For some people, this time of year reminds them of trips to the beach, or lazy days spent relaxing those last few weeks before school started, or doing whatever it was that kids did during the summer when they weren’t in band.  For me, it will always remind me of band camp and sweltering summer evenings spent out on a field running through drill and practicing music.  Sweat, stadium lights, music, and marching – that’s what the late summer days held for us.

I was serious about band.  Don’t get me wrong, I was having fun, too – but I was serious.  I felt like every minute between the time we got our music and the time we closed our final show was an opportunity to get better.  It makes me smile to think back on it.  Y’all, I’m way more relaxed as an adult.  ha!  One of my favorite pictures of me and my younger sister is a snapshot that was taken of us my senior year.  She was a freshman.  It was after a football game, both in our uniforms, and I do believe it’s the only picture we have of us together that season.  I’m smiling – she’s smiling and giving me bunny ears.  I was drum major.  She….well…after her freshman year she joined drum line.  That should sum it up.    😉

 

If you had asked me during that time if I realized what I was learning, I would have told you absolutely!  I knew that I was learning about delayed gratification.  I knew that I was learning to work hard, do my part even when nobody else was around – to make the group as a whole better, learning to master a piece of music.  I felt that sense of accomplishment that only comes from trying 1000 times to get something right – and then finally getting it perfect. And trying again.  I can remember the chilly Fall nights spent waiting on a decision from judges, hearing the final “Superior”, and knowing it was what we worked for all those months.  Or maybe it was a halftime performance that just came together beautifully.  It wasn’t all about the judges – it was about the show.  The love of what we were doing.  I knew I was making lifelong friends and memories.  I had tears of frustration.  Tears of pride.  Tears of excitement.  It was knowing you could do better and yet you only had that one shot – so deciding that next time it would be the best. Sometimes it was realizing that while we weren’t where we were going to be – we had come a long way.

Yes, I would have said I knew everything that we were learning.

Exactly twenty years, and a short trip over the river, later I stood watching as my son wrapped up the first week of his last high school band camp.  Life changes, but band is pretty much the same.  It’s July.  It’s approximately 3 degrees cooler than hell in Florida, and high school band kids everywhere are running through drill sets.  They have farmer’s tans, sweat soaked clothes, and instruments that gleam – not from stadium lights, but from the humidity in the air that has settled like a weight on everything. There are afternoon monsoons in Florida so time has to be taken away from learning drill.  They get right back at it, knowing that they are chasing a goal – one that requires a maximum effort for an extended period of time.  And I realize I didn’t know everything I was learning 20 years ago.

I watch JD – and 230 other kids – do it one more time.  I watch them when they take water breaks and all form smaller groups of their close friends.  Some are using the break to goof off for a few minutes, squirt water at each other instead of drink it, laugh and use more energy in the break than I feel that I have left for the whole night.  Maybe the whole weekend.  Others sit quietly with their group of friends, drinking water, and trying to rest a minute.  Others are talking to section leadership or instructors about something they haven’t quite picked up, yet.  230 different people.  Different personalities. Do you think they all get along?  No, I’m sure they don’t.  Do you think they all like the same things?  Nope.  Come from the same background? Not hardly.  Yet, it is like viewing a mini melting pot of life.  Only different.  Different because as an adult I can see what they can’t see.

I can see just how amazing it is to bring 230 people together to accomplish a goal.  I can see that they are learning more than they realize.  They are learning to set off place #1 and adjust, but they will learn to continue to adjust as they go along – because sometimes where you start out isn’t where you need to end up.  It’s a good start, but sometimes you’re going to have to move a bit to really line up in life.  Sometimes you’re going to be the #1 spot and hold your hand up and others will look to you for where they are supposed to be – but even the #1 person will need to evaluate to make sure they aren’t off.

They are learning to listen to the correct tempo, and play and march that tempo, but we all know that during a show all it takes is the drum line to speed up or slow down and they will learn to follow the drum line for that moment – because the crowd isn’t thinking the drum line is off they are just thinking the whole band is off.  Then, they will come back on a Monday and work again to perfect the tempo.  They are learning that sometimes you might drift away from the set tempo, but as long as you remember to come back and listen for the constant steady truths in your life, you’ll get it.  It will come together.

They are learning to fight back Friday night nerves, step onto the field, and do what they’ve been practicing for – through fear, doubts, or any other thoughts that might arise. They are not letting their fear override what they know they can do.  They are learning that sometimes you have to step up even when you’re afraid.  Even when you’re nervous.  They are learning that fear and nerves don’t have to own them.

I stood there and listened as their director gave them instructions to follow –  and watched as they followed.  He didn’t yell or belittle or criticize.  He told them what they needed to do, but he also told them how far they had already progressed.  He explained what judges might be looking for, and pointed out why certain decisions might not be the best for the overall performance. They are learning that sometimes in life your instruction will come from someone who is in a position of authority over you – and sometimes it will come from someone who is in leadership over you.  If you’re really blessed – you might actually have that in the same person.  And while you might just have to do what you are being told, the person you’ll want to follow is the one who leads and doesn’t just dictate.  That’s the one who sees the most genuine results.  That is the one who builds up leaders to guide the way on their own one day.

I looked around and saw what all the different sections chose as their “section night” attire.  For instance, the trumpets went with neon. They donned their neon clothes and identified as a section, and still fell right into place with the rest of the band.  They are learning that it’s okay to be proud of who you are and still recognize that you have a place within a larger group.

As teenagers, they are learning and mastering what so many of us as adults seem to have forgotten.  We don’t all have to be the same, like the same things, agree 100% of the time with each other, or want to spend breaks together, to be an integral part of a team.  Each of us adds value right where we are –  just by being who we are and being willing to help someone next to us.  It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.

The world could learn a lot from marching band.  I know I did.  Last night reminded me that I still am.

This is a beautiful life.