Kick Drum Heart

I love band.

I know there are many people in my school who would laugh at that– Emily, you may be one of them. : ) But I just got home from the first concert of the year, and honestly, I am still incredibly energized.

I guess it’s because I’m so frantic and spastic before the concert begins, and then when it finally all comes together, the hours and hours of practice and focus and more practice fuse and produce a solid flow of melody that everyone can appreciate.

Now, it’s said that our band program is strict. The band director is nasty, blah, blah. : ) And in retrospect, I guess as the percussion section leader I may sometimes be a little bit, ahh, bitchy. But that’s only some days! And frankly, since the entire ensemble depends on percussion to function as a separate unit, I think I get the right to be a little cranky sometimes when we aren’t all gelling.

But I believe my occasional crankiness and the entire section’s work ethic has paid off this go-round. We sounded better than we ever have before (with the exception of “Impresario”) and since we were under a lot of pressure, this was a huge accomplishment. As a team, we excelled.

I hope the next concert will be even better. I’m pumped for it.

And it really wasn’t my perfectionist-ism or circle run-throughs that helped us succeed, it was the group. It was a mix of Lily, Derrek, Paul, Marcus, Kenny, Katie, and I achieving a great performance through individual hard work and a team effort. I think it’s the awesome results and feedback from this concert that has gotten me so pumped; if we can be this good by November, then by  the time February comes around, we should have Percussion Ensemble in full swing and the Khatchaturian kickin’ ass.

I can’t wait. I love band.