When you move the summer after sixth grade year...
You'd think you would forget, but you wonder.
You wonder who quit after that year and who became a prodigy.
You wonder which of your friends forgot about you and which ones fell apart with you gone.
You wonder how many of your old section actually continued down the path of band.
You wonder who dated who and what could have been.
You wonder, out of random curiosity, what your high school marching uniform would have looked like.
You wonder if your band director even remembers teaching you.
You wonder how good you could have been, if you had only stayed.
You wonder so much you spend an hour looking for your old school's nonexistent band website.
You wonder what has happened since you left.
You wonder how your old classmates turned out.
You wonder how things would be different if you had picked a different instrument.
The point is not to make you sad by reading this. The point is to say that you just don't forget. I moved from my sixth grade school and home of 12 years without any desire to stay, but now, as a freshman, I wish I'd been nicer. More social. Tried harder. I left the people I knew and became part of a new family. My old one was gone before it started, but now, I have a new one.
Band is family. Family is forever. And family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. Cherish your family while you still can. Because one day, whether it be seven years from now or one, you will have to leave that family and become a part of the real world. You know this must happen because you will get nowhere if it doesn't. As new students come in, traces of you might fade, but your director and classmates will keep you in their hearts. Marching band is special. It is beautiful. It prepares you for the real world like nothing else can. Be serious with it, but have fun.
Band will not be there forever. After high school, people, one by one, slowly let go of their instrument for their future. And by the time those who do are done, only a few keep the instrument along with the music in their hearts. I quote from some random website, "They can take the instrument out of your hands, but they can’t take the music out of your heart." This is so true. The world may try to take it from us, but we must hold onto the music tightly, even if we have no instrument to express it (Well, except your voice, but everything sounds better played than hummed.). Hold onto that music. Keep it with you forever and cherish it.
"Til all are one." -an Autobot thingy, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Stuff isn't what it seems. This was supposed to be a short poem, but it became a list and a long sappy speech. Oh well.
Your favorite flutist, author, and obedient servant,
Decepticon_Firefox
P. S. .......
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Only a band kid would spend this much time on this, and, furthermore, know enough about what a saxophone looks like, but no marching band kid has this much free time. Hmmmmmmmmmm...........
