walked in.
"So, that's how you decorate the stage. Just stand around while the freshman does all the work? Great system," he said, completely sincerely. Lily blushed, and jumped off the chair, criticizing her handiwork. It wasn't perfect, but she sure wasn't going to admit it with Mr. Locke in the room. Lily took the decoration box back to the band room while the others left. Mr. Locke was still there when she went to get her bag, clarinet, and folder.
"Hey, Lillian?" he said. Lily looked up on the stage. "Good look tomorrow night. You'll be fine." Lily hitched her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the exit. She turned back before leaving. "Thanks, Mr. Locke."
She refused to go to the concert. Locke didn't care. He told her she would be in the band room at 6. She assumed that meant she didn't have a choice.
This concert, she wasn't the first one there. She arrived with the rest of the fray,and blended in with the rest of the clarinets. This concert was special because it was the seniors' last one. They originally planned to wear black shirts instead of white to distinguish themselves, but Mr. Locke disagreed and threatened to withhold points. Instead, the seniors wore ties.
Roberto and Keith both wore clarinet ties, to Lily's great amusement. Amanda's tie was a rather ugly plaid. Nate wore a novelty zebra print tie, as did another percussionist. She laughed as she saw the assortment of ties in the room. Too bad she hadn't worn hers! Like anyone would believe she was a senior. . .
Lily went to get a drink in the hall. She slipped into the bathroom to check herself out. She didn't like to look fancy, but wanted to look nice, even if a cut first part meant she wasn't reaching the front row tonight. She took a deep breath. Tuxedo shirt ironed and tucked into black pants. Her shoes and socks were both black. Blond hair was tied securely into a braid. Her glasses were clean, and she wore no jewelry. She looked kind of pale, she thought.
There was no middle school band, or any band for that matter, playing with them that night, so after tuning, Wind Ensemble took the stage. Lily tucked a stray strand of blond hair behind her ear, and took her spot in the second part between Roberto and Kelsey. "Good luck tonight, Lily," said Roberto. She turned to him, astonished. He was completely sincere. It made sense, if she thought about it. The pressure was off. All they had to do was play this concert, and the competition, stress, and pressure would be gone. In general, the mood of the room was light. Many shared memories and commented on how much had happened since freshman year. Lily couldn't contribute, but she still listened.
The concert opener was Aerial Fantasy, a piece written for the US Air Force band. It had many tricky parts in high octaves for the woodwinds. There were a lot of runs Lily had spent working on, and she could tell Roberto had, too. Bailey had a huge solo in this song. Lily wondered if she would have solos her sophomore year. Probably not. In the slower portion of the song, there were a few measures in a difficult rhythm. Lily had never perfected it, but every time she practiced it, she was a little better. When the piece was over, Roberto stood up to move on. "One piece in the folder, Lily," he said. "How are you feeling?"
She considered this. "Sad," she said. A few months ago, she would have never believed she would say that, but it was true. Would next year be the same without the seniors? He and Kelsey moved out, and Keith and Mary moved into the row. "You know what I was thinking?" she asked Keith, who shrugged.
"We can't see behind those lights, right?" she said. Keith nodded; the stage lights were truly blinding. Kelsey had brought sunscreen and sunglasses to a rehearsal as a joke. "Well, there could be a hypothetical man with a gun standing in the second row. He would kill us all before we could see him. And none of the parents or anything would be able to see, because it's pitch black on that side of the lights." It was irrational, and probably paranoid, but Lily was very concerned about this. She had been since she played her first concert at North in 7th grade.
"Theoretically," Keith said, "the people in the first row would die sooner, and we'd have time to escape. So say good bye to Mr. Locke." Lily giggled. This was something only Keith would understand.
