Well….it's been a really long time, but I figure I'd add another chapter onto my little story, especially since I think it's been going great! So…here is jazz band, take two!

yawn I stretch and get out of bed, beating my alarm clock by a whole two minutes. Yay, now that's another two minutes I can use to post on the message boards! Anyways, I get dressed, brush my hair, etc., and then climb up the basement stairs to the kitchen to scrounge for some food. The clock on the stove says 5:15am, but that's a lie. It's really 5:10am.

Since I know you're wondering what the heck I'm doing up this early, it is because I belong to that wonderful group of fellow insomniacs known as the HBHS jazz band. We willingly sacrifice all our sleep and last-minute homework time to show up at school at least a half hour before the majority of the school. I love it, but I don't know about the rest of them. Anyways, being unsuccessful in my quest for breakfast, I figure I'll be fine without it (since I really don't eat breakfast all that often anyways). Making my way towards the bathroom to brush my teeth, I encounter several barking dogs and some random stuff, but I manage to escape unscathed. Finishing up, I look at my watch and see that it is a quarter to six. Time to leave!

Pulling into the parking lot at HBHS, I see that, like always, I am the first one here. As proof of that, I know the graveyard janitor by name. It's George. Anyways, I get out of my car and make my way around the building to the arts wing. Once arriving, I set my stuff down and begin the waiting game.

Gilberto is the first to come in. Not surprising, however, because like me, he has no life outside of band. Well…at least not one that he cares to share with everyone else. Upon further questioning, I find that he has, in fact, been here since 5:30 this morning. :raises eyebrow: Ok, I have now determined that if he does in fact have a life outside of band, it will never be readily apparent to anyone. Not long after, Alli shows up, and begins talking about this audio file in which some guy craps out an entire piece of pie. As I try to suppress my gag reflex, Voakes shows up and unlocks the door to the band room, allowing us early arrivers entrance into a world very few see….the interior of the band room.

Aaahhh. The band room. My home away from home. Literally….if I spent any more time there, they'd have to charge me rent. Anyways, plopping my organizer on the top riser step, I make my way to my instrument and music. Since there is nobody else, I don't have to worry about climbing over various cases, people, or stuffed animals in my quest to retrieve my trumpet. It's the little things like that which make a band geek's life wonderful. Placing my case on the top riser next to my organizer, I grab a music stand. Ooh….it wobbles. :turns green: Perhaps it wobbles a little too much. I retrieve another one, and upon passing the wobblyness test, I place my jazz band folder on it, hoping that it won't collapse under the weight. Seriously, the folder's almost bigger than my Arban's book (AN: The Arban's Book, nicknamed the trumpet bible, is about a thousand pages or so, probably more. I'd have to look to make sure)

Warming up with a few techniques learned from my weekend at Eastern, Alli and I then engage a rather intelligent conversation while waiting for the rest of the people to show up. Riiiight. The day we engage in an intelligent conversation will be the day that the apocalypse is going to happen. And since that was technically supposed to happen about a month ago at 1:00pm(AN: I was sick for two days about a month ago, and those people who labeled me as an immortal band god swore up and down that we were all going to die. Ha ha.), I've determined that we've got a while.

6:30 approaches, and as usual, the large wave of people comes. There's the Cragans, on time today. Tony comes in next, followed by Charity. I shout a hello, and receive a friendly wave in return. Then comes the big group of people. Sheena, Celena, Steven (he's here today?), Gina, Eric, Jordan, Andrew, Rusty, and gasp Chad? He's NEVER here. Wonder how much Voakes had to pay him……cough cough I mean, I wonder what changed his mind? Anyways, the clock now reads 6:35, and Voakes starts with his customary warm up routine.

By about 6:45, we've finished warm-ups, and, as I reminisce over the good ole' days when people actually cared about jazz band, Voakes tells us to pull out Chicago. For those of you who have never seen the movie Chicago, you have been deprived of one of the best musicals I've ever seen. Come talk to me, I'll let you borrow it. Anyways, Voakes tells me to start at the beginning (a really cool trumpet solo w/ plunger), making some crack about whether or not I've joined the ranks of the fluttertonguers. (AN: for those of you who DON'T play brass, or just don't play an instrument at all, fluttertonguing is a technique in which the player "flutters" their tongue in their instrument, producing a sound similar to a growl, but not quite). Tossing back a "no", I proceed with the solo, and we then continue on through the rest of the piece. Before long, Voakes stops us, and tells the saxophones to play such and such measure. I and the fellow trumpets (Jordan, Steven and Gilberto) sit on the riser. This is where things get interesting.

Voakes finishes, and then tells everybody to play. The trumpets stand up. We get about 4 measures into the piece, and he tells the trombones to play such and such measure. The trumpets sit down. He finishes with them, and tells everybody to play. The trumpets stand up. We get another 20 measures or so into the piece, before we stop again so that he can work with the saxophones on a melody they've played 60 million times before. The trumpets sit down.

Everybody plays, the trumpets stand up.

We stop, the trumpets sit down.

Stand up.

Sit down.

Stand up.

Sit down.

Stand up, and we finally make it through the entire piece. Making some comment about how we've now received an entire daily workout just by playing one song, we pull out the next song Voakes calls out. Well Put. Ah….good old Well Put. I remember playing this my first year in jazz band. It's a great song…..with a lot of saxophone melody. Now, I know that there are a couple of saxophones who have no problem playing the melody stuff in this song…..they're just not the lead alto. And of course, you can hear the lead alto over everything. So, as the trumpets spend the next 20 minutes playing the Oompa Loompa game again, the saxophones work out their differences. Breathing a sigh of relief, we move on. Next is Funky Cha-Cha. OMG….I love this song! It's soo…..cha-cha like (Hmm…I wonder why). What makes it even better is the fact that everybody can play it without any problems! HOORAY:D

At the end of Funky Cha-Cha, we see that it is 7:20. Closing up his folder, Voakes tells us we can leave, and I hurry to put my instrument away before the rush of people begins, since not only are there jazz band people trying to leave, there are guitar people trying to get in. And there are 50 people in the guitar class. As I manage to squeeze my way through the miniscule opening left, the bell rings, and I begin my quest towards the computer room, as I now have the next 55 minutes free. Much of that will be spent on trying to figure out who's going to replace the trumpet section next year, since they're all leaving (either quitting or graduating). Hmm…I wonder if there are any professionals out there who wouldn't mind impersonating a high school student….

Well…there you have it! Hope you enjoyed it. I'm hoping to get the next chapter out soon. More pep band stuff…and before too much longer, I'm going to give you a whole new category, Musical practice! Well…toodleloo!