Spirit - 10/30/2006 in 2005 - 2007: High School

Friday was a little bit better than things have been in general recently. Because finals were this weekend, we had a spirit day. Eric and Schultz came up with Lucky Charms day - every section was supposed to dress as a different marshmallow shape, and Eric would dress like a leprechaun. I personally was really excited about this, but I figured no one else would do it. I was wrong. Almost everyone did it, and almost everyone went all out. Cassandra made giant cardboard horseshoes for the clarinets to wear around their necks, and insisted that they all wear purple. The colorguard got together and made identical tshirts with hearts on them. Even Bonnie, who usually just wears a production shirt when we have spirit days (you know, as a comprimise) took the initiative to blow up some red balloons and give them to the other flutes to tie to their backpacks. I myself took an old blue shirt, drew a moon on it in permanant marker, and wrote on the back, "THIS IS A SPIRIT DAY. MBLB FO' LIFE."

I actually heard people outside of the band talking about how funny it was that we were doing this. Like, they actually noticed and cared. Usually they were also saying, "I didn't know the marching band did spirit days." It's funny that a group of people who can't pull off pajama day to save their lives can somehow have a really effective spirit day dressing as a brand of cereal.

Friday I also used my independant study to have a mad crazy flute jam with Emily. It was cool to be able to teach a very good but very classical musician how to play jazz improv. It was interesting to see how she approached it, and it was cool that as I made suggestions, she would immediately understand them and try them. Really the only thing I had to keep repeating was, "Rock harder. Be intense. Don't be afraid." By the end, she was doing better than a lot of people I've heard who have been improvising since they were in fifth grade. We also had the whole block since she managed to get out of gym somehow.

"Oh. So do you... Want to go back to gym eventually?"

"Pf, no."

"Oh. Cool."

I ate lunch with Bonnie, Dave, and Speedy, as usual. When the four of us eat lunch together, it always works out that Dave is the last one to come in. This means that the first part of lunch is always pretty quiet and a little weird. Friday during the time when it was just me, Bonnie and Speedy, we mentioned the spirit day, and how none of the saxophones except Schultz had participated. Then there were a few minutes of silence. Then Speedy said, "Wait," got up, and ran out the band room door to the outside.

Silence again.

"Uh... Do you know what he's doing?"

Bonnie shrugged. "He's weird."

I looked out the window. He appeared to frantically looking for something in the grass. He ran back in. "Do you have any tape?" he said.

Bonnie produced tape from her backpack and handed it to him.

He taped two clovers to his shirt by the stems and stood there looking somewhat triumphant.

"Oh, I get it," I said. "Uh... You still clearly didn't participate in the spirit day. Like if I looked at you right now, I wouldn't say, 'That kid is participating in a spirit day,' I would be like, 'That kid has dead plants scotch taped to his shirt. How bizarre.'"

"Well, exactly. See, it provokes abstract thought. When you look at me, you start asking questions about yourself."

Silence.

"You know, like, 'Where did I come from?' and 'Where am I going?'"

Silence.

"Aw man, they're falling off."

Sometimes I find myself vaguely attracted to Speedy, even though he is a wierd greasy sophomore with a big nose. I know that this is solely because he is a quiet alto sax player with an observational sense of humor, and my subconscious figures that maybe that is close enough.

Is it bad that I find myself attracted to people's tone quality? I like Speedy's sound. I can always hear him in marching band and concert band, and it's a nice sound. Clear, with nice vibrato - not too bright and not too dark. I've always liked Julian's sound too - Quiet and strikingly dark with no vibrato at all. It's an honest sound. I like Dave's sound about half the time, but the other half he is either overblowing or out of tune or both.

There is more to write about, but this is all I can manage for now. There have been time constraints. I am stressing out enough to make myself sick. Again.