One of the best reasons to be in the school band (besides all the great people) was the amazing trips we got to go on! Where did your schools go to?

Toronto, On (I lived in Kingston at the time)
Vanccouver/Surrey/Whistler, B.C.
Ottawa, On
Orlando, Fl. (Magic Music Days at Disney World)
Cupertino/San Francisco/Carmel, Ca.

My school did the St. Patrick's Day parade in NYC, all local parades, and the last school I went to performed at Disney World- but I had quit the band by then. I went on very few of those trips.
My first parade was, I think, three weeks after I learned how to play the trombone. I was the only newbie. I didn't have an uniform yet and I didn't know about that nifty invention that clips your music to your instrument (by the way, I was the only person that didn't have all the pieces memorized that day).
Imagine, I'm extremely nervous- shaking as a leaf, holding my music while trying to play. To make me stick out even more, I was wearing all white while everyone else had on a bright red uniform.
The trombone was the worst instrument I could have chosen to play because every move you make is so obvious. All in all, I was doing pretty well considering that I didn’t really know how to play. During the parade, someone from the crowd ran and took my music from me, he had a clothespin, and he pinned my music to a trumpet player who stood in front of me. Now all I had to do was read and play, I had finally calmed down and we had one more piece to play, "Stars and Stripes Forever." I never played the song straight through but I thought I could wing it and was excited to get it all over with. Someone announced that it was our last song and the crowd gathered around to listen. Then the other trombonists told me that they decided that they'd all play my part. Aaaggggh !!! Now that the crowd was really paying attention, they would all be able to tell if I made a mistake. I got jittery again- missed the cue and couldn't find where everyone was, the wind kept blowing the papers so I couldn't read them, and when I went to put the slide in sixth position I went too far and the slide flew on the ground all the way by the flutes which were about three or four rows in front of the trombones. It was horrible.
After that day, I avoided performances (other than concerts or prep rallies- I like those) like the plague. If I ever was put into a position in which I had to go, it was always pouring rain that day- talking about a bad omen.

Good idea! I was a band member myself (you got out of PE at my school and PE was staffed by sadistic women who had nothing on marine corps sergeants) and I played the clarinet already. The largest section besides trumpets.
Our band was 100 member strong. We had classic blue uniforms with a shield thingy in gold on our chests.
We used to say that if you needed darts on one of those you were in bad shape!
The football games were funny as you did formations.
Lanni you made me laugh with your story. I remembered my first year as a newbie.
Then I quickly rose as your musical status and leadership status were closely linked.
Our trips were local or else down to Disneyland.
I was in both the stage bands as a saxophonist and clarinet in the band. Hand to carry my cases by myself and had major muscles in my arms!
Later as a seventeen year old I was admitted early to college and auditioned for a jazz ensemble that won a competition to go to Europe. We earned lots of money etc, but in the end the funding wasn't enough and we had to call it off. I'd already learned Rumanian for that trip!
We did a tour of some major jazz festivals around CA and played with a few biggies in the jazz world.
I was one of the only women in the band.
As the stage people have a tendency to focus on the only females on stage, it's kind of hard to pass for one of the boys!

I later became professional for a short while doing gigs in a latino band and that paid for my first years in college.

We were poor and did not go on too many long trips. My senior year, we went to Holland, Michigan to march in a 5 mile oarade. It was a fun trip. Other than that, we took short jaunts all around Kentucky and Indiana. My have times changed, my alma mater now has ,money to spare and has marched in the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Disneyworld and Macy's Parades. No regrets, band was the best part of high school with a very inspirational band director-the kind that could inspire a rock or scare the you know what out of you. I would not be where I am today without him !!!

[ 12-04-2001: Message edited by: malizma ]