I rather miss being part of a team. I’m not athletically inclined, so with the exception of a couple summers spent playing softball in early elementary school, I was never interested in playing sports. Band, however, is just as much a team event as basketball, baseball, or football, and as I’ve written before, I desperately miss being in band.

In order to succeed in band, you have to listen to the other musicians around you (it’s the same for choir, but I was a band geek and not a choir geek, despite my affinity for singing). I miss having a goal to work toward. Well, that’s not true – I actually have plenty of goals that I’m currently working toward, but none of them involve honing my musical skills. But there’s nothing so thrilling as performing in front of people, which seven-year-old me would never have believed. Seven-year-old me hated performing in front of people with the fire of a thousand suns, but that’s probably because seven-year-old me was an unwilling participant in my church’s kids’ choir. I always felt like everyone was staring at me, and I hated that feeling.

The thing about band, though, is that while you’re still in front of people (especially if you’re a flute, because they’re usually in the front row), there’s sheet music for you to focus on. I wasn’t expected to look at the audience; I was expected to follow along with the music so that I didn’t miss my cue. And I was good with that.

Now the only audience I have is my kids. The younger two like listening to me play and they usually have nice things to say, which is nice given that I sound awful. But the only way to get to Carnegie Hall is to practice, and I have a long way to go before I’m good enough again to play there.

How about you – have you ever been part of a team? What sort?

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