W hen I was in 6th grade I joined the school band. I thought it was a good opportunity to impress people. I never really felt like I was able to impress people before. Since I couldn’t really read music that well, I signed up to be a drummer.

How the heck did I even stay in the band in 6th and 7th grade, though? The music definitely could have been better, but we were in middle school and all the music came from a single book. But maybe it was the fact that I was practicing something that I could impress people with. Maybe it was just the sense of accomplishment from playing a song amazingly. Maybe that’s why I stayed. Then came 8th grade, and I moved schools. An opportunity to be in that school’s band was lost, and my skills kind of got rusty. It’s not that the school didn’t have a band, I just didn’t sign up in time. It definitely felt kind of emptying. I didn’t have anything I could impress people with, so I felt almost useless. But then high school came along, and I signed up for band again. I wasn’t really afraid, because I had been in a band before. But holy heck, it was way more different than I thought. First things first, the music was more refined. There were many more instruments than in my middle school band. And there was both a marching band and a concert band.

I can’t say I was close to a lot of people during marching band season my freshman year. I often felt alone. Although, the drumline captain at the time was pretty friendly and laid back, and I got kind of close to him as a result. He was like a teacher to me those first few days and helped me get better at playing. I also realized I had a few friends from middle school in the band, which caught me by surprise, especially since it had been a while since I saw them back in middle school.

Around the end of marching season, I was added to the band’s Facebook page. That was when I began to get a glimpse of how everyone was with each other. Everyone was pretty casual, we were all just friends. But I didn’t feel close enough. Not yet.

We were working on the Christmas music for an upcoming winter concert and preparing for Lowell’s City of Lights parade. Everything, the mood, everyone’s attitudes, all felt different. We were all a bit more jovial. This was a surprise for me, since I never had gotten close to people in the band until then. This led me to get a bit closer to the rest of the percussionists, too.

Before we knew it, the 2017 marching band season came along. That was a year we went to a lot of competitions. I couldn’t keep track of them all. I do know that after one of those competitions, I had the bravery to come out to the band about a part of my identity. And you know what? Everyone accept- ed me! That was when I saw just how much of a tightly knit family the band was, and how much I could really trust them. We all had different interests, played different instruments, but we all loved being in the band, and being with each other.

The next year, 2018, was even more memorable. We didn’t go to as many competitions, but it was hanging out after our performances, the bus rides, and everything else that made it better. Concert band came and went too, and we shared more memories.

I never really thought I’d get that close to people. The Lowell High School Band changed that for the better. They’re people who I really can consider family.

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