picking up the pieces

picking up the pieces

This morning I stopped in at Chi-Hi. Andrei asked Ben to come in and talk with the percussionists about technique and things like that, and Ben invited me to come along. It was the first time I'd been there since the visitation, which almost doesn't count because I was on heavy painkillers, and I didn't spend much time in the band room. I just about lost it when we came in the building and I saw a bunch of banners with well-wishes from other high school bands. I suddenly wanted to turn around and go home and not have to deal with it. But I held it in well, and the feeling passed, and I went into the band room. It's all decorated for the holidays, complete with a huge, garland-wrapped inflatable moose hanging from the ceiling. I'm not really sure where the moose came from, but it's pretty funny.

I'd heard the office had been completely re-done, so I wasn't too surprised when I saw it. It's cozy - dark red paint on one of the walls and a synthetic wood floor. It was really hard to see it all changed, though. If you've never been in Chi-Hi's band room, the office and band room face eachother and are separated by large windows. As a student I remember G keeping an eye on us through his window, and as a staff member I spent a considerable amount of time in there. The room I remember is completely gone, changed. It was sad to not see a single thing of G's in there. I know that was done at Brian's request, but I hope that once he comes back to teach, he'll decide to bring back one or two of G's things into the office. Or maybe he won't; it depends on what he's comfortable with. Andrei told me that most of G's stuff from the office was given to his family. The rest was put in a box and stowed in the uniform storage room. I don't blame them for hiding it away like that, since I couldn't even bring myself to go look at what was left.

One of the reasons I came with Ben today was to talk to the percussionists about getting all the percussion equipment consolidated and organized. The percussion stuff is in about four different areas of the band room and there's more in the school basement. Nobody ever knows where anything is, and when Ryan and I come in the summer and start setting things up for marching band, we waste so much time looking for cymbals or random instruments. It's nobody's fault, it's just that there are so many people using this equipment and nobody ever knows how or where to put it away when they're done. I asked the students to come up with a system of organization so that everything has a "home". I also asked them to go through the basement and look for cymbals or anything else that could be used in the band room. I don't think there's really anything important in the basement though - it's mostly old battery percussion and drum cases. I put two percussionists in charge of the whole organization process because they have a study hall that they spend in the band room, and Andrei told me they could use a project.

I called Brian last night to make sure it was okay with him that I was asking the students to do that. He thought it was a great idea, and told me that eventually he and I and the other staffers should go down in the basement and decide what old drums and cases we can get rid of. I'm hoping we can put some of it on ebay - the drums are old and worn out, but there are vintage drum collectors out there who may be interested. It's going to be hard to make decisions on some of that stuff. I really don't know why G kept all the drums. He was probably the only one who knew what all is down there. But now I guess if Brian has no plans to use some of that stuff, there's no use holding on to it.

I'm gaining more and more appreciation for the amount of work G did for the school's music department. He had it running like a well-oiled machine. The problem (as I'm sure Andrei knows well) is that he wasn't the best at writing things down. G taught his AP music theory class for years, and had only recently started writing down his teaching methods. Important phone numbers and addresses were on notes stuck in random places around his desk. Shortly after the accident, a new xylophone showed up - G and Brian had agreed upon ordering one but Brian had no idea when it was going to come. I don't know what supplier G ordered sticks, mallets, and drum heads from at the beginning of every season or what exactly he ordered, so hopefully Todd has some idea about that one. We were so fortunate to have a percussionist as our band director, because he knew everything about the equipment. I just about cried today when the kids told me the old set of chimes were broken, because they said they were beyond repair, but I know G would have found a way to fix them. It's weird to be looked up to by Brian as someone who knows percussion equipment (the rest of the percussion staff will probably feel the same way soon). I used to ask G all that stuff, but other than Todd, now there's nobody to look up to. G used to have me replace the strings on the mallet instruments (the strings go through the keys), but I always had to ask him to tie the ends. I could never get it, and he used to tease me for it. I guess I'll have to figure out how to do it now.

These last few days have been rough, and it doesn't help that I have a music history final tomorrow. I haven't studied enough. We'll see how it goes. And because I need more to worry about, one of my cats has an icky sore on his paw and has to go to the vet. Good thing my awesome roommate is going to take him to the vet for me.

Sorry for the downer post. Things aren't all bad - I have a couple exciting weeks ahead of me, I just have to get this stupid final out of the way and then I'll be a lot happier. And it was really nice to get out of the house and see my Chi-Hi kids today. Good luck if you're as unfortunate as me and are still taking finals!