It was a sunny, summer, May day in Sitka, Alaska. The air was filled with excitement because as of that day, there was less than a month left in school, which meant I was moving up to 7th grade at the common age of 12. I was in Mr. Kernin's office, about to take our final test of the year for band. It was during period 4b, just after lunch in band. After waiting for my fellow percussionists to finish their major scales on the xylophone, It was finally my turn. "Okay. Tiff, you're up," Mr. Kernin said. I waited for him to finish writing things down on paper.
"Alrighty, then."
I inhaled a deep breath of air, then started hitting the black keys, that were aligned perfectly, with my wooden yarn mallets. i was slightly shaking as my nerves started to build up and demanded to be noticed. I, feeling afraid, was hoping that i wouldn't hit the wrong note, or make a horrific sound by hitting things other than the keys. There was a pause as the last note rang in my ears.
"Good job, Tiff." exclaimed Mr. Kernin. I let out a breath of relief, not realizing that i was holding one in.
"I have a question for the 3 of you," Mr. Kernin started. He looked at each of us, creating eye contact one after another, before taking a seat in his office chair. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and hands clasped together as he thought of what he was going to say.
"You all know what Jazz Band I is, right?" asked Mr.Kernin.
"Oh, yeah! I've always wanted to be in Jazz Band!" I excitedly responded. Cora and Romy nodded in unison as they furrowed their eyebrows together, confused. Mr. Kernin paused, giving us time to process his words.
"Well, we need some percussionists and I thought the three of you would be perfect for the spots. Cora can play the piano, right, Cora?" he glanced at Cora as he asked.
"Yes, I'd love to!" exclaimed Cora with a smile on her face.
Mr. Kernin chuckled at Cora's reaction and turned his attention to Romy.
"Romy, you can play the vibraphone, and Tiff," he paused and looked at me.
"Would you be willing to learn how to play the bass guitar? Mr. Schmidt, Anja's dad and a great trombone player, could give you lessons on it."
I stared at him for a few seconds, still in shock, then said, "Yes! I love guitars!"
"The bass guitar only has four strings, so it's not exactly a guitar," he added.
I just nodded, a smile creeping onto my face. It took everything for me not to start jumping up and down like a kangaroo in the Australian Outback.
"Practices start at 7:30 in the morning on Mondays and Tuesdays." he started to explain.
"Is it on the first day of school?" I asked.
"No, I'm going to announce when rehearsals start next school year." he answered.
"OK." Cora said.
"Who's playing the drums?" I asked Mr. Kernin.
"Avery Veron." I felt my face light up as he said that.
"I'm trying to get you three and Avery in 1st period band, so it'll be a girls crew!" he added. He tried to imitate a girl by flicking his wrist and looking to his left with a smile. We all laughed at his childish behavior for a moment, then the air was ringing with silence as I started to daydream about being a rock star, rocking the night away. Suddenly, something popped up in my head.
"Wait, Mr. K?" I started.
I waited until I got his attention.
"Yeah, what's up?" he asked.
"Does that mean I passed the test?" I asked enthusiastically.
He chuckled, then said, "You all passed the test!"
The three of us girls ran out the door, screaming our heads off as we startled some of our classmates.
I ran to the closest person around and screamed, "OMG! I'm going to play the bass in Jazz Band!"
Mr. Kernin popped up behind the door, silencing everyone with his presence.
He opened his mouth and screamed, "NEXT!"
It was the start of 7th grade and it was about a month into the school year. I had to sit in a practice room for about three weeks, practicing and learning the basics on the bass, before I could play with the whole group in Jazz Band I rehearsals. Playing bass was really fun, but it was a bit hard because I had to wake up earlier than usual on Mondays and Thursdays for rehearsal. That was one of the circumstances of being in the band. Members of the band were not allowed to quit until they performed at least once with the crew.
The new music was getting harder for me, and I started thinking about quitting after the winter concert. I informed Mr. Kernin on my thoughts about it, but he talked me out of it by lecturing me about giving up.
"Mr. K, I was thinking about stopping with the bass after winter break." I informed him.
"Why do you want to stop?" he questioned.
"The music is getting a bit hard and I'm getting really frustrated with myself on the bass." I explained.
"Well, If you stop playing the bass, that means you're just giving up. If you give up on something as simple as band, what would happen in the real world?"
His words got me thinking of my future, so I decided not to be a quitter and kept playing the bass.
Those conversations were months ago and I'm still here, jamming out with the drums and guitar in our middle school Jazz Band. What playing the bass taught me was that just because things start to get difficult, you can't just give up. It taught me to face the challenges in life and not just run away from them because in the real world, you can never avoid a challenge. The things that our teachers make us face are just making us physically and mentally stronger for the near future.
I got the picture from: http://www.hqslapbass.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/improve_bass_playing.jpg
I got the video from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xKJAoE5WOI
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