Learning Curve

Prologue

Marley never knew what was coming next.

Of course, no one could have predicted the tragedy that befell her and her family that one April night. But Marley, being the victim of such a tragedy, was the most ignorant of her ultimate damnation.

Who could blame her?

Such a thing only happened to other people. You saw it on the morning news and heard about it on talk show radios. But there was always a wall of fiction that surrounded those stories. As true as they might be, they just don't seem plausible to happen in real life. At least until the morning news and talk show radios are talking about you.

No one spends time thinking about things like that anyway. It's too gruesome, depressing, and heartbreaking. People like to look at their whole life ahead of them. In Marley's case, she was focused on the last concert of her middle school career.

The band room was in chaos as usual. The saxophones were on the left, squawking into each other's ears, wailing on their mouth pieces that squeaked under the pressure, and of course, you couldn't forget the boneheads that just had to learn "Baker Street", "Yakity Sax", and that one song played by Sergey Stepanov, better known as "Epic Sax Guy". The french horns behind them and the bassoons next to them were only goading them on and wailed on their own instruments for encouragement.

On the right were the clarinets. While they weren't playing their instruments quite as much, they still managed to sound just as loud. That's because the Clarinet Clan came in droves. In Marley's 3rd period class alone, there were almost 13 clarinets. You'd think that the flutes or the trumpets would reign supreme, but for some reason, the clarinet had a multitude of worshippers.

At the very front of the room were the flutes and oboes. Most of them were girls, blonde haired and blue eyed. They sat prettily on their seats, looking over the sheet music in front of them and fingering along to the music in their head. Only a few of them were actually playing out loud, but only because they could barely hear themselves over the others behind them. The oboes sat quietly, occasionally looking at their music and looking like they didn't really want to be here.

And at the very back was percussion. Normally in any contest, they'd win as the noisiest group hands down. Just a snare drum itself rang helplessly in the ear drums and hurt more than you'd think it would. But they knew they'd be in big trouble if they were caught by the band director. Usually when percussion is restless, they bang on the marimbas and bells and xylophones. They can be as quiet or as obnoxious as they want and receive no backlash from the director.

Behind the saxophones and bassoons sat the rest of the brass section. This included the trombones, baritones, and trumpets (and of course the french horns). Although the clarinets and the saxophones had a penchant for causing a ruckus, the brass section were the reigning kings of cacophony. There was almost no limit to how much forte a player could force through a trumpet. Even trombones, believe it or not, could find their voice if they really wanted to. Baritones had a very deep and gentle sound, but they could be heard if a person really searched for them. They backed up the trombones and the trumpets and only made the sound that much stronger.

Marley belonged with the trumpets. In fifth grade when representatives of the middle school came over to demonstrate their instruments, Marley for the longest time didn't even know if she wanted to be in band. She had no real desire before hand to learn to play music and even more so never thought about what type of instrument she'd play.

That was until, Marley heard them play music.

The saxophone player played "The Pink Panther Theme Song".

The flutist played "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.

The clarinet, "Danny Boy".

The oboe, "Barbie Girl" (This got some giggles).