Concert #2
After work tonight I drove up to another of my former schools, this time up in Deerfield. (I don't feel too bad in naming at least the cities some of the schools are in, seeing as I'm not teaching any more.) I didn't get out of the mall until almost 5:30, but I still made it up there in about an hour. I had time to drive down the street and go to Walgreens. I walked into the school just after seven, and they were starting the concert on time--phew! I cut it as close as possible. The senior band was off to the side when I came in, and they all saw me and called my name and waved. Very cute! The junior band sounded like one of those bands you hear on TV or in a movie--out of tune, not completely together--but again, they're beginners. This was also a school where they had asbestos removal over the summer--the adjacent church was completely dismantled--so they started school late and consequently started band late. These kids have had their horns for less time than any other school. And to be doing the same things the other kids are doing is great. Good for them. The senior band sounded pretty good. When they played well, it was great. When they hit a song that wasn't as strong, it was cringe-inducing. And the drummers, well, yeah, they haven't changed much. One is very, very good, and last year I talked him into staying in band ('cause the band would have been up a creek without him, as another drummer was switching schools). The other one is in band because his grandma makes him, and it shows. I noticed some of the kids who quit, but most of them stayed, which is a good thing. There was even a new addition to the senior band--a boy flute! Whee! (There was even a boy beginner flute at Friday's school.) The concert itself didn't last very long, about 35 minutes. I hung around for a little bit and said hello to some of the kids. I wanted to talk to one of my summer lesson kids (the kind of whiny one) to see how she was coming along with her clarinet high notes, but she went out another door. Rats. I got in my car around 7:45 and hoped to make it home by 9:15. When I zipped down Lake-Cook Road in twenty minutes, I thought, maybe I can make it home by 9. My clock said 8:56 when I turned off my car. Cool. :) It was nice to see what some of these towns do for the holidays. Deerfield, at the corner of Deerfield and Waukegan Roads, has all of its parkway trees lit up (the school is just north of there); Buffalo Grove has a similar set-up by its police station on Lake-Cook (also just down the road from another school). All right, two concerts down, three more to go, and from here on out the schools get closer and closer to my house. Yay, no more driving 85 miles round-trip in under four hours.