The Concert

Earlier this week I had the honor and the privilege of attending LM's band concert. It was the first concert since our relocation and since his promotion as a sixth grader into the seventh and eighth grade concert band. LM has been practicing hard this year and is currently fourth chair amongst eight trumpets.

The concert was held at a local high school since LM's middle school doesn't have an auditorium. I had spent the previous week fighting with LM's school trying to get the necessary "uniform" materials for LM for the concert. His director had instructed them all to wear black pants, a white long-sleeved t-shirt and a school t-shirt for their concert uniform. School t-shirts were to be purchased from the school office but every time LM tried to buy one the office staff said they had no idea what he was talking about. LM voiced this issue to the director who told him "of course they know what we're talking about. It's a school t-shirt." Well, it was five days later and three days before the concert before we secured for ourselves the t-shirt in question.

The night of the concert it was raining and dark and we got lost on the way to the high school (by a misread in the google directions. When you have an eleven year old read you the directions, he might tell you to turn South on a certain road when the directions actually say to take the north exit onto South Main street. I agree, it's confusing, but it left us miles from where we needed to be. Thanks be to Bear for giving us good directions via cell phone and getting us there on time.)

Arriving at the school in the nick of time still struggled to find an unlocked door into the buildings. While the parking lot was full of cars, none of the doors we tried would open. Running, in the rain, all dressed up, we sought, with other tardy families to find the entrance to the auditorium. At last we were in and LM ran off to find his director and get set up for the concert. It was of great relief to me that the concert band would perform last.

I found a great seat, the room was surprisingly not all that full. I had neglected to get a program in my rush to get seated, but I figured I would grab one (for the scrapbook) on the way out the door later. For now, I was in my seat, glad to see LM sitting amongst his peers in the back, relieved to have arrived on time.

The orchestra was to perform first. It turned out to be a combination of sixth, seventh and eighth graders in the 25 member orchestra. It was all string instruments and as I waited for the concert to begin, I was suprised by how casually the orchestra students were behaving on stage. It was as if none of them realized they were on stage. They were playing around with each other, they were messing around with instruments. There were only a select few trying to get their instruments in tune.

The principal welcomed us and introduced the orchestra director who was in the back row helping to tune some instruments. He didn't acknowledge the introduction, nor did he immediately come forward. When he did, he admitted he had no idea what the principal had said but announced his group and got ready to perform.

"Ode to Joy" was their first song, overly typical of a young musical group, but it was barely recognizable. While I realized some of these students had only held a violin for three months, it was as if none of them had ever seen the music before. It was horrible. They went on to play a couple more songs before the group split in half, assumingly so the older students could now showcase their abilities, although no announcement was made to that effect. The other students all moved to the back row and sat down, instruments casually on their laps, obviously not to be played.

The 15 or so older kids were as bad as the total group had been. I couldn't believe it. While they played the younger students talked amongst themselves and one late-comer actually came up on stage in her coat with violin still in its case and sat amongst the kids in the back row (she never did play, she must have been a sixth grader and their part of the performance was already over.)

When the orchestra completed their final song, the parents and siblings in the crowd whooped and cheered and shouted and screamed as if we were at an Arsenio Hall show. I was appalled.

The choir was the next to perform and only added to my astonishment. Two of the girls were dressed in evening gowns while the rest wore holiday colors of red, black and white in various degrees of dressiness. The girls in gowns, however, wore HOODIES over top, presumably to keep their bare shoulders warm.

The one girl, on the end of the choir was clearly not enrolled in the optional class to enhance her singing ability. She couldn't clap on rhythym, she barely sang and while the smaller ensembles stepped forward to sing, she would trounce down the risers in her very-loud clunky heels and peer over in the direction of the quartet and then scurry back up in a loud clunk-clunk-clunky manner and whisper to her peers some scandalous information about the performers.

(Do take notice that in this picture, the girl on the end is in a white hoodie with her black evening gown and heels. DURING the performance she and the other hoodie-adorned girl SWITCHED sweatshirts.)

The director had made the point to tell us that the choir members themselves had chosen the songs to be performed and they included such juvenile favorites as Rudolph, Jingle Bell Rock and the like. There were no harmony parts. There was no complicated or unique renditions of the tunes. Played to track music piped in, the entire ensemble - mainly seventh and eighth graders sang as if they were at a slumber party. They behaved as if that is where they were, too, and the director was the "mom" who wanted to be chummy with all the girls.

At this point I'll admit, I was near tears. I mean, I'm not some cultural snob but I do expect a certain level of decorum at such an event. How could I have enrolled my son in a school that didn't even teach etiquette and respect? How could I expect him to learn the valuable things in life if he's spending his days with students and teachers that have standards this low? The parents I was surrounded by were no better; one choir dad had spent the time walking in front of the front row stopping to take pictures as if he was the only one present. The cheering was more like football game shouting than a musical performance.

I panicked. I thought about making him move schools at the end of the year. I'd enroll him in my sister's district or somewhere out of the city. I would find a way to pay for the college education we would have received nearly free. I've had my concerns as we've transitioned to a much more urban school environment about what all LM is learning - outside of the classroom - and now I felt as if I were witnessing it all first hand. I would find a way - I just couldn't let this be his education.

And then the band came on stage. The director stood at the podium and checked to make sure every instrument was tuned as well as the ensemble. When he raised his baton, instruments came up in unison. The music was beautiful and complicated and delightful from the first note to the last. My boy, my little trumpet boy was outstanding. They played Winter Wonderland, Over the Rainbow and a Christmas Suite that blended all the favorite carols into one ensemble piece. I took pictures and intended to video tape for LM's dad but was so enraptured by the performance that it was over before I even hit the record button.

No more tears, I was smiling ear to ear. I was so proud. But not only of my son, of the director, for teaching these kids all the parts of being a performer, not just how to blow air through an instrument.

Afterwards, I hugged LM and asked if he would take me to where the band room was. I shook the directors hand (a man who calls me by name) and thanked him profusely, not only for the concert but for all his help with LM. He's been so encouraging to LM this year and has really pushed him.

As we left the band room, two older boys shouted to LM, "Hey! Hey you! Is that a trumpet?" LM raised his case and shrugged, "yeah?"

The boy said, "Do you live in this area? Will you be attending this high school?" A question LM's band director asks him almost daily. With two high schools in town, his band director has been pushing for LM to attend the one he used to direct at.

LM said he wasn't sure where he'd be attending, his standard answer since we haven't bought a house yet.

"Oh man, you have to come here! We heard you trumpets out there and you guys were awesome! We really need some good trumpet players here!"

I smiled and said quietly, "you'll have to wait. LM here is only a sixth grader." The boy looked astonished and then replied, "It's worth the wait. Besides, I'll still be a senior. Just remember, when you get to high school, you have to come here!"

As we finished the evening off with our traditional post-band-concert ice cream treat I smiled and thought to myself that maybe, just maybe this was exactly the education LM needed.