Salvation is Created

It’s the last rehearsal of the semester but no one seems to realize this as the rehearsal zooms by at its usual pace. Mrs. Director seems for laid back and this has a positive effect on the band. As the ensemble rehearses their almost forgotten first show depicting famous song of a popular eighties band the sky gets darker and with the darkness comes an almost fading sound coming from the instruments that once boomed with musicality. The group is tired and are ready for the season to end but at the same time is dreading the loss of people who will not be returning the following fall semester. I think this is why we will see the final spark of passion come into play.

The band seems to be breaking off into their respective sections to rehearse a tune that I had never heard before. It is a slow, kind of sad song that is also very eerie but at the same time is painstakingly beautiful. The groups are not playing their instruments for this song at first, no, an instrument or two play a couple of notes and the members sing the note that they just heard. With their leaders conducting the, the sections sing a chorale type of song complete with different harmonies depending on the depth of their voices. If you look around you will notice that these people hold a sort of reverence and high respect for this song as all who were wearing hats took them off. I also notice that they are links together with hands behind each other’s backs swaying to the tempo of the song. (It really is quite beautiful to witness this) When the song is over they pick up their instruments and play what they just sang with dynamics that would rival a church choir. As the last note is played they slowing lower their instruments and turn to one another, this is where I finally notice that this song brought many of them to tears. A chime of “I love yous” rang throughout the group as hugs were exchanges. I can tell that I have just witness an extremely intimate moment between a family.

I have determined that the reason these people do what they do, why they return—rain or shine—why they seem to love what they do, is because of their love for each other. This group of students is unlike any other group on campus because of this. This is not for their progression of their careers, this is not entirely for themselves, they come to rehearsal and play at every football game—to a team that does not seem to notice they are there—because they love and cherish the family-like structure that they have built in an amazingly short period of time. This bond seems to be unbreakable and undeniably weird to people looking in from the outside such as myself. It took me a while to realize this but the way they band together into close-knit groups is admirable.