Hello, my fellow band nerds! If you’re reading this, hopefully, you’ll be seeing your own thoughts and experiences here. And for those of you who were not blessed with the band experience, maybe you’ll finally understand why us eccentric band geeks love what we do so much.

I’ll start from the beginning. I joined the band when I was in sixth grade. All of the upcoming sixth graders got to meet the band director and see all of the different instruments that we might play. I walked into my future band room and tried out every single instrument, hoping to feel some emotional pull from one. I soon discovered that a brass instrument was out of the question. When trying out the trumpet, trombone, and tuba, I produced more spit than actual sound, so I quickly moved on. I tried the flute and hoped that it would be the one, but again, I found that sound was difficult to produce on the flute as well.

Finally, I tried the clarinet with four of my friends. For some reason, we all felt that the clarinet was the coolest of the instruments. (Also, it was the only one we could successfully play.) That’s when I decided that the clarinet would be my instrument. For the next few years, I worked hard to make the squawking sound become actual music. Eventually I was somewhat successful.

High school band came around, and it was a whole different arena. Marching band began, and I found my place. The people around me loved music just as much as I did, and were just as dorky as I was (am). We spent hours on the practice field together sweating and running laps. We practiced together, performed together, and spent every day together for years. The people were wonderful, but even more amazing was the atmosphere and the feeling of pride and family. In fact, the motto of our band was, "Eyes with pride," and we lived it. I was proud to be a part of the band, even if we weren’t the most popular kids in school. I was a part of something bigger than myself.

All through high school, my parents were going through separation and eventually divorce. I was depressed and feeling like nothing could ever feel right again. Every morning I would wake up dreading the day, and feeling hopeless. I looked forward to one thing. Want to guess what it was? It wasn’t the cafeteria food.

I wasn’t a genius clarinet player. But, I was my band’s biggest fan. When I didn’t feel like trying or hoping anymore, band gave me a reason. It was a family that helped me make it through my troubled times, day by day. The day that I moved away and had to leave, I knew a part of me was being left behind. I have dreams about going back to that band room and practice field and feeling the tangible sense of love and pride.

Band gave me hope exactly when I needed it. Without band, without that clarinet that made loud squeaking noises from time to time, my life would have taken a very different turn. I want people to know that impact that being a band geek had on my life. When some people hear that I was in the band, they give me a sympathetic look, like I was forced to give a bully my lunch money every day. False. Don’t feel sorry for me because I was in band, be jealous or happy. Because I will never regret my days in that family. Being a band geek saved my life.