“We’re
up next,” I muttered under my breath as we watched the marching band in front
of us step onto the performance field. My heart was beating faster than it had
ever before.
“Getting nervous?”
Jon teased. Jon was one of my best friends and we had marched together in the
baritone section for the first three years of high school. But this year I was
one of the Drum Majors who led the band.
This is only one of our biggest competitions
of the season, I thought. But I restrained myself and simply said, “A
little, I guess.”
This was also one
of the most competitive High School Marching Band competitions in the area, but
this year there was an unexpected twist that increased the suspense for
everyone.
We
had just exited the indoor warm-up area where we had played through certain
sections of the music and stretched in preparation for our performance. Coming
out into the chilly night air gave me goose bumps and made the hair on the back
of my neck stand up.
My
eyes glanced apprehensively up at the sky. There had been no rain the whole
evening despite the huge dark clouds covering the already black night sky.
Every band that had performed so far had experienced no difficulties with the
weather. Still, we were scheduled to be the last band to perform and the clouds
only seemed to be getting darker. I could smell the rain in the distance; it
was only a matter of time…
As
the band in front us finished their show, the final notes seemed to shake the
entire stadium as they were accompanied by a monstrous thunder crash. This
perfectly timed boom of the thunder really added to the effectiveness of their
closer.
We
were next. As we marched onto the field I felt a trickle of water fall on my
face. I stepped onto my podium and looked out at the band.
They’re nervous, I thought to myself. I can see it in their eyes. Any second now
it will start pouring for sure. We need to boost their confidence now or else
our show will not go well. What should we do?
I looked over at the other Drum Majors,
who were spread out around the field on podiums as well, only to find they were
staring right back at me. We all realized that whether it was going to rain on
us or not was out of our hands, but we silently agreed that we definitely had
to do something to motivate the band. I could hear them thinking the same
question – What should we do?
In an absence of good ideas, and
after staring at each other for a whole minute, the four of us almost unconsciously
started to smile. I was practically unaware that I made the action at first,
but then it spread.
I made eye contact
with my little brother, David, who was a trumpet player. He was always easy to
spot because he was the tallest guy in his section. He must have noticed I was
smiling because then I saw him start to smile. Soon other members of the band
began to smile and I could feel the confidence growing. Another drop of water
hit my face.
The
beginning of our performance went incredibly well. Each musical phrase was
lining up wonderfully between sections of the band, and the marching was full of
energy and going exactly as we had rehearsed so many times before. Then things
started to get interesting when we finished the first movement.
It
started with a drizzle. It wasn’t really raining, but there was enough moisture
coming down to get my hands wet as I conducted the patterns: four-four,
two-four, three-four. And the drizzle didn’t last for long.
Throughout
the second and third movements of our show, the precipitation advanced quickly
through the stages of sprinkling, showering, and raining until it was
completely pouring on us. Huge droplets of water were coming down. The downpour
was so thick I could hardly see Kaden, the drum major on the other side of the
field.
It
took me a couple minutes into the downpour to realize that I was still smiling
amidst all of the rain, as were the other drum majors. I realized that one of
the reasons I was still smiling was because of the crowd. Behind us in the
stadium bleachers, the audience was going nuts. They had been giving us a
standing ovation since it started pouring.
Despite
my nervousness about the rain earlier, the band was performing the best show we
had had all season. They were so full of energy and confidence, and that was
reflected through their playing and marching. This spirit of perseverance they
were portraying was obviously very impressive, for the crowd was just getting
louder and louder.
Though
they were all exhausted, the band seemed to finish the show with even more
power and intensity than how they began. We exited the field with so much
confidence and boldness that I barely noticed how soaked I was.
Shouts
from the deafening audience were still audible as we exited the stadium. They
screamed phrases such as, “Great job Bowie Band!” or “Bowie’s number one!” Then
a certain exclamation caught my attention just before I exited the stadium:
“You made it rain!”
The
band was full of excitement and adrenaline because of what had just happened. Even
among all the excitement and noise, I spotted my brother quickly because his
head was a foot higher than the rest of the band. I ran over to him and asked,
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear
what?”
“Someone
in the audience just said we made it rain. You guys did awesome out there!”
My
brother laughed and said, “all thanks to you guys!”
This
caught me by surprise. What had we done
to help bring about such a great performance? They were the ones who marched and
played through all the rain. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“Your
smile,” he said. “When you and the other drum majors started to smile, that
gave us the confidence to keep going.”
I
hadn’t realized that such a small thing had given the band so much confidence.
We had caused a chain reaction that spread excitement throughout the band so
they could push through the harsh weather circumstances.
The
next week back at school, the entire band wore their first place medals and
t-shirts that said, “We made it rain.”
