So a big shout-out to music major Alex Lauersdorf (’23), who did an excellent job at that. A.,” as the students call her-came through again, telling me she asked another trombone player to take me under his wing. Would my chops betray me? How do bands tune up these days? Would the other kids like me? Will I know where to put my coat? Still, I got fairly nervous as the big day approached, fretting about stupid, little things. She said that’s fine, Pep Band is very casual and fun-just play what you can and fake it when you can’t! I ended up learning 25 or so pretty well, while a handful had high notes I couldn’t reach or rhythms I couldn’t quite figure out. Johanna helped by telling me which pieces they play the most, about 30 songs. I would be jumping in with no rehearsals! A trial by fire! And there are like 50 songs on the playlist! I found it very intimidating!!!! They rehearse during the fall semester and then ride that momentum through the spring. Here’s the tricky part: The Pep Band doesn’t practice after semester break. Target date: February 2, at the first home basketball game of the new semester. By Christmas break I was feeling fairly confident and talked to Johanna about diving in with the Pep Band. I remembered which notes corresponded to which slide positions, and after a few practice sessions, something resembling music began to find its way out of the shiny brass bell. How to play, however, came back pretty quickly. I would be a longer road back than I imagined. What my band director used to call my “chops” (the technical term is “embouchure”) had become floppy and ineffective. I imagined at some point they might have said to her, “Here, do something with this.” That doesn’t sound like music!Īfter I picked up my “new” horn, I took it home, unpacked it, waited for my wife to leave the house, then pursed my lips and blew. Turns out it had been in the sellers’ closet for a while and used to belong to their now-adult daughter. “We’d love to have you play in the Pep Band,” she replied.Įventually, I found a well-loved Yamaha student trombone on Facebook that I was able to nab for just $100. So I got in touch with Johanna Anderson, associate director of instrumental music, and asked if there were any CUW groups I could join. Unlike a guitar, a trombone is not an instrument that’s good for sitting around on the couch and playing for fun. Meanwhile, I also knew I would need a place to play. I couldn’t justify spending hundreds or potentially even thousands of dollars on a replacement, so I started looking and asking around to for a decent used trombone I could beg, borrow, or buy real cheap. Step one, then, would be finding an instrument. Some years later, when I finally moved out of my mom’s house for the last time, she pulled my dusty trombone out of a closet and said, “Here, do something with this.” So I took it to the music store and traded it in for a guitar (a decision I don’t regret). It had been almost exactly 40 years since I last played a note in my high school band (go ahead, do the math, I’m 58). (The cooler kids were already wearing skinny ties.) That’s me in the stylish gray three-piece suit. Presenting the 1980-’81 Champaign (IL) Centennial High School Jazz Band, a swingin’ bunch of rad dudes and hep cats. But sometimes, thoughts of “Well, why not?” push aside the doubts. Often, I quickly think, “No, that’s not a good idea,” and then shove the scary thought away into the dustbin of personal history. But I’m not a very impulsive person, so when I get these crazy ideas now and then, I have to mull them over for a while. I laughed and thought to myself-or did I say it out loud?-“Well, you know, I used to be a pretty good trombone player ….” Trombones are expensive! “Should we get you an instrument?” she asked me with a smile. When someone notices (or complains), I generally shrug apologetically and say, “I got the music in me!”īut when a CUW Pep Band flute player at the parent send-off event at the baseball stadium last August (I was on the field taking pictures in the line of duty) caught me whistling away between songs, I had a different response. Sometimes the notes come out without me even realizing it. "Should we get you an instrument?": How one simple question started me down a path to joining the CUW pep band-40 years after I last touched a trombone.
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