Our next band ...

My son looked at this and immediately said, "You didn't write about my band."

Blogs can be anonymous or not. This one isn't ... and it is. I mean, if you tell people you are blogging and they look it up, they know who you are, right? But I want to talk about the joy of band, and not make this about getting a plug in for any particular band or drum corps. There are plenty of sites and blogs for that.

I'm proud of my kids - all of them! My oldest plays the mellophone in his band. It's kind of an in joke that the three Marching Mellophone Members names all start with M! I was a trumpet player (like son #2) in marching band, but always liked mellophone. I played French horn in concert band and in church orchestras. I auditioned for a corps on mellophone. They get all of the hard parts and none of the glory!

{An aside: son #3 just picked up the saxophone but primarily plays his game in a big square sandbox with 60 feet between corners; son #4 is just musical right now.}

Anyway, my oldest's band for the past two years is a flashback to the DCI championships in 1989 - last year the Phantom Regiment's "New World Symphony", this year Santa Clara Vanguard's "Phantom of the Opera". Wonderful music, from a wonderful band and a wonderful group of kids with a wonderful sense of potential.

Potential.

But as I've shared with him, and others, potential is not performance. The show your band is doing is going to draw comparisons. But the comparison I am making is not to the drum corps, but to the band itself.

Son - and band members - marching band (and high school) is a dry run on real life. Are you doing all you are capable of? Or are you going through the motions?

Once you start pushing yourself to your full potential, then you will stop playing and start performing.

Finals is in three weeks. Time to start performing ...