I seriously considered missing both of my weekend concerts. I live in the Washington D.C. area and the past few weeks we have been under the scope of a serial sniper. I have been more than on edge about it and since these concerts were scheduled to be performed outdoors I was thinking about hiding inside the house like most of the people in the area. I decided that I would not make a final decision until it was time to leave.

As the day grew closer I started to get more defiant. I did not want to let someone steal the joy that I get from playing music. More than that – during dark times I feel music is even MORE important. After getting a few encouraging words from friends and family members I decided to go.

To think I almost missed this concert! It was a benefit dinner in Southern Maryland under a tent with the Potomac River in full view. It was beautiful. Free food and open bar for the band was a definite plus as well. It gave me a chance to really get to know the members of the band and they are all great people. We were short two of our regular trumpet players (1st & 2nd chair) but we had two great players from another community band fill in. As a group I think we did great. Since the jazz band only practices once a month I had several songs in front of me that I had never seen before. I just did the best that I could. I fumbled through many of the faster pieces but made sure to play strong and match my section on some of the more important chords. I was so focused, the sniper never entered my head once.

Considering I have only been playing a year, we only rehearse once a month AND we don’t get to take the music home I’d give myself a C minus. I look forward to the day when I can rip along on each song and maybe even do some improvisation. Regardless – I am very glad that I came out for this one. Southern Maryland is beautiful. I would seriously consider moving down here