MUSIC MOMS
We have heard a great deal about “Soccer Moms” in recent years. What about “Music Moms,”, or to be more specific - “Band Moms?”
There are more bands in Middle Schools and High School, I'd say, than soccer teams and a Band Mom is on duty both day and night. The band has strong ties to each of the major sports and does not have a respite interlude in which devotees may rest and recuperate from a football season, a baseball season, track, gymnastics or or whatever.
Only a few of our exalted Halls of Edification take soccer seriously to the extent of fielding and supporting teams, but just about all of them have a band or orchestra of some sort. It is usually an add-on, too, not fully supported by the school authorities and left more or less to members and parents of those who play an instrument. It is not unusual for parents of band members to perform a taxi-bus-van routine with the family vehicle to transport the band and their instruments to scheduled football games. Often it is up to moms to provide the means of getting there and home. Band Moms and ,sometimes, Band Dads urge their musically oriented offspring to develop their talent and they also function as purchasing agents for all sorts of related items: buying reeds and double reeds for woodwind players, buying strings for stringers, slide oil for trombone players; mutes for trumpets; a set of new brushes for the drummer and fancy, electronic tuners for whatever instrument their talented tooter, tweaker, toucher or thwacker may play - or hold.
A great deal of parental care and concern goes into this phase of teen-growing. Their work is not always appreciated.
Parents, while cleaning up the attic many years later will come across an odd shaped case. They will open it and both mother and daughter will open it and laugh. Mom will say: “Well, would you look at this! Here's that long, black, wooden thing you used to blow on an make sqeak so much!”
The daughter will take the old clarinet in hand, jiggle the keys a bit, and somewhat wistfully comment : “It might have worked out better if I had gone out for football instead.”
A.L..M December 9, 2003 [c389wds]
