Surprisingly, I survived freshman year of high school. Now it was the summer before the start of sophomore year and it was time to start the new band season. This year's show: Shadows and Light. We still had the same drum major from the previous year, so much hadn't changed, except now I was the saxophone section leader. With this came more responsibility. I had to keep track of my section's poker chips (that's how we set the pictures on the field) and also had to keep track of their dot charts, as well as keep visuals of all the sets in a binder and have it at all times. Not to mention the work I had to do with music. It was my responsibility to help the saxophones learn their music. I also had to teach at the beginner band camp.

Beginner band camp was terrible, mainly because I had to teach three young kids how to play saxophone from scratch. If you didn't already know, student saxophone players are very loud and obnoxious, it's just a fact. Luckily, my best friend Maya was there with me to help control the kids and teach them.

But enough about beginner band camp. Band camp was harder than ever with my new responsibilities, and the saxophone section had a new member. His name was Seth. He was quiet and he didn't really talk much. I remember having to help him learn the music, just me and him. It was awkward, but I could tell that Seth had a lot of potential. All we had to do was get him to take that talent onto the field and learn to march.

Band camp involved blood, sweat, and tears as always. Long hot days consisting of marching until our legs cramped, playing until our lips gave out, and begging Mr. Dixon for water breaks, which we rarely received.

Shadows and Light was a good show. We all thoroughly enjoyed the music, and there were some pretty cool sets. Not to mention our drum major was doing much better this year since he had already done it once before. Things were looking up for the band.

The start of school crept up on us, adding more stress to our lives. It honestly sucked to have to go to school for six hours and then go to band practice for four hours. I'm certain that we practiced harder than any sports team the school had.

I wish I could say I remembered the competitions and games from this season, but the beginning of this season was not particularly memorable. The back half is what sticks out in my mind.

We were doing well at competitions, better than we had ever done thus far, and just like the previous year, we made it to State.

This year's State competition would take place at night. Tensions ran high the week before State as we practiced our hearts out. This, of course, included plenty of yelling and screaming from Mr. Dixon.

If you want to find out whether or not this hard work payed off, you'll have to wait for the next article.

Until next time- Raleigh Kennedy.