Caprice Italien (AN: for those of you who don't know this song, it is spelled this way) was a Tchaikovsky piece, Opus 45. It was a mix of Italian street songs the composer had written on his trip to Italy. Roberto had talked about his grandmother singing along while he practiced. Mr. Locke shared this with the audience who laughed. As the concert continued, the mood got more relaxed. The piece changed key and time often, but was manageable. The only real problem was in a few of the 1/16th note triplet runs. Since the piece had originally been written for orchestra, clarinets had inherited the violin parts. Lily wasn't thrilled, but the song was good. It had been one of her favorites.
As soon as he left, Roberto was back. Lily hadn't moved from her seat yet. Amanda joined them at the second part. They didn't talk much, because Mr. Locke was starting to move quickly. Lily didn't like A Dakota Rhapsody very much. The parts were either too fast or too slow, usually being the latter. Sometimes she didn't have enough air. She did mess up a rhythm in one measure. Roberto had bobbed his head to get her back on track, which she did after one measure. "Sorry," she whispered while they moved to the third part. "I guess I'm not good enough yet."
"Nonsense," Roberto said, shaking his head. "By your junior year, you'll be able to play anything you need to perfectly with hardly any work. You're great, you just need a little more experience. Lily smiled as she pulled out the next piece. Dialouges was a piece written for a band accompanying a sax quartet. This year's sax section was phenomenal. They really deserved to be featured, especially since the alto, tenor, and bari were graduating. On the down side, they didn't get to play as much. On the bright side, Lily hadn't needed to practice nearly that much. Mr. Locke hadn't truly let the saxes go with the cadenzas during rehearsal, and they were a lot longer than she had thought. Lily was quite bored. When the song was over, Roberto said, "There's one more song in the folder. And this is where I bid you farewell, Lily. I'll catch up with you later." He walked back into the front row, and Lily stayed where she was.
The band took a quick break, but it was a funny break. The percussion feature was a tropical piece, so the french horns brought tropical hats, and the trumpets had sunglasses. Both sections were dancing with a remarkable amount of coordination.
The next piece was about Nostradamus, the French prophet who had been shunned for his unorthodox medical treatment ideas. Lily, Inez, and Suzanne had learned about him in Change and Revolution. They were pretty surprised when they heard his name and related it to the song. It was an easy song, but many portions were in minor keys before switching to major ones. Some parts had hard fingers (including a trill Lily had found practically impossible to play). It was another of Lily's favorites. She loved the aggressiveness in the song, and the occasional narratives that certain members could always make funny.
Before the last piece, Mr. Locke took a moment to acknowledge all the graduating seniors. Some seemed close to tears. It seemed so far away to Lily, but it would happen soon.
The last piece, Prime Time Toon Revue, was purely for fun. It had been played during the tour, and was now the concert closer. It contained the themes from Family Guy, King of the Hill, American Dad, and the Simpsons. Lily was not a jazz person, so it had taken some practice to learn how to swing, but she'd had that piece since Symphonic Band (all bands played this one), so she'd had time to learn it.
And just like that, they took a bow, and were done. Lily grabbed the stand, her folder, and her chair to walk back into the band room. Emma Lissa joined her.
Nate, upon meeting the younger percussion, asked if she practiced nearly as much as Lily. When Emma Lissa said she did, he claimed the whole percussion section was screwed, which made Emma Lissa giggle her identical laugh to Lily's. Roberto, Bailey, Roberto, and a trumpet nick-named Woody hung around for a while. Roberto and Woody, in the spirit of Caprice Italien, simulated a mob hit. Kristin talked about her extremely high heels, which they had nicknamed "hooker heals". Bailey tried them on, but Lily refused to permit Emma Lissa a turn. There were hugs, congratulations, and wishes of luck passed around.
In the car, Lily came to terms with what had happened that night. It was over, she realized. Everything was really all over.
AN: As was last time, I made the concert list from songs I've either played or listened to. They are all real songs, and I do not claim to own them in any way. PM me for a list of composers or YouTube links if you're interested. This stories getting close to being done. Lily thinks it's over, but it's not! Only four more chapters! Review and I'll be tempted to write faster (or update, since I already have the next chapter written).