High School Musical

Thing 1 started high school recently, and the one thing, the ONE THING I strongly encouraged her to take was music. Mostly because if you aren’t in music, you aren’t in the band. And band can be a blast in high school, even if you do have to put up with punishingly early practices and painfully ugly uniforms. In band you get to meet a much bigger cross-section of kids than you would anywhere else, you get an extra half-credit for sticking it out, and maybe, just maybe, you will get to go on a trip. (Band trips are a riot, even when you only get to go to Ottawa, which seems to be the destination of choice for high schools in Ontario.)
My band went to Ireland when I was in Grade 12, and it was so much fun I barely remember anything else about high school. It was totally worth having to play the French Horn for four years, which I hated with every molecule of my being. (The French Horn is a beautiful sounding instrument, but is not pretty and delicate and most of all, light enough to lug home on a city bus without herniating yourself.)

Thing 1 played the flute in elementary school, which she began with such enthusiasm we actually bought her a flute off of Ebay. Her zeal has diminished somewhat (read: fallen off the map entirely) and she chose to play the alto sax in high school. The sax came home with her today, and there has been a series of honks and squeaks and moos out of her room since. I hope to God she is actually practicing that saxophone because otherwise I would have to conclude that she is mistreating goats in there. I’m sure the day will come when she can actually coax a recognizable tune out of that thing. (By the way, the Mister picked up that saxophone and busted out with a very impressive riff. Just came out of nowhere; had no idea he could pull that out. I was gobsmacked.)

One of the other advantages with being in band is that you occasionally get to skip out of class for some sort of special performance. My band got to play at music festivals and at assemblies and such. My friend Perrie’s elementary school band was asked to play when the bishop came to bless the newly built Catholic church in town. ( Sadly, the only song they could all play together was “Another One Bites The Dust”, which I’m sure was a novelty for the bishop.)

If Grade 9 music and band are not to Thing 1’s liking, she is free to pull the plug and pursue other interests. I sincerely hope she doesn’t, and for that, I am willing to put up with what sounds like a fight to the death between thrashing bagpipes and angry ducks.