The other day I got an email from my sister-in-law, Meredith. She mentioned that my nephew had played his trumpet in an official concert for the first time the previous evening. I wrote her back joking that I noticed she had said “It was fun for him” and not “I enjoyed the music so much!”
All of our children (so far) have learned to play an instrument… Amber plays flute, Steph plays piano, Vic played piano and saxophone, April plays French horn and the Boy plays trombone. I have suffered through thousands of hours of instrument practice. Those early years when a child is learning to play an instrument can be excruciating to listen to. The sour notes, hesitant playing, and repetition are enough to make a nun curse.
There were many band performances in those days that I would have cheerfully skipped. A pair of earplugs probably would have made them a little more bearable if I could have gotten away with it. I remember an especially horrid band performance at St. Phillips one year. It wasn’t my kids that sucked though - it was those other kids. No really! Mine played beautifully. (*rolling eyes*)
Tonight is the Christmas concert for the Joplin High School band. April and the Boy both play in the advanced band. They’ve been playing their instruments for 6 years now and no longer cause me to wince throughout their entire performance. In order to hear them play tonight, I will have to sit through 4 or 5 selections by the Beginner band and 4 or 5 selections from the Intermediate band. These are the bands with the students who are just learning their instruments or who haven’t learned to play that well yet.
They will suck. They will suck alot. Last year I could show up an hour into the performance in my work uniform and pretend that I had gotten held up at work. “Oh - did I miss the (crappy) other bands?” This year I’ll be forced to endure the entire 2 hour concert - maybe Steve can bring me some earplugs home from work - I promise to be discreet and take them out when April and the Boy’s band starts playing. Honest.
PS - check back later for a sample of the good stuff.
I was wrong. It was one big (horrible) band concert. The Boy is in the front on the far left side. April is buried way in the back directly past the band director Mr. Castor. I was only able to get a picture of her before everyone sat down.
Here’s a sample - forgive the horrible focus. I tried to brace the camera on the front row of seats but these 2 tween girls kept bouncing and shaking in their seats. I gave up and held it in the air. It’s difficult to hold your arm perfectly still like that.
Pine Cones and Holly Berries/It’s beginning to look like Christmas
(This is a large file and will take several minutes to download to your computer - it’s probably best to right click the link and choose the Save Target As option to save to your computer before you play it.)
April 
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