25 or 6 to 4 {EDITING}

So This is Independence

Note: Above video is a trombone suicide routine

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We all met in sectionals the next afternoon. Apparently, sectionals was when each had a practice individually. David and Kayla wanted us to practice horns up.

Andrea put us all in the line for the beginning of Final Countdown. "So, once we are in this line," she instructed, "We all pivot, shout, and then put our horns up, right?" We all nodded. "When you put your horn up, you have to get it right on beat with the drums. If you notice, David or Kayla always says 'band horns up' to a rhythm. This sets the beat for the drums to play. So, if they were to speed up," she sped up the speed of her voice and clapped to the rhythm as she said it this time - "'Band horns up!' you have to snap your horn up on the fourth beat, just as you do for parade rest and attention."

We practiced this a few times, first going slowly. Andrea clapped the rhythm for us and counted off while we pivoted. When we sped up, I clearly was not at all ready for this.

One thing I've always hated about myself: my teeth are in horrible shape. I cannot tell you how many injuries I've had thanks to my teeth. Where your front teeth are supposed to be straight and touching your bottom front teeth, mine are the exact opposite of that. My bottom teeth are really crooked, which isn't really unheard of, but my top teeth are all wrong. Instead of touching my bottom teeth, my bottom teeth are touching my gums when I close my mouth. They also stick out at at least a 20 degree angle from where they are supposed to be. Most of the time, when someone was showing me an instrument, I wouldn't be able to play it with the correct embouchure because of how my teeth were positioned. When I was younger, I had to learn to move my jaw in really awkward ways in order to get a word to come out right. Come to think of it, this was probably the reason why so many people had suggested I play the clarinet; my mouth really is in a perfect position for its embouchure.

Anyway, as Andrea sped up the rhythm to bring the horn up, I pivoted, brought my horn up to my lips, and instead, bonked myself in the face. I had knocked my tooth out on the ice back in fourth grade, and I was terrified that I had done it again right there. Luckily, I didn't, but I could tell with this thing that that day was soon to come.

I jerked my head back and clasped my hand around my mouth. Everyone burst out laughing. "Did you hit yourself?" asked Zoe.

"Yeah," I replied.

We did it again, and what do you know, I whacked myself in the face. Again.

Knowing Andrea by this point, she probably would have had us do it again, but then the drum majors blew the whistle for us to get into our two lines. When we got onto the field and did the pivot, surprise, surprise, but I whacked myself in the face again.

Kaylee, can't you pay attention to where you swing this thing for once? I asked myself.

The drum majors stopped us after we finished Santana. By the end of this song, we were all situated in a moon formation with our leg spread apart, knees bent, and our horns pointing to the sky. Fly Me To The Moon was next. This song wasn't too hard to remember, we basically would turn and put our feet together as the song started, slowly shift the moon backwards for a few measures, march forward into one line, kick our feet to the beat, and then get down on our knees to prepare for Incantation.

After what seemed like an eternity of standing on our knee, the drum majors finally stopped debating what to do and started to explain the visuals for Incantation. For the first four measures, we would get up from our knees and into attention, rest for the next measure, walk forward four counts, and then put our horns up slowly for the last measure.