Its Game Day!

Saturday has arrived and it has proved to be a long day for the band. This morning the band had rehearsal at eight and a parade followed by that. By the time break had ended the band seemed to have been a bit sluggish around game time. Trombone arrived with an energy drink in hand probably hoping that it would lift her spirits and get her through the next five to six hours, but judging by the look on her face, it does not seem to be doing the trick.

“Hey guys! Get into the block!” Yells Mr. Whitegloves in a stern, authoritative way. It takes around five minutes for the band to get situated and form what looked to be five straight lines. While the band was waiting for the cheerleaders and football team to arrive, Ms. Whistle attempted to warm the band up but was cut short by the arrival of the football team. At the start of the familiar tune the band began to march in step towards the football stadium leading the football team and cheerleaders in song. As various sections of instruments performs their odd dances to the sound of a drum cadence they march all the way without any apparent incidence. At the end of the popular song the band split in two to form a sort of aisle for the football team to walk through while they serenade them with their fight song; most of the team—who were wearing noise cancelling headphones—didn’t seem to notice or acknowledge any members of the band while they played in support of them, this seems weird to me. I find it difficult to grasp why any of them would want to play in support of a team that doesn’t even appreciate their existence. I mean, what’s the point?

           Finally, when the football team had passed entirely the band turned around and walked over to where they would enjoy a snack before their tailgating performance. Some of the band seemed annoyed at the fact that they had to play just now but some were just happy to get some sort of a break. It is interesting to see the cliques that form when they are allowed to split up, the band seems to have split up into sections or within the brass or woodwind sections, not much mixture of the sections occurs at all. As I look around I notice that Mrs. Director isn’t there and this seems to have affected the behavior of some of them band in a negative way. Without this authority present it seems like they feel they can relax a little more in the way they act and in the way that they play, Mrs. Director, from what I observed won’t be happy to hear about this I am sure.

What I am struggling to understand today is that despite the constant rehearsing and looks of annoyance, these people are still here, still a part of the band. Why do they not just drop the class of they do not enjoy what they are doing? But I guess I probably won’t actually know unless I actually was in the band. Doing something that isn’t enjoyable seems like a waste of time and I am having a hard time grasping the idea of why they stay, why they keep coming back. I am interested in finding out the reason behind this.