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It's not about the music. It's not about the marching. That's not it. We're all searching
for the it.
If I could go back to when I was a freshman; to the very first day after marching
band rehearsal; I called my mom and cried and said I wanted to come home and that I
couldn't do it and it was too hard. I honestly thought that I could not do what we were doing
out on the field. Coming in as a rookie during spat camp, to be honest I felt afraid. I felt
nervous going in and meeting all these people who were four years older ... even five years
older than me, and they've been doing this for a while. I get kinda ... kinda ... you
know, kinda scared. I think that the hardest part coming here has definitely been the change
in classes. The classes have switched from being one on one with your teacher to a group
and the teacher just sort of lecturing at you. Now that I have sort of a study group
within the band, thats helped me get through those classes that they're just lecturing
at us. When I came in as a freshman, everyone kept saying "band is family, band is family"
and in High School I had been part of groups where they would say the same thing and I
kinda thought, you know, is that a little but redundant? How authentic is that? But
as soon as I got here, and just saw everyone motivated to succeed at this one thing and
to have 320 people here and over 100 majors represented by the way, to know that someone
else is in your same shoes. When you move into college, you're moving away from your
family, you're moving away from the people you've spent your whole life with and you
show up for band before anyone else gets to campus and you're instantly greeted by a team
of what seems like a couple hundred people. They open themselves up to being there for
right away. Being in the band has kind of cemented my desire to go here. I think one
of the great things is I've seen people develop as people over the last four years. In the
end you know that they're wonderful people and you know that they have so much to offer
you and you learn so much about how to take all the days and make them ... great. I mean,
the idea that band people are nerdy might be a little true, but thats also the best
part about it because generally when people go to band they aren't reserved with who they
are so they can say what they wish and be a little nerdy because they're excited. Pretty
good's not good enough. And it's a group of people who wants to go that extra mile, and
you see what that takes them to in their careers, where they always want to see what can be
better. It's fun to watch from my chair. Everyone's there for eachother, everyone's there to support
each other. I can't even describe it, everything about it just makes me happy and it's the
reason I get up at 4:30 in the morning with a smile on my face that gets me ready to go.
No one in the band was going to tell me that I was the nerdy girl who did band after school
instead of this or that other activity. They told me that I had so much potential, even
in spaces that I did not realize. People in band told me that I made their days better,
and that's something that I hadn't really heard before. You know, friends in band tell
you that you can do anything, and that's really encouraging to hear.
[Emotional, reminiscent music plays]
You could ask me every single year what my reason has been. It has changed
over and over and over again. My reason right now is to do everything I can to make the
words "thank you" mean enough. Because when you see people conduct "Hail Minnesota" for
the final time and they say "thank you!" is it enough?
ARE YOU GUYS HAVING FUN YET? *Cheering.*
I graduate in a year and by the time I leave, I know that I will have made a 180 in the person
that I was before I entered the University. I think in four years, I know that the Pride
is going to develop me as a human being and develop my personality and character, and
so far I can already tell that I'm growing as an individual. Being a part of something
that's larger than yourself like you are when you're a part of the band is something that
can't really be replaced. Band is over, it's spring semester, and I think we're all a little
lost. Just for a little bit, you know, not having practice for ten hours - fifteen hours
per week is really strange and we miss it when it's gone. It kind of fills in all those
empty spaces that we don't even know we had. And you're going to look back on it, we're
going to look back on it, and we just have to smile and say "Yes, I enjoyed every, every
moment I had in that band, and I can't even tell you enough about the people I met." I
can't thank them for everything they've given me, given to this group.
[Music fades out]
You know, I haven't graduated yet, but I know for a fact that this is going to be one of
the best decisions of my life. People in band will lift you up no matter how low you are.
I know at the end of the year I'm going to feel a huge amount of accomplishment because
I've worked so hard every day for the band, and playing the tuba is not as easy as I thought
it was, especially in the Pride. The people in the band will remember these times for
the rest of their lives, there's no question about that. And there are some things you
can't really express in words, some things are best left unsaid and you just revel in
the glory of it all. Where in that field back there, is where I saw people cry like they
had never cried before. I saw tears that I had never seen before, and they were coming
from myself. Yes, it might have been maybe 0 degrees outside and they were freezing on our
faces, but we all understood when we looked around. That's when I realized what this band
meant to people.
[Music fades out]