This year’s eighth grade Band members have given me so many positive moments and happy memories during their three years at JFHMS. Each “graduating” class always has their own personality and holds their own special place in this old Band Director’s heart of course, but these guys….I met many of them as elementary kids, either when our Jazz Band visited their school or when they participated in an Instrument Petting Zoo event and tried to blow into an instrument for the first time. We didn’t get to perform at every school during 2020, because of the Covid shut down–but they signed up for Band anyway. Unfortunately, our newest Band members had to wait until January ‘21 to play. Our school reopening was in a 4×4 semester block schedule; four classes met every day during first semester, and then four DIFFERENT classes met every day during second semester. The Band classes who perform were placed during second semester, in hopes we MIGHT be able to have an outdoor concert in late May or early June. (Which we did!)
It was a small group, and I was worried they would lose momentum or maybe even drop Band before they got started–luckily, they seemed really excited. In an attempt to connect and get to know these new Beginner members, (who signed up during a pandemic, dealt with online school, and didn’t get to have Band right away) we set up regular zoom meetings. We told jokes and ate ice cream together, had dress up days, talked about our pets, and which instruments everyone wanted to play. When we did FINALLY get to have class, only about half the kids were actually in my Band room in person, while the other half were online and having class at the same time. Everyone in the Band room had to sit six feet apart. The woodwind instruments were inside bags that resembled pillowcases; everyone used bell covers that resembled shower caps, and everyone wore a “musician mask” with an opening for the mouthpiece. The online folks could hear us and play along, but due to the digital time lag we could not listen to them in real time, since their sound did not match up with the live musicians.
One of the things we figured out was that on screen zoom images mirror the presenter. A solid sixth grade trombone player who was super camera shy, had learned to play his instrument very well –yet completely backwards– because that was what he (thought) he saw me do on screen. He adapted to having his trombone on his LEFT shoulder very quickly, once we were together in person at the concert. Another student clarinet player was excited to try a new song in class and started to finger through the notes without her instrument outside the woodwind bag; she did this with her right hand on top of the instrument, not the left hand. I asked her what she was doing with her right hand on top, and her answer was, “Oh, today is Tuesday. I want to be the best clarinet player I can be, so I play with my right hand on top on Mondays and Tuesdays and my left hand on top on Thursdays and Fridays.” I was crushed because as her Director I had missed this huge error, because her hands were always inside the woodwind bag–but she fixed it pretty quickly. Despite these unusual challenges, they all figured it out, and both of these kids are now two of my strongest musicians.
We also missed out on quite a few kids who opted to wait until they could have Band with less Covid protocol and in a more normal situation. Luckily, these folks joined Band in 7th grade. They had to play catch up to fit into the second-year class. One of those kids has become a strong lead trumpet and was recognized with the “Best Jazz Solo” award, on our recent trip to the Music in the Parks Competition. Our eighth graders are spread out across three classes; this year’s Jazz Band was made up of fourteen kids, nine of whom play two instruments and perform on them regularly. Eleven 8th grade Band members were in the high school marching Band, and three have played in the BHS musical pit orchestra. One has taken a shine to piano and has also developed a passion for composition; four are the driving force behind our small ensembles. As I said at the beginning, this Eighth grade group is pretty special. They will be missed, but there are some amazing seventh graders right behind them, ready to take the lead next year.
