opportunities......

Too often, I think, it's just too easy to sit back and be selfish. I sure am guilty of that--the old "I don't wanna" comes into play, and most often it has nothing to do with anything but just being selfish/lazy. In the spirit of my last post, as best I can, I'm trying to take those opportunities a bit more actively. While I didn't do much in the way of helping decorate yesterday (never fear, my time doing the outside is drawing nigh.......) I did take the opportunity to do something I haven't done in years. I played at a high school football game. In the stands. Freezing my butt off. (actually, feet!)

The football team at my son's h.s. has now gone undefeated in the regular season two straight seasons. They got to this point, state quarter-finals, last year on this same weekend, and were beaten. Typically, in NC, as far as I can tell, by the time the playoffs are around, pretty much no one marches a show at halftime, but just sits in the stands and honks forth mightily. Last year, there was discussion regarding the issues of folks missing/out-of-town, etc. from the band at that game, so I knew there would likely be similar issues this year. I know his band director pretty well, so I called and asked if he needed me and then could I play. Good thing I did, as there was only one other tubist there--luckily for me a strong player who could easily teach me the tunes as we went along. (by this time in the year, sheet music was long gone....) So, I had a great time, playing very near my son (a mellophonist extraordinaire) in the somewhat reduced Ragsdale band. He seemed genuinely pleased I was there, and the other students didn't seem to mind having a really old guy in their midst. We played. Loud. And had a good time. The team lost to the same team as last year at this point, but we cheered them on as best we could.

I learned several things in this adventure:

• Despite the cold, it's good not to be selfish and sit at home......
• I still can be taught a tune by rote and pretty much get it in 30-ish seconds........
• I really do, in fact, need a wider diameter mouthpiece--I tried a "beater" when I showed up to the school (one of mine, thank you very much) and just couldn't make it work like it needed to....luckily I had one of my better ones in the car.
• I really don't like Yamaha convertible tubas (or probably any convertible, actually) They are awkward and just too easy to have issues with. I'm not convinced against the newer products being used by the corps, necessarily, but while I've been not a fan of the older convertible versions---give me a sousaphone any day of the week, please!

We should all be so lucky to be able to jump in with our kids' activities like that--I should've been doing more over the years (not just this type thing, mind you) and will try to keep my eyes open for more opportunities with all three of my children.