Photography, video and music: former band kid

 This takes a little bit of a different direction of the music theme of this blog, but I think it is something that was part of my life for a while. I mentioned this before, but I used to be a band kid. From fourth grade to the end of eighth grade, I played the alto saxophone in band. So back then when I said I liked music, I meant I liked playing it. Now when I say I like music, I mean I like listening to it. The tables have turned, but my appreciation for music hasn't.

I remember when my school started encouraging students to join band in fourth grade, as that was the time we could start learning and playing. I had decided I wanted to play the saxophone with no second thought, because it looked so cool and I was eager to learn an instrument since I hadn't ever played before. 

I had such a fun 5 years playing, and all of that goes to my teacher, Mr. Cash. He was so funny, entertaining, and he was brutally honest but I learned so much from him. Although it's been years since I've seen him, I wouldn't trade him for any other music teacher/conductor. 

Through fourth and fifth grade, those were our vital learning stages. We actually did have concerts, which admittedly I don't remember. But I do remember practicing a lot as well as learning a lot. When we got to middle school, that's when we got arranged by skill level. I unfortunately never got to first chair, but I was always neck and neck with my bandmate in second chair. He was just a little better than me. To this day, I know if I just practiced more I could have beat him to first chair. 

As for the middle school band itself - not trying to sound cocky - but I definitely think we weren't bad for a middle school band. Our performances were recorded, so I linked a piece we played in one of our concerts in 2015. Because our teacher was sometimes tough with us, we did pretty well. All of us would agree that he taught us a lot all while making us laugh at the same time. I also liked how we played popular songs, which made playing that much more fun. 

I also did marching band for a couple years, which was fun although practice was always in the morning before school. I stopped doing it because I didn't like waking up early, though a part of me wishes I would've just sucked it up because in the end, it was so fun. 

Being a part of band was my first real experience with music. Even though I lost interest in playing, being a part of band was one of the best periods of my life. Although I prefer listening over playing these days, I still appreciate the whole art of music just as much, maybe even more now.