Disclaimer: (do you really need one in this section?) I do not own any marching bands of any kind, way, shape, or form! I'm just a weird band geek who loves band and would like to post a story here. Anyway enjoy!!!!

Marching Band Crisis.

As soon as the band was out of sight from the judges, I ran out of the formation. I didn't mind if I got into trouble with our band directors; I just wanted to be out of there. People stared at me as I blindly ran past, not concerned if I ran into anyone or not. I was too ashamed to care.

As our bus came into view, I began to slow down. I needed to get away from everyone. I had let down the whole group and I knew that everyone had counted on my success. Everyone was disappointed and angry with me I could feel it and it felt terrible.

My best friend Rachel ran up behind me. I didn't want her to try to cheer me up after what had happened so I began to walk faster towards the bus.

Rachel caught up with me and grabbed my arm. She pulled me over to the other side of the bus so people wouldn't over hear us.

"Ashley, you shouldn't get so upset about what happened back there. This isn't the real marching band festival; it's just an invitational to prepare us for the real thing. You're being too hard on yourself, cheer up!"

"That's the reason why I didn't want you to talk to me Rachel; you're always trying to fix things that aren't even your concern! I messed up the whole show when I trashed the solo! Everyone was counting on me to do such a good job that we'd probably get at least third or second place, maybe even first! I let everyone down; I don't care if this was just an invitational I wanted to do the best that I could."

After I yelled at her I ran over to the bus and hopped on. I was so mad at myself and disappointed. I plopped down into my seat and stared out of the window.

I started to think what had happened on the football field today. We had just warmed up when the announcer had said

"Please welcome the McKeene High School's 2003 Marching Band."

The crowd had cheered and clapped. All of us marched onto the field to the percussion drum click; left…left…left…two three four holding our heads high; ready to do our best and show all of the other bands a thing or two. We were confident that we would get at least third place in the Class B ratings. The four drum majors marching in front of us were the proudest of all. We had been working on our "Jazz from the '80s" show forever. We had had two weeks of marching band camp during the summer and Tuesday and Thursday night rehearsals for six weeks not to mention the class time we had at school to practice. Also we had footballs games to practice at too. We had worked hard.

I had also worked very hard on my solo from "Twilight Swing" by John Ashburn in our fourth drill. I had practiced it along with my private lessons with my teacher and worked with my band directors Thomas Kinderman, Mitchell Davenport and Victoria Freemont. I had perfected it and also had it memorized.

It had been hard work. Some days we had to practice in the rain but we had raincoats so it hadn't really mattered. The drills that we had to learn were long and hard with lots of backwards marching and adjusted steps. The music had a lot of dynamics and tempos that changed at many points along the way and were a little difficult to change back to the original beat. Everyone had gotten frustrated and off task sometimes but in the end we had it all together.

The moment we were on the field at Lexmark Senior High for our invitational we were ready to go. After the announcer asked the drum majors if they were ready and they saluted in answer all one hundred twenty seven of us had gone to attention.

We went through our first three drills with great concentration and attentiveness. We focused on everything that each of needed to do and didn't worry about anyone else. We also had perfect horn carriage and upper body posture. We roll-stepped and marched in tempo and in step. We did perfect on the first three.

We were all confident that we would keep going strong throughout the show but as soon as we did the fourth drill it all went downhill.

I stood in front of the band for my trumpet solo confident that I would do well. Soon the drill began and I stood there with perfect posture. I began to play my solo from "Twilight Swing". I went along fine in perfect tempo with the percussion and the drum majors. I did well until I suddenly forget a part of the song! I don't know why or how I did it but after I messed up even though it wasn't a huge mess up I couldn't concentrate as well.

After the fourth drill everyone seemed to be slightly discouraged because I messed up. We got through the fifth and last drill okay but I know that I messed up a couple of times. I saw one other person get out of step and another with slightly droopy horn carriage.

When we were done and were marching off the field and onto the track we didn't hold our heads as high and we weren't so confident. We didn't think we could get a first place now.

I snapped out of my thoughts and gazed out of my window. Everyone seemed to be happy enough and not mad that I messed up. Of course that is that I'm not out there with them so they must not be thinking of me.

It's time for us to go hear what our placing was. I don't really want to hear it but I'll go anyway I might get in trouble if I'm not. I'll just lag behind a little.

When all of us got to the football field we lined up in front of the fence. After a while of waiting we don't hear our names for a while we started to get excited knowing we must be one of the better bands. Then the announcer said,

"In Class B with 92.9 points and excellence in auxiliary, percussion, color guard and musical skills the third place band is McKeene High School's 2003 Marching Band!"

All of us exploded in happiness and laughter. We had gotten third place out of thirteen other bands in our class! We were surprised and happy. The drum majors whooped and came around giving us high fives and some people were jumping up and down crazily. We had gotten third place!

On the bus ride home everyone on Bus 1 was going crazy. We were laughing and being a little out of control but we were so happy. Two drum majors were on our bus and they passed along our trophy and plaque. It was beautiful with polished wood and brass. It looked great.

As the bus got closer to our school I started to forget about how I had messed up because I knew that I would do better next time.

"Hey Ashley," Rachel yelled from behind me trying to make herself heard over everyone else. "We did a great job didn't we!"

"Yes!" I yelled back with a huge smile on my face. "I think we did!"

…………………………………..

This story was completely pointless other than the fact that it was an essay that I had to do for my ninth grade English class. In any case I love band. GO FLUTES!!!! J

Bye

Review…PLEASE!

MidnightRain07

>>The high schools and song titles along with people in this story were just a work of fiction.