Band Concerts and Sing-offs

Tonight is the big night for Andrew. We had his saxophone serviced last week and the technician said it's good to go. But, Andrew came home yesterday complaining that his saxophone "doesn't work". Now, I want to be supportive of his confidence in this new-found interest of his, but sometimes I have to wonder, could it be that you're just not blowing in the mouthpiece hard enough? I'm refusing to let myself ask that question though. He said he talked to Dr. L about it and Dr. L said that if it's still messed up at the concert, he can borrow his saxophone, "because I'm good, and Dr. L's good, so he doesn't mind if I use it," Andrew explained. I love that he has confidence about his music.
He did something really funny yesterday. He said, "Mom, this kid at school, Joseph, is always bragging and we are all SICK of it. So, I told him that I am sick of his bragging and I challenged him to a 'sing-off'." I bit my lower lip to keep the corners of my mouth down. "I told Joseph that we are gonna sing three songs each and the teacher can pick who's the best. I said, 'If I win, you have to quit bragging, and if you win, you can keep bragging'." I asked Andrew which three songs he chose. Very proudly, he responded: "GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDER, ABC-123, AND JINGLE BELL ROCK." I couldn't believe I was hearing this. So, I asked him, "Who won?" He replied, "I did!"
That entire conversation made me smile. He is so darn funny and cute!

The Band Concert

Andrew's band concert did not end up the way we expected. In fact, my sweet little 9-year-old referred to it as "the worst day of his life." And, it probably was. He looked so cute in his navy corduroy pants, button down shirt and Christmas sweater. His hair was curled "just right" and he even spritzed on his Benetton cologne. He looked adorable. But the smile and excitement of Andrew's first band concert was to be short-lived.

He was nervous walking into a new school where he didn't know anyone. His band teacher, Dr. L, had asked him to play along with another school. In fact, he was listed as a special guest on the program and Dr. L even had him stand up before the performance and introduced him to the audience, all to Andrew's surprise. But as the other students were warming up, Andrew sat there, nervous, with his saxophone in his lap, staring out into the audience; I knew his nerves were working overtime. He didn't warm up one bit.

I noticed Andrew fiddling with his sax and a few minutes later, he called me over. "A pin came out of my sax; it's messed up." I looked at it and sure enough, there was a pin coming out, keeping one note from coming out all the way, and another note from going in. We tried and tried to fix it, but we couldn't get it back in. "You're just going to have to make it work," I told him.

But, during the first song, Andrew realized he couldn't make it work. His sax was squeaking and he couldn't get on top of any notes. His face dropped. For the next 20 minutes, he had his sax in his lap, not even pretending to play along, and tried and tried to get the pin in. Poor kid. He didn't play even one song.

I began to get frustrated with him, thinking, Why doesn't he just pretend to play?! But, Bob gently reminded me that he was only 9 and had no idea what to do. After the performance, he began putting his sax away and glanced at me dejectedly. As we walked to the car after the show, he cried. Sobbed, actually. It was "the worst day of his life." I felt so sorry for him. He thought he had let Dr. L down. He was afraid it was going to happen at his upcoming concert on Thursday. He thought everyone noticed.

It was a parenting moment. And I don't think I'm always good at those "parenting moments". But this time, I had to be. I told him my sob story of falling up the stage during my piano recital when I was a kid. Bob told him how he was announced as "Roberta" in front of all the students and families when he was 9 and how everyone laughed at him as he walked up to the stage.

I don't often think that I have made Andrew's pain any easier. But this time, I know I did. Andrew came through it; we came through it together. And thank God I have Bob to go through this kind of stuff with. My heart ached because Andrew's ached. And my heart healed as his did. And the next morning, Andrew said, "I'll do better at my next concert; I know I will." Wow. What an amazing kid. I'm so lucky.

The saxophone's cool, but please put down that clarinet!

Andrew's band teacher asked him to sit in at another elementary school tonight and play his saxophone. He's stoked...and so am I! He has only been playing since September but he seems to really enjoy it. And, on the plus side, he's not too bad! I tried to sway him into playing the drums or guitar, but no. He wanted to play the saxophone. I'm happy about it, of course; but I adamantly put my foot down when he came home saying he wanted to play the clarinet. Absolutely NOT, I said. There are a million worse things in life than him playing the clarinet, but I knew that he would not continue his clarinet playing in high school. So, if the saxophone is good enough for Lisa Simpson and Bill Clinton, my little Andrew can surely do it! Plus, I think he really likes the fact that I know NOTHING about the saxophone, so I can't be "bossing him around" on how to play it. :)

Tonight's his big show. It's actually more of a practice rehearsal for him because his own school band performs next week. Bob's going to meet us there at 6 and then we'll take the little star out for dinner. I'll post some pictures from the event!