Temperatures were in the single digits with a wind chill below zero this morning.  I’m driving into the school parking lot about an hour before school starts in my nice, warm bug when I notice one lone figure walking up the street towards school.  Bundled from head to toe with his bookbag on his back, what I noticed was the saxophone case.  Band is before school and this tough guy was showing what it takes to be a committed band member.  Or, maybe a band member who should be committed, depending on how you look at it. Brrr!!!

I love band kids.  While I’m sure other music kids are very nice and all, band kids at any age are the best.  And not just because I was in band, or my husband was in band and all of my kids were in band…. you get the picture.  Being a part of a band family is not like any other family.  It doesn’t matter where you’re from, your culture, your background or how old you are, once a band member, always a band member because band people share experiences like no other group.

People often compare being in a musical group to playing on an athletic team, but I would challenge that comparison.  You see, on an athletic team, if one or two people have a bad game, others can pick up the slack.  In a band, if one or two people are having a bad concert, it can ruin the entire group.  Everyone matters all the time.  That’s why it becomes such a family because bands have to rely on each other 100% of the time.

But it’s not just making the music that makes you a family.  It’s the experiences surrounding the music making.  There is nothing like working for hours in a hard rain, sloshing through mud to put drill on the field.  There’s nothing like losing your shoe in the mud during a competition.  There’s nothing like getting up on a snow day and having to go to an all afternoon band practice while everyone else stays home.  There’s nothing like your band director standing on a tower wearing a light jacket in the snow yelling, “it’s not cold, people!”.  These are the kinds of memories we share and laugh at for years.

It’s living with these people, literally, for years.  It’s taking trips with them, sleeping on buses, rooming at camp and in hotel rooms, and sharing meals, some in restaurants, some on buses, some on curbs.  It’s sharing rides to rehearsals, rehearsing together for hours, helping each other with uniform problems, watching bad movies on buses.  Did I mention buses?  It’s winning and losing together, laughing and crying, working and playing hard.

I remember in high school during the summers I rode my bike to rehearsal every day of summer band, 2.5 miles each way with my clarinet or sax either in the front basket or tied to the back fender.  One day my friend Jimmy asked for a ride on the bike and he tried to hold my sax case while sitting on the fender.  The sax is fine but the case was never the same.  We’re still Facebook friends today because band family stays in touch as much as they can.

So as I saw this little guy this morning, my heart was warmed a bit by the thought that he is just beginning his journey to becoming a part of the band family.  And that if he’ll just stick with it for awhile, not only will he develop life-long relationships, but he’ll gain skills that will successfully guide him through life.  I give credit to my time in band for teaching me a great work ethic, commitment, having a good attitude, working with others, and developing confidence in myself.  And while I won’t see all of these traits in a fifth grader who is just beginning, I see it in the college students I see working in the university bands and in my classroom as practicum and student teachers.  It makes me glad to say I’m a band kid.