Tonight marked the first home football game of the 2011 season for the Springport Spartans and therefore the first general public performance of the marching band. In a lot of ways, I thought that the performance mirrored the football game. Both started off a little worrisome and shaky but finished strong. The first performance is always a learning experience and the more that I teach, the more I realize that you can't prepare a rookie for a performance atmosphere. It is an experience that must be had to be learned from. The adrenaline, butterflies, and anticipation are learning experiences unto themselves. 

I know that many students came away from tonight saying "uh-oh", but I also know that many students came away smiling, knowing that the goal is simply improvement, and I have seen strong improvement in the past weeks. If you would like another reason to not be worried, let's take a look at the past few years and the first performance as opposed to the first performance IN UNIFORM (always the second performance). There is something about that uniform that elevates us, makes us more focused, drives us to march taller, play more aggressively, and take more pride in everything we do. I anxiously anticipate September 16th for those reasons (and the fact that we will have more of the show to display). Stay tuned. It's going to be a great fall!

Oh, and way to go Spartan footballers!! You can't win 'em all if you don't win the first one.