I was late to school Friday because I had to take my mom into work so I could have the car that afternoon. I parked in my usual spot in one of the lower lots (my school is located on a hill) and headed up to the main building. Just as was about to ascend the stairs into school, something caught my eye. It was a promotional van from one of our local radio stations. Shaking my initial beliefs from my head, I scurried up the stairs and into class...though a sudden burst of excited adrenaline was coursing through my body. There was only one reason why the
I got into class, received appropriated mockery from my teacher (since I'm often late) and sat down to finish some English homework. Fifteen minutes pass, and an announcement comes on, five minutes before the bell rings. Since teachers don't like it when class is interrupted (even homeroom), school-wide announcements are only made in dire situations. It was dire indeed.
The announcement was serving as a message to send all of the band kids to check into their first block class, and then head straight for the band room.
There are two other kids in band in my homeroom. When the announcement finished, we looked at each other rather coyly, but didn't say anything. I go out into the hallway, finding it almost cluttered with flustered band kids, rushing to check in with their teachers. It seemed they all knew what was going to happen as well.
The band room was packed, as always, but with more than just the band this time. A few parents were there, along with a few members of the faculty. As well as a full crew from the radio station whose van I saw conspicuously sitting in the parking lot. We were given no further instructions other than to get out our instruments and get into a concert arc.
The excitement level rose once the radio broadcast started. Against one of the walls in the front of the band room was a long, thin, rectangular piece of cardboard, facing away from the band. A check. One of those over-sized ones from organizations and whatnot when they make big donations. Or when they give out big prizes.
See, we entered into this contest through out local classic rock radio station. Each high school band who entered submitted a recording of the the band performing a classic rock song, as well as a video that went along with the song. Voting was based on which school received the most votes (via text message), and the top ten schools advanced on to be judged by a panel. This was our fifth year participating in the contest. The farthest we've ever gotten in the competition was third place, earning us (from what I remember) about $2500 from the station manager. I'm not saying winning $2500 is bad (it's $2500 more than we would've had) but still...the product we put out that year, we thought, deserved more than that. But we couldn't do anything about the judging (which, most often, turned out to be rigged or heavily biased).
Initially, we weren't going to do the contest, considering our history of getting, essentially, screwed over by the judges. But a general consensus by the band decided that we had nothing to lose by doing the contest...and so we did. And, having done this the past three years, I believe this was our best recording of any song that we sent in.
What swayed us was how the entries were to be judged this year. Most times, the schools would win based on their videos, the visual, which we never put much effort into. We're all about the music. So, sometimes, the school with the really cool video and the really crappy sound would win (and there were a few of those). This year, thankfully, the entries were sent to two judges--one strictly for the audio, and one strictly for the video.
But, same as past years, you could only advance to the judging round if your school made the top ten. Which turned out to be our struggling point, the point when we honestly didn't think we were going to win. The voting went on for two weeks, and by the end of the first week, we weren't even close to being in the top ten of almost thirty other local bands. We made one final push, asking for the support of our school and community and, miraculously, we made the top ten.
Things got quiet after that. Even though we made top ten, there was still a lot of doubt of winning the grand prize of $10,000 (2nd got $5000, 3rd, $3000, 4th-7th got pizza parties from one of the contest sponsors). However, we figured that, regardless if we won the contests, we still got to partake in a lot of other, much more special things than any of the other bands got to. Such as go to Hawaii...
Like I said, we didn't really talk about it for a few weeks, aside from announcing the date when the winner was supposed to be announced some time the week of the 12th. Apparently the station would do a live broadcast from the winning school...We went to Hawaii, we had an amazing trip (entry still coming...I've just now gotten over my jet lag and being sick, so I can think properly), and the contest didn't really matter to us anymore.
Until I walked into the band room Friday morning, seeing all the radio equipment and the hosts, only to be floored by the unveiling of a check for $10,000 addressed to my band.
My God, we won.
We cheered and celebrated and took pictures of (and with) the check. Big, goofy smiles were plastered on all out faces for the rest of the day. We finally did it.
It wasn't about the money this year. Not really (though it is nice to say that we have an extra ten grand to add to our dwindling band budget). This year, I think, was about finally saying that we won, that we've established ourselves as a notable program over the past five years (in the least).
Later that day, I was thinking about the past five years of the contest, and how we've placed in each one of them, which songs we submitted. I could recall the past four years, but, for some reason, I couldn't remember what song the band did for that first year, five years ago...
Then it hit me.
The first year of the contest, our band entered, and didn't make the top ten, but the contest officials liked our song so much that they chose to include our recording on a compilation CD of the top ten bands. It was shortly after the contest concluded that my band director decided to audition for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. The seniors of my sophomore year were sophomores themselves, getting to march the parade their senior year...and it seems the seniors this year (my class) is finally finishing the job assigned five years ago.
Again, this year wasn't about winning 10k, but about showing how much hard work truly pays off, no matter how long it takes...and doing it for not only those who came before us, but also for those who are sure to come in the years ahead.
Days 'til Christmas: 6
No comments:
Post a Comment