This past weekend I went home to visit my parents. They live about twenty miles away from Chicago in Northwest Indiana. Well it turns out that when I went home Friday night my old middle school was having their winter concert. I arrived to the gym around 7:00p.m., and sat down on a hard bleacher and then it began.
             Since the concert was held in the gymnasium the echoes were unbelievable. Every note played blended together into what eventually became a jumble of noise with different tones ringing out louder than the echoes. After going to the concerts here at Ball State, this was much different.
             Sure the band tried to play the basic Christmas melodies that everyone has heard too many times before but the parents seemed to love seeing their son or daughter playing in a band. There wasn't much tonality or tempo as the director tried to keep some control out of what is now an out of control band.
             Ok, I must give them some credit. I am sure most musicians were once at that point in their career. I know I was. I just feel that basic tuning and tempo are a must even if they are starting out. It is basic music theory and skill, both of which they are developing.
             Even though the band was out of key if there was one I don't know, I could not make it out of the jumble of noise coming from the gymnasium that night. The sixth grade band did reasonably well and the parents seemed pleased. Finally the jumble of noise quit as the conductor cut off the final beat. Unfortunately there was not a program given out because well it was only the sixth grade band. In all actuality the band for being beginners was actually quite well despite all of the problems mentioned.
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