We drove over to St. Simons Island today to hear Karlee play in the District 8 Honor Band.

The kids had been practicing since Thursday night.  That is when they meet their director and see the music they are going to play for the first time.  There is an ”A Band” and a “B Band.”  The kids audition for what chair they will be in and Karlee made A Band, 2nd Chair!  She was so excited because she beat out the two 10th graders from her band who also play flute.  She called me Friday morning and told me how much fun she was having.  She said the music they were learning was awesome! 

We arrived at Epworth By The Sea, the Methodist campground where the honor band was being held, this afternoon to a packed house!  Kids from all over South Georgia were there…representing the different high school bands.  Some of the kids had their band uniforms on, some of the kids were dressed in their Sunday best.  It was awesome to see so many different kids gathered together for one reason…to make great music!  The B Band played first and did a great job.  Then the A Band took their seats.

They introducted the guest band director who was going to direct the A Band.  He was a director from Pennsylvania.  He stepped up on that little director’s platform, picked up his baton and the band came to life!  It sounded fantastic!  After they finished playing the first piece, he shared that he was the composer!  It was great.  

Then he shared the story behind the next piece they were going to play.  It seems a young high school saxophone player died in a tragic car accident.  His parents commissioned a composer to write some band music in his honor.  The song was called “I Am”….taken from the title of a poem the teenage boy had just written before his death.  It was an amazing song…..the composer wrote music that moved through moments of celebration, to sounds of a car crash, to sounds of sadness and then even sounds of the band members putting their instruments down and just singing the words “I Am.”  It was very moving and I tried to imagine what it was like for the mom of this young boy as she listened for the first time to this wonderful tribute.  Thankfully, I had a new pack of tissue in my purse!

The director was incredible to watch!  When I was in high school, I was a “junior director” of my high school choir and I am still fascinated by watching conductors and directors!  He also had a personality that seemed like a lot of fun.  He reminded the audience that music isn’t entertainment…music is life.  It is an expression of the joy and the sorrow, the good and the bad.  It is a way that we connect to each other.  

After the concert was over, the kids had to turn in their folders with all their honor band music.  But they got to keep the piece that the director wrote.  Karlee stood in line so he could autograph her copy and we took her picture with him.  Then it was time to pack up and head home.  The director mentioned he had to head home too…..and according to the forecast, that meant cold weather and snow!!!  Brrrrr…..