Christmas Parade

On December 1, the GHS Marching Band participated in the city's annual Christmas Parade. We spent the last two weeks of band class preparing for the parade, rehearsing our selection, a medley of carols including "Deck the Halls," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "Joy to the World," and practicing marching in straight lines, a deceptively difficult task. You have to coordinate each and every move with the person in front of you and the two at your sides. Memorizing a new piece of music is already challenging enough without knowing you will have to play it and march at the same time.

Our performance in the parade went smoothly enough, though the cold weather made it difficult to play and there were times when my section was not completely in step with each other or with the beat, something we should look to improve for our next parade. I have never particularly liked marching band, and consequently I was not looking forward to the parade. However, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, simply because I love impacting people with music. The whole purpose of a musician is to create music for others to enjoy, and by marching in the parade we did just that: we played music to help the residents of my hometown welcome the holiday season and enjoy the day. There were looks of genuine excitement in the crowd as we passed and people cheered and sang along to our notes. I think all musicians get a simple joy out of playing for other people, and it makes up for the drudgery of rehearsal and the difficulties of learning and performing.

Waiting for the parade to begin