Midland High School Marching Band

Chapter 3

It was finally the start of sophomore year for Joey. He started it off just the way he wanted. Kierstan gave him a ride in because his house was on her way to school, so she figured that she would just give him a ride. Joe, of course, didn’t mind at all because it was an extra 10 or 15 minutes he got to spend with Kierstan, and he certainly wasn’t going to pass up on that. He found that to be a lot of fun, in fact. They were laughing and having a blast the entire time. All that had to happen was that Joe brought up Franz’s “marching accident” from their freshman year. That had them both laughing harder than they had since the beginning of band camp. 

Once they arrived at Midland High, they both went directly to the band room, as they were both in jazz band. Joe on trumpet and Kierstan on bass. Jazz band in Midland was first period, and they both thought that would be fun because they both really enjoyed jazz. Not to mention, Andy, Ryan, and Matthew were in jazz band, too. Ryan on trombone, along with Jake, Tim, and Emily. Andy on trumpet along with Joe, Sam, and Agatha. Matthew was the tenor 1 player with Kathy on alto 1, Ethan on alto 2, Alex on tenor 2, and Max on bari sax. Their drumset player was a quiet kid named James. The group was a young one, but it held a lot of promise, as they were optimistic and talented beyond belief. They certainly didn’t seem like they would back down for a challenge on paper. That was part of why the band director would go on to love them. 

Director Kevin Young was new to the high school. He had taught at Midland Middle School for 15 years, but he moved up to the high school after the prior director retired. The band was saddened by Mr. Sullivan’s retirement, but they were also very excited to see how Mr. Young would be as band director. If band camp was any indicator, they were gonna love it. He was a light-hearted man who loved to have fun when appropriate, but would crack down during the “two minute warning”, as he called it. What that meant was that it was time to get to work and get a significant amount of work done. It was a football reference. 

He learned that his band loved football, and was very excited about the team. They had gone all the way to the state Division I final the year before. Marching band was the buzz of the band room that morning. They had an amazing set list for the halftime show, too. The theme was World Travels; meaning they would have songs from all different styles of the world. Their first tune was "Fireball"/"Let's Get Loud", which both had Latin feels to them. Then there was "You Give Love A Bad Name"/"Enter Sandman", which were more American rock feels. The third tune was a marching arrangement of Movement IV of Holst's Second Suite in F, otherwise known as "Fantasia on the Dargason". Their final piece was "Africa" by Toto. It was a pun, but the band loved it. Everyone was very excited. Especially considering the fact that Joe had taken his own time to arrange the music for Fantasia on the Dargason. This year's show was gonna be amazing. Everyone was excited. They just had to make it another four more days until Friday. It would take four school days to get there. 

In jazz band, Mr. Young was exactly the same as he was during band camp aside from one difference. He swore a lot more. It wasn't an obnoxious swearing, though because he could time it better than anyone Joe had ever seen time swearing. They could all tell they were gonna love coming to band. Hopefully he was as good of a band director as Mr. Sullivan was. 

After first period, Joe walked Kierstan to her 2nd period algebra II class. And then he realized that he was in the same class. "Wow this is gonna be a great year," Joe said as he sat down realizing that his seat was right behind Kierstan's. They also had the best math teacher in the school, Mrs. Lee. Joe had Mrs. Lee for his honors geometry class freshman year. He was very happy that he had her again because she would just give her students the work, and then she would let them work in groups. Just as last year had gone, Andy and Matthew were in the same class as Joe. This time, they just had Kierstan along with them. It was fun for everyone, though, because they were all friends with her.