This will be about my first concert in band class. It was the night of December 13th, 2018. It was a clear night and dozens of cars were in the parking lot of our high school. Many people were rushing inside, from grades six through eight. The younger kids like myself were nervous, their hands clammy and their hearts racing, while the older kids were calm, for they had done this multiple times already. As the band kids walked into the high school band room and began talking to each other, their parents took their seats in the auditorium. Our band director wasn't their yet. I remember exactly how I felt even though this was all two years ago. My jaw was trembling and I was sweating. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one. Everyone else in my grade had the same reaction. But underneath all that trembling, I was truly excited. Then, our band director walked into the band room and almost all of my fear went away when I saw him. He was wearing a very noticeable and bright Christmas suit. The suit's design had different colored squares and each one had a different pattern in it; for instance, reindeer or Santas. It was then that I thought, “He's either gone insane or just doesn't care what the dozens of people in the audience think of him. But, either way, there's no way we can embarrass ourselves more than he did by wearing that suit.” I was wrong. It was finally time for us to perform, and we found our way to the auditorium. I was shaking so badly walking down that high school hallway that I thought I was going to throw up. Maybe have to get my parents and say something like, “You know what, maybe this class isn't for me.” For some reason though, when we walked on stage with our instruments just about to slip out of our sweaty hands, as soon as I saw the audience all my nerves magically vanished. It was like being in the eye of a hurricane where everything is suddenly calm. We took our seat, and our band director flashed us a grin before telling the audience a few corny band jokes. He told them about how far we had come, how we had gone from barely knowing which hole of our instruments to blow in to playing at a concert. While the audience was getting ready, we were eagerly flipping through our music. Our band director then faced us and stood at the podium. We clumsily fell into position and brought our instruments to our faces. His baton rose and he looked at each of us and nodded, making sure we were ready. Then, his baton seemingly cut through the thick and nerve-filled air and we started playing our first piece, Merrily We Roll Along. This was when I realized I was wrong about us embarrassing ourselves. Because the saxophones played before our director gave the downbeat, and in turn we all messily began playing at different times, causing our director to cut us off and give the audience a nervous smile. And I remember exactly what he said, because if you had to be restarted in front of maybe over a hundred people wouldn't you remember, too? “Looks like they're still nervous,” he said as the audience chuckled. We lightly chuckled, our hearts quickening once more. We started playing again, this time playing it correctly. Then we moved on to my favorite piece we've ever played in band; Good King Wenceslas, or as my band director called it: Good King Whatcha-mccall-it. We soon became comfortable, our fingers moving smoothly across the keys of our instruments. After we had finished playing our last piece, Jingle Bells, and the baton was lowered, my favorite part of any concert we perform happened. The silence. That silence that happens after you play that last note, where your heart stops, and the room filled with probably over a hundred people goes completely silent. And then, it was the moment where I realized how much I loved band. How I would and still will sacrifice just about anything for my fellow performers and our class. We had practiced together, told jokes to each other, made friends and rivals with one another, and we became a family. Band was and still is a class where very different people can join one another to make music. Jocks joined the popular girls and the nerds of our grade just to make music. It is truly wonderful. It was in that silence that I realized that I had found something I was truly passionate about and would dedicate myself to from that moment on. The audience then cheered, and I felt a smile and blush appear on my face. I looked at the other people in our class and noticed that they were smiling as well. I never wanted to leave. If our band director suddenly had said, “Hey, what if we just kept playing?” I would've played all night long. But, sadly, we had to leave eventually. I will always remember that night like it was yesterday. It was the best moment that's happened to me. It was when I first knew that I was going to be one of the biggest band geeks to go to our school.