The sweet sound of music

We hit a major milestone this week: Caroline's first school band concert! Band has been one of the interesting challenges with this move. In Arkansas, school band doesn't begin until 7th grade, so Caroline has only been playing the cornet since August of last year. In Wisconsin, though, the kids begin band as early as 5th grade, so she found herself a couple of years behind the first day she showed up to band class.

In a quirk of scheduling, the only band class that fit her schedule was the 8th grade band, so her gap to the other kids was now expanded by an additional year compared to her classmates. She spent her first couple of months practicing solo in a room in the band hall during class, which I know was frustrating but necessary for her to try and catch up with the other kids. Thankfully, her band teacher, Mrs. Bauer, has been wonderful about working with her, and by virtue of not having much choice, she has progressed very quickly.

By December, Caroline was integrated into the trumpet section, practicing along with the band during class. Come January, she was ready to be a part of the winter concert!

She played along with the 8th graders as that's the music she'd been learning all semester, entering as the last group to play that evening. The 7th grade band had been very good, following the extracurricular group the "Jazzers" who were very impressive, too! By a quirk of timing, we had fast forwarded past the first year of concerts and beginner band to the more experienced sounds of kids' band music.

What I appreciated almost immediately when the band began to play is that as a parent, you don't hear the music and judge against impossibly high standards. Instead, you see your child and her classmates learning and growing through music, with feet enthusiastically tapping in unison and earnest faces turned toward the band director to stay on beat and in rhythm with the group.

I was so proud of Caroline! I know she has practiced and worked hard to be able to be a part of the group, and it was wonderful to see her perform. All of the changes from the move have been hard in one way or another, but the concert was one more step to becoming more comfortable in our new home and hopefully, in Caroline finding her new "thing" to help make friends. That's sweet music, indeed.