August 5, 9:10 A.M. James Madison High School, Band Room
We entered the band room again, having practiced marching outside for quite some time now. It was time for us to play the music, and get to know it well. I was actually pretty excited—I was actually going to be able to play my instrument for the first time in several years.
I grabbed my case from the instrument storage room, being careful not to drop the case as I removed it from the cubby it was stored in. As I went back into the room, I realized that there was one problem: I didn't know the seating arrangement for the section, let alone the entire band.
I consulted Jaci, one of the few people in the band that I could trust, for more insight.
"Jaci, where do I sit in the formation?"
"Well, Mr. Wright, you actually sit next to me."
"So, you mean, sorta like how we are in Drill Block?"
She nodded her head and smiled.
I found my seat fairly quickly, which in the center of the third arc of chairs. I also got myself a music stand, where a more serious problem confronted me. I didn't have my music. I knew from experience that reading off someone else's music is not just awkward, but embarrassing. I went to Ms. Andrews, hoping she had what I sought.
I can't believe I'm gonna say this. I'm at Band Camp and yet I don't even know what this year's show is. I mean, might as well get this over with now so I don't make a fool of myself later.
"Ms. Andrews, what's the theme for the show this year?"
She smiled and gave me a smirk. As if she was hinting it was something good.
"Well, Mr. Wright, perhaps I should have told you earlier. But this year, the James Madison High School Marching Band will be performing…"
Oh, dear. I never knew my former client was this clever. What's she got hidden inside of her mind?
"The Planets!"
I asked, "Uh, what's that? Sounds like a sci-fi movie from the 50s."
Ms. Andrews clarified, "The Planets was an orchestral suite written by Gustav Holst, a British composer in the early 20th century."
"Well, it seems we're doing a very… interesting show this year, to say the least."
She added, "And here's your music, Mr. Wright."
I grabbed the music pages, which all were filed in order from first to last movement. Without even looking at the notes on the pages, or even their titles, I returned to my seat and placed the music on the stand.
I only then decided to look at the boldface letters of the song's title. It read: FROM THE PLANETS: Mars, The Bringer of War. The next thing I noticed was the unusual fraction of 5/4 next to the bass clef. I discovered also that the first song was two pages long, so I placed them side-to-side on the stand.
I asked Jaci, "So this piece is in 5/4 time. What's that mean, anyway?"
She replied, "There are 5 counts per measure. In other words, you will end up marching out of step every other measure, which is rather confusing."
And I thought I would get off easy this year…
"Band ten hut!", she yelled.
"Attack!", we shouted back.
"Relax, but listen. This'll be our first time playing this piece, so we're just gonna see if we can last through the whole thing. After we sight read it, we'll go back and run through parts we have trouble with. And remember, drum majors: this piece is in 5/4."
Bethany raised her hands up, holding a baton in her right hand.
"One. Two. One, two, three, four!"
The bari saxes and sousaphones began to play their endlessly repeating motif, and after a few times of hearing them play, I raised my trombone and prepared to play the first notes on it in 10 years.
It's only three notes. And they're slurred, too. This shouldn't be difficult, right?
I buzzed into the mouthpiece and grasped my slide, moving it in the proper way between positions. The notes, surprisingly, came out perfectly. But one major problem that came to light was that I wasn't playing nearly loud enough to be heard by anyone, even myself.
After observing the rests on the page, and listening for a few measures, it was time for us to play again. Like earlier, I repeated the same three notes, but playing louder so I could actually be heard. I actually sounded pretty good, but in comparison with those sitting around me, my sound was poor.
More instruments came in, and as they did so, the epicness of the piece really got my attention. I was starting to get excited, even as I was playing the music. I especially felt the emotions kick in after all of the instruments rested for four measures just before the main motif.
For the remainder of the music, we continued to play as best we could, although our sound did cut out at improper times, such as when we were needed to back to higher instruments.
In general, I did fairly well by high school standards for the first sight reading of Mars. But I knew that there was much to be done, and by the look of those around me, I could tell the reaction to how we played it was mixed. Out of curiosity, I decided to listen to some of the small talk going on between them.
"So this is the opener this year? Sounds okay, but not amazing."
"This Holst stuff sucks rotten ass. Mars sounds like a death march. I wish we were doing Doctor Who again."
"That's it, I'm moving to West Eagleland."
I sighed, knowing that if we were going to get approval for the show to increase, the morale of the band would have to be raised. Significantly. But the morale at the present time had definitely seen better days.
"Jaci, have you listened to them? They don't like it…"
She replied calmly, "Mr. Wright, it's only natural. This stuff happens every year. Some bandies, especially freshmen, need time to adjust to the new year's stuff. Especially since we're doing classical music, not some pop culture thing. It'll get better, I promise."
I could only hope that was the case. As far as I was concerned, with the status quo, the Warhawk Marching Band was screwed.