Music

Music

Is something

So beautiful

So simple

So sweet

And yet it carries so much power

Of the composer

The band

The conductor

And all those who have played it before and who will play it after.

Music

Is freedom

Is luxury

Is pain and sorrow and heartache.

It's emotion

Human emotion

Expression

Love

Anger.

Lyrics, or no lyrics

It doesn't really matter.

When you're in a band

Even just a middle-grade one

You feel it.

Kids who would never speak to each other otherwise are connecting.

Kids who are opposites are chatting freely.

It's the environment this shared love of music creates.

We work together.

We're in sync.

We dip and dive and twirl around the notes as a beautiful melody

And where there are mistakes

There is improvement.

Where I mess up

I fix.

Where I can help

I help

And where I can learn

I learn

Sometimes just by listening to another play.

Different instruments sections

Talk

Share

Laugh

And kids who are part of the same section

Do the same.

There is power when you play with someone.

There is power when you listen with someone.

There is nothing better than playing a piece with someone you love and trust and sharing it with the world

Something so vulnerable

Something you've worked so hard on

And presenting it.

I am shy

On stage

But when I have my instrument with me

It's like I have invisible armor

And I trust the band to carry me

For me to lead,

Sometimes,

Where I should,

And step back to let others shine too.

I trust that my section will pick up my mistakes.

I trust the balance of the band.

Music is perspective

And joy

And connection

And community

And there is nothing

More powerful

Than that.