Making it Rain

            “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.”