Angels in the Architecture
So here is a typical run through of a high school day for yours truly. It starts in the wee morning hours, precisely around 5:20. I have to be at school at 6:45 for Jazz, so I rush through curling my freaking long blonde hair, make-up regimen (foundation, blush, eyeshadow, mascara), vitamin regimen (iron, vitamin C, vitamin D, Hair Skin and Nail viatamin and my beloved gummy vitamins with built in immunity support) and make my lunch (spinach salad with grilled chicken, clementine, cracker crisps and water).
I feel the need to look my best where ever I go ever since the day they wanted to take my picture for the local newspaper and I was in sweats and faded All-District Honor Choir t-shirt from a few years back. Needless to say, the reporter had to come back later. And all that healthy crap? Well mostly because I used to be a bit of a chunker back in my middle school years but also to appease the healthy lifestyle of one of my closest friends and fellow drum major: Stratton. He is a super health nut and exercise junky, thanks to his strong Mormon roots, and he used to make fun of my lunches. So I started calorie counting a bit, did some portion control and dropped twenty pounds as well as all the incriminating comments from Stratty. :)
Anyway, then my sister and I head out to Adam, my beloved 2007 Dodge Caliber. Adam is adorned with a Pride of ------ marching band license tag, UARK bumper sticker, purple mardi gras beads, a peace sign air freshener and a sweet sound system. We rock out to my massive Glee playlist, 107 songs and counting. And as for when we get to school...my schedule is atrocious. I have five music classes, but that's okay somehow, despite my school's strict elective policy. I guess I just got "luckily" over looked. Well, that, and it helps to go to church with your principal. Not that I go to church just so we have something in common. I'm a total believer, yo. I just try not to shove it in everyone else's face like everyone else does down here. Anyway, here's my senior schedule:
Zero Hour: Jazz Choir. It technically starts before actual classes start but this is the only class of this kind in the school. We are the top choir at our school, comprised of eighteen of the best singers. We perform informally and formally. We sing jazz and pop songs and lots of sweet acapella. Pretty much the New Directons of OHS, minus an adorable gay countertenor and pregnant cheerleaders.
First Hour: Master's Choir. Basically study hall for choir kids. I took it to avoid being in drama after I found out the only drama class I could be in would be one full of sophomores who I loathe. But it was such a good decison. We practice, learn random bits of theory, eat breakfast and do math homework. It's a pretty sweet blow off class with only eleven seniors in it.
Second Hour: Wind Ensemble. Undoubtly the most honorable and best group of musicians in the school or state. Internationally known and guess what poor sucker sits as first chair flute this year? Just kidding, it isn't that bad. I've actually been able to combine both of my talents this year in our big contest piece, "Angels in the Architecture" by Frank Ticheli. I have a massive soprano solo in the beginning and the end as well as a flute solo. Standing and singing to my heart's content in front of the band I adore and getting cheered on to do it is a freaking DREAM. Video of our performance will be up soon! We have a week until our concert. :)
Third Hour: Mixed Choir. My one hellish hour of choir. It used to be one of the best choirs in our program, but this year it ended up being the dumping ground for all the extra people who didn't make it into or couldn't be in the select Women's choir...well and the boys, of course. There are sixty screaming juniors and seniors, too much drama and not enough music. But enough of my jazz seniors in there make it bearable, as I had no other option with Wind Ensemble being second hour.
Fourth Hour: AP English IV. AP Lit with the infamous Ms. Arnold in her final 237th year of teaching. I thank the lord that we are the last class to have to suffer at her hands. She's just one of those teachers who is always irritable, lost when it comes to pop culture and severly limited when it comes to views that differ from her own. She constantly threatens to beat me and my band friends Dillon, Colton and Kerry. Nathanael, my moral compass/drum major/best guy friend makes an occasiocal "natural selection" joke on a good day. It is just too fun to see how far we can push her and to see what she'll actually believe. She believes that I am color-blind, I can play the jazz harmonica and that I was born into the mob since I'm from New Jersey. Maybe that's why she's holding off on beating me...
Fifth Hour: AP Music Theory. The most helpful, enjoyable and yet mind-blowingly difficult class EVER. A first year class taught by Mr. Gorham, we were the guinea pigs. We've learned so much so fast, it's scary. Our inside jokes are plentiful and our camaraderie vital to our survival. Mr. Gorham pushes us, but he is brilliant and understanding. He is our Wind Ensemble director as well as the head of the band department and a famous composer. Pretty much, he is the reason our school is on the map. And he is awkwardly hilarious, like he wore he shirt inside out all day because we couldn't bring ourselves to tell him. When we did, that day in theory, he was like, "Wow guys, thanks for telling me. I'm so not helping you out of the well later." He may be a man of few words, but they are brilliant when they are there.
Sixth Hour: Algebra III My lackadaisical math class. Boring. I listen to my ipod and catch up on sleep and English homework.
So yeah...that's pretty much it. A day in the life of a band/choir hybrid. It's crazy, but worth it at the end of the day. Later haters.