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You won’t believe what happened! The other night after their weekly baritone lesson, Hazel said that they look forward to coming. Wow! From a kid who wanted to quit two months ago… But this story actually starts about a year ago…

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My husband and I decided it was time for Hazel to play an instrument again. They had played trombone in 4th grade during Covid. Then, they didn’t want to continue, and with school not in session and everyone in virtual classrooms, we didn’t push. 5th grade ended, and middle school began that fall…

My husband had played an instrument, but I never had.

I love music, and I loved hearing Hazel practice the trombone in our home all those years ago! Somehow my oldest child held that brass instrument, placed their mouth on the mouthpiece, blew, and worked the “slide” to and fro, and notes echoed throughout our small home! It was fabulous! We had a real, live musician. Then, it stopped.

Hazel’s middle school experience started out a little rough, adapting to 6th grade and all, but by the end of the year, things turned hopeful. 7th grade was okay, but I thought it might be a good idea for them to expand their peer group. Be a band geek, anyone?

So my husband and I told Hazel that they were going to play an instrument, but they could choose what they wanted at least.

Enter my dear old high school buddy Erin, who is now a middle school band teacher a few counties away! She suggested we find Hazel lessons over the summer so they could ‘catch up’ to their peers who’d been playing for years already.

In the meantime, Hazel picked the trumpet. Next, I reached out to their upcoming band teacher for ideas on how to get them lessons. The band teacher recommended someone who does lessons at the mall in our local music store, “Mr. Larry.”

Still summer, my husband bought Hazel a trumpet and they started going to their weekly one-on-one lessons. They didn’t like it.

Then school started, and it didn’t take long to find out that the band teacher yelled at the kids a lot! Which made an already tenuous situation unpleasant for Hazel. In early fall, I mentioned this situation to Mr. Larry, who asked who the band teacher was and a few other questions.

Still, we dragged Hazel to the lessons all fall, determined not to give in to their negativity.

Mr. Larry always gives us a recap after the lesson, describing which musical techniques they were working on that night, and always praising Hazel for something they did well. But you could tell, overall, they were discouraged. The trumpet was hard for them, and it was hard to watch Hazel struggle with it and hate doing it.

Then, in November, Mr. Larry, picking up on the ongoing tension between us bringing them, and them hating it, suggested Hazel switch to baritone.

“What?” I asked. I had heard the term baritone, before, of course. But what was a ‘baritone?’ A baritone… what? I wondered.

“Baritone,” he described “is in the brass family, like a tuba, but smaller and more forgiving than trumpet. Why don’t I bring one in? Or see if the school has one?” We agreed. Mr. Larry is always so excited about music and optimistic, I thought, ‘Why not?’ And by Thanksgiving, things began improving. Hazel didn’t hate going to the lessons!

We all got used to seeing them lug around the larger case for a baritone versus a trumpet. (Actually, they play the Euphonium, but for some reason, we all call it baritone) But you know what? They didn’t complain. Still, to this day, Hazel rarely asks us to open the door for them to come in and out of the house with their instrument several days a week. They lug it back and forth to the school bus, school, through the halls… wow!

We continued reinforcing a practice schedule at home of at least 15 minutes, twice a week.

We began to get emails from the band teacher in late October about the Christmas concert.

The topic came up at dinner. Hazel didn’t know being in the school band meant you performed in Christmas concerts!

Whoa! It never occurred to me to explain that to them. Everyone knew that, didn’t they? I guess not. I knew it because my brother and sisters were in the band, and growing up I had friends in the band, and having been a teacher my students were sometimes in the band… but if Hazel had never had any friends in school band, then… yeah. Oh.

They were worried.

I was worried that my child had switched instruments barely a month before the Christmas concert! But we didn’t hear any complaints from the teacher, and I did not focus on my fears.

We reassured Hazel that the performance would be okay.

One saving grace was there was some music in the Christmas program from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. And Hazel liked it. We’d always watched it when the kids were little.

They talked about practicing and how the band teacher was finally, at long last, praising them sometimes in early December and how they were sounding better all the time.

Another component of the Christmas concert was that the kids had to purchase or piece together a semi-formal outfit in black and white… or black skirt or pants for the ladies, and white dressy tops. No jeans, sweats, sneakers, etc. Dress shoes, too.

Hazel surprised me and picked out a beautiful long, nearly floor-length black skirt and a new white top. We got them nice new black flats and tights. The shoes were so exciting for me to buy for them! Well, the whole outfit was. This was maybe the second time we’d gone semi-formal shopping, ever, together. I loved it.

Soon, the concert was upon us, and wouldn’t you know it? Our son got sick. So I got to go, but my husband stayed home with Liam. I recorded almost the entire thing on my phone.

And it pretty much went off without a hitch! There they were, with the rest of the middle school band, center stage, mouth on their mouthpiece, playing “Frosty the Snowman” like nobody’s business. What a great way to end Hazel’s early band saga for 2023!!!

We are so proud.