Motivated Fools

This band camp, I've learned that to be a drum major is do to basically nothing. I am the band bitch, I get stands and find people (1) and make harrassing calls and gather music, not that I mind it. So today, while I had about an hour to sit on the podium and watch everyone else work hard, I started to wonder... why are we here, and why are we doing this?

I think everyone joins band, or any school activity, for the "wrong reasons"(2). What I mean is, no one joins marching band because they desparately want to be the cleanest, most entertaining band. No one starts to play soccer soley because they have a strong desire to get that ball into the goal. Nobody decides to try musical for the love of the theatre, which they haven't yet experienced. They join almost always for social reasons, whether it's peer pressure (3) or the need for a group of friends.

But what's the point? When I played 8th grade modified soccer, I found myself wondering this often. Suddenly a sport I had played for nine years seemed like the biggest waste of time. I thought, alright, if I get that ball in the goal... What do I get? Well, we could win... and then what? We win. We get to tell people we won one game. That's it. That's where it ends. We get to brag about being somewhat good soccer players... and then what? Where does that get us in life? Truth is, I think pretty much all of these sports and activities we do are, from the most critical perspective, pointless. Almost nothing you do in high school will make a difference later in life. The goals in soccer you scored, the touchdowns, the baskets, no one will care in a few years.

Before you freak out on me and start rambling about the memories you made in high school, let me finish. I think that only with the right mindset, and the right motivation, these activities can truly be worthwhile. You have to be in the zone. You have to be almost blinded to the true nature of the activity you are taking part in. If you convince yourself for a short time that making that one touchdown or homerun is the single most important thing in life, well that's when the magic happens. That's when these activities teach you discpline, self respect, teamwork, reverence towards others, responsibility, confidence, and all those other wonderful things. You have to totally fool yourself. I think that is really how you get motivated.

So tomorrow I will go back to band camp and I will sit on my podium for hours, watching kids sweating buckets and exhausting themselves to learn how to walk around on a field and play a ballad from a musical no one has ever really seen (4). I will watch them put all their effort into taking steps at the same time as everyone around them. I'll see them practice a three-step turn (5) until they can do it in their sleep. And even though anyone else would say it's all ridiculous and a waste of time, I'll yell at them to run back to their sets as fast as they can, as if it is the single most important thing in life. When they (6) ask why, why are we doing this? I will lie to them as best I can, I will blind them to the true pointless nature of this entire activity, and hopefully I will motivate them into doing something worthwhile.


1. I walked around the school for thirty minutes yesterday looking for flute after flute after flute. When I finally reunited all of them, they refused to play their music.

2. If I remember correctly, a rather large group of Jr. High girls once joined colorguard only because Riley Carhart was in marching band.

3. This is usually done by me, usually in the form of stalking.

4. Make Our Garden Grow was listened to six times in the process of writing this.

5. Which I believe was actually taken out of the show today...

6. This will most likely be Brogan O'Halloran.