Our New Band Boy

 Last Friday Jack had instrument placement night where he got to go to the middle school and try certain instrument mouth pieces for the instruments that he was interested in doing for band this year. Don't worry, they cleaned each mouth piece after each student tried one and they had social distancing. It was also done outside. At the beginning of the summer Jack wanted to play the trumpet. Before school started he was thinking of percussion since we already have two percussion sets from Garrett doing percussion. Then he decided he would rather play the clarinet because he had been practicing on the recorder that we own, which looks like a clarinet only much smaller and simpler. Then he started thinking of the saxophone. By the time we went to instrument placement night he really wanted to play the saxophone. I'm so glad that they got to try these out first because by the end of the night he changed his mind again! 

He tried the trumpet and trombone pieces first because he was waiting in line anyway for the other instruments but he already knew he didn't want to do those ones because he had tried them when Garrett had both of those instruments two years ago. Next he was able to try the clarinet and saxophone. We had to bring our own reeds to be able to try those. At that point Jack was the only one who had brought one for the saxophone so he was the first student to try it. However, he found that the saxophone was more difficult than the clarinet so he changed his mind about the saxophone. And since the flute was sitting right there I told him to go ahead and try the flute just to see. He turned out to be one of the best who had tried it so far. The teachers were impressed by him on the flute and the clarinet. So then they asked him what his top two preferences were on all the instruments he had tried. Jack said clarinet was his first choice and then flute. They wrote it down. On the way home Jack was thinking about it and decided that he'd rather have flute as his number one choice and clarinet as his second. So I texted the band teacher to let him know.

This is either the saxophone or the clarinet mouthpiece. I think it's the saxophone but I can't remember. I only took one picture of him so he wouldn't feel self conscience since other people were watching also.

The band teacher never did respond to my text about switching instrument preferences but I think he might have gotten the message. We were told that the band teachers would send out an email on Monday (yesterday) on instrument assignments. Jack and I were anxiously waiting and continually checking our emails. I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready for the girls when all of a sudden I could hear Jack yelling from the office with excitement. "I got the flute!" I heard him say. He was so excited that he ran around telling everyone in the house! Now that we knew what instrument he is going to play this year he was very anxious to go get one. I originally thought I would just rent from Dorsey Music but I decided to look on craigslist and facebook marketplace to see if they might have anything good. I was fortunate to find a good deal on a used flute for $100. Before purchasing it I messaged Mr. Sene, the head band teacher, about if it was good and he said it was. 

So, after school was over Jack and I anxiously waited for the time to take Nikki to work and then headed to meet the lady who was selling it on craigslist. I had to stop by the bank on the way to get some cash but then we dropped by Curtis's work to pick him up to come with us to look at it. Since the lady lives in North Boise she was gracious enough to meet us halfway at the St. Luke's hospital parking lot in Meridian right off the freeway. We went ahead and purchased it after Jack got to try it out. Then took Curtis back to work. Jack is so excited to learn the flute. He practiced blowing it on the way home. Then we got some pictures.

Yes I know he was holding it wrong in the picture but afterwards he looked up a video that showed him the correct hand placement.

I am also super excited for him to play the flute! I hope he sticks with it and plays to adulthood. It's an instrument that he could play for a long time and even in church.