One Time at Band Camp....

Remember the drama of Kylee's schedule having band on it? She cried, wanted out. Then maybe she'd stay. Nope, wanted out. Well, I don't want it to change my WHOLE schedule if I get out. I want out! Ugh, I don't know. That's how the story went...for ALMOST two weeks. It is now resolved. Here's how:

Monday night the band directors had a meeting. The kids had to go in and try three instruments. Then the band director in charge of that instrument rated them on a scale of one to five, five being the best. Then the kids put their choices in order. Here's how it went:

She tried percussion first. She tapped her foot up and down, clapped when her foot was down (except she clapped when her foot was up), "ran" with their hands as fast as they could on their legs, and did some patting of their legs in a rhythm given to them, like right right left right left left....or something like that. The band director said, "Some of this was kind of hard for you, wasn't it?" She rated her a three.

Then we went to the flute. How excited was I, knowing she would NAIL it, because, well, I played the flute. Wrong. It was really hard for her! She hardly got any sound out of it. That band director told her, "If you REALLY wanted to play the flute, and it is your first choice, you can do it. But it's going to be a LOT of work." Kylee screamed said very loudly and with MUCH emphasis, "It's NOT my first choice!" The band director rated her a three, and wrote, Struggled, on the comments.

Then we went to the trumpet. Kylee had told me she wanted to play the trumpet, but I guess I ignored her a little. That director said, "We'll try, but the trumpet is hard for a lot of people." She showed Kylee what to do. Kylee did it. A loud, clear sound came from that trumpet mouthpiece. Then the director said, "Let's try the french horn mouthpiece." Kylee got an even louder, clearer sound from that one. The director said, "You can totally do this." She rated her a five and wrote, Did great, in the comments. Kylee walked away with a smile the size of Texas.

I might mention that while we were standing in these lines to try these instruments, we were talking about changing her schedule. She was very wishy-washy and noncommittal about it.

When we left the trumpet line, she wrote her choices in order. 1) Trumpet 2) French Horn 3) Flute (after which she turned to me and said, Just for you, Mom.

When we left the school, she said, "If I get to play the trumpet, I want to stay in band!"

Yesterday I had to check her out of school early for an orthodontist appointment. I decided to stop by the counselors office just to see what it would do to her schedule if we got her out of band, because, well, how many girls ESPECIALLY girls as girly as MY girl, have you seen playing the trumpet?! Just as I sat down to visit with the counselor, said girly-girl came RUNNING into his office, waving a piece of paper. "DON'T DO ANYTHING!! I GOT THE TRUMPET! DON'T CHANGE MY SCHEDULE! I GOT THE TRUMPET! WOO HOO!"

Stunned. I sat there stunned. Seriously?! My dancing queen, lip-gloss wearing princess, pedicure getting primp WANTS to play the trumpet? Seriously?!! Yes, seriously.

Meet Taliyea, the trumpet, the new member of our family. Yes, she has a name. That's comforting. At least there's something girly about her.