I have always been musically inclined. My mom was a piano teacher when I was born and continued to teach music throughout much of my childhood. Naturally, we had a piano in the house. I learned to play piano by listening to my mother teaching her students. While I can read music, I play primarily by ear. My parents always encouraged my interest in music, providing me with a variety of instruments. I started playing trombone in fifth grade but for reasons I cannot recall, I stopped playing after one year. I didn’t pick up another band instrument until the year between seventh and eighth grade. One of my cousins had played alto saxophone a few years earlier and they were no longer in band. My mom wanted me to get involved in band. She was teaching special education at the city school, which had grades K through 12 on one campus. Her classroom was next door to the band room and she knew the band director well. She arranged for me to take saxophone lessons during the summer before I entered the eighth grade. The next fall, I was in the school band which because our school was so small, included both junior high and high school students.
While I do have a great aptitude for all things musical, I really wasn’t ready for the big time. While I had mastered typical starter songs like “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” and “Hot Cross Buns”, I was still struggling with scales and hadn’t gotten comfortable with reading music yet. And I was also learning how to march and play. Learning to march and a band show took away from time to learn the music. Those first few weeks of school in eighth grade were a musical struggle. I was learning fast but not fast enough to build much confidence. Football season would start early that fall which meant we would be playing for games and pep rallies soon. My first pep rally was a disaster. The band gathered in the gymnasium with the cheerleaders early. We would play music and the cheerleaders would do dance routines as the students entered. With my limited playing skills, I was hoping to blend in with the rest of the band. Unfortunately, I was sitting on the edge of the band section of the bleachers next to some non-band students that were older than me. I had very little confidence or musical skill. I was only playing about half of the notes I was supposed to be playing. One of the girls in the student section pointed at me and told her friend, “Look at him! He doesn’t know what he’s doing!” She was right.
I’m sure many of the people that have known me for a long time probably think I can do almost anything related to music. They probably think it comes natural and easy. Eighth grade was a hard year for me. I didn’t really learn how to read music until that year. I also learned how to surround myself with more skilled and confident musicians until I learned how to play the music.