To work so hard to make sure that you personally are flawless in every aspect of the routine, yet to depend on a hundred other people for the gratifications you will receive. All the sacrifices that you made from waking up hours early and staying late because you know that it’s not good enough. That’s why I’m in the marching band. The rush of the closing note: the swells in the melody that align perfectly with the insistent and unwavering tempo of your feet as you take the field in stride. Others may sneer at your unapologetic pride in what you put so much of yourself into. It all almost came crashing down on our heads.

It was so simple no one thought it would pose a threat to the longevity of the high school marching band program. The fact that a month away from state competitions a funding issue could crush 127 teenagers’ dreams is amazing. The fact that a publicly funded school was just going to pull the plug on a high achieving and successful youth program is baffling! But the school board gave our band director warning and he relayed the message back to us. Devastated would be an understatement.

Now presented with a choice, it was a grey area on what to do. Each student could pay another $50, and it doesn’t seem like that steep of a check but the principles were in question. Band is already a costly extracurricular, what with instrument rentals, reeds, oils, music, and clinicians the annual price is already quite hefty on families. This was why the clarinet section had an idea that would help point the band in the right direction.

The answer was in part of the problem, one of the pieces that were making the picture of a happy band not come together. We have all county and all state members among us! Do we not pay for clinicians to come and help us get substantially better? Why could we not help less experienced instrumentalists akin to ourselves out at a fraction of the professional’s cost?

So this idea employed proved to a remarkable success with the band not only reaching its goal, but surpassing it and allowing the director to lower the next annual price for all members of the band. We were able to compete in states and came in second! This was a new high for the band and for the ideals of the band which reinforced in all the kids how important ingenuity and tenacity in all aspects of your lives will help in the long run.