Author's Note: I wrote this a few years ago. It's not technically a marching band story, as these are little seventh graders (:p), too young to march. But if you liked "Boulevard of Broken Reeds" you might see the precursor to one of its star characters-he's not in this chapter, but he'll get there. So if you'd like to read more of my early work, let me know!
Helena Larson had given up counting.
Kids were playing their instruments. So what else was new? She reminded them each day not to play until she started warm-ups. They never listened.
To their credit, the French horns were not playing. They were talking. Ms. Larson was okay with that. None of them had practiced for their auditions, so they were all "first chair"-i. e. tied for last. Now they debated who should get the official honors.
"I was first chair last year, when my mom made me practice," Dana Fisher boasted. Her hair was dyed blond, as it always had been. She wore some brand-name shirt that exposed her navel. That was an infraction of school rules. Ms. Larson wrote her name down as she struggled to find her music.
"But the first chair is in charge of handing out papers, and I'm like the best at it! You ever seen me drop my binder?" Eric Wright questioned.
"Yeah, we saw it all the way down the hall," cut in a tuba player.
"But I, unlike you…" Simon Gibson paused for dramatic effect, "am a charismatic, trustworthy leader that people can rally around."
"What the heck does that mean?" asked Dana.
"Haven't the slightest. It was in our history book describing Frank Roosevelt."
Ms. Larson found her music. It was right on the stand the whole time. "Stop playing, we've got Concert F in front of us and that's a doozy."
Nobody heard her except the first-chair trumpet, who wasn't talking. "SHUT UP!" she bellowed.
Everyone turned to look at Kimberly Forrest, normally much quieter.
"Um…Concert F, everybody?" a shocked Ms. Larson said.
They played it, not well, but they played it. "Now everyone please take out the new piece, Persevere."
Some trumpets started to play their opening notes. In the percussion section, Gabrielle Dew played the Concert F chord on the metallophone. The French horns didn't need to argue-there was only one part.
Kimberly scanned the music for changes in the time or key signature so they wouldn't surprise her. There were none. There was a repeat sign in the middle for the percussion solo, however.
She was about to look back at the top. Something had seemed funny…but Ms. Larson raised her hands and the opening instruments (flutes and trumpets), sightread their way through the first eight measures.