September 24, 2009 
When I was growing up, the summer between fifth and sixth grade was when you got to choose what instrument you wanted to play in the band. My parents didn’t have money for piano lessons or any thing like that, so choosing to be in the band was a foregone conclusion for me. I remember distinctly that I wanted to play saxophone, but my mother was running late from work to get me to the band meeting, and by the time I got there, all I could choose was clarinet or flute. (So that the band wouldn’t be too brass or percussion heavy, there were limits on all the instruments except clarinets and flutes-you can never have too many clarinets or flutes).
So that is how I came to play the clarinet for the next seven years of my life. I acutally saw band all the way through to being a senior in High School, although I discovered I enjoyed Marching Band more than Orchestral. During my junior and senior year, I was the Drum Major, so now I wasn’t only a band geek, I was the Leader of the Band Geeks! I was good though, winning several 1st Place Drum Major Awards at Band Competitions.
I didn’t practice as much as I should have, so I was never 1st chair, but I always made All-County Band, although in the entire county, I was usually like 15th. I recently brought my clarinet home from my parents’ house and attempted to play a little. I don’t remember it taking some much wind power!-I was out of breath in less than a minute.
Got any other band geeks out there? I especially want to know about more unique instrumentalists, like accordian or pan flute players.
For your enjoyment, here are some clarinet jokes (if you didn’t play clarinet, you won’t get it
A: Only one, but he’ll go through a whole box of bulbs before he finds just the right one.
A: Someone who owns his own alto clarinet.
I was a fellow clarinet player! Concert and marching, did em both.
How do you get two piccolos in tune?
-Shoot one of them.
That’s hilarious! That’s way better than any of my jokes!