Previous Key played – E flat Major…… They told me they’d contact their section’s musicians and tell them about the practice time. Old Sid had assured me while I was thanking both him and the Principal that he’d have an announcement ready to be made at all the registration classes tomorrow morning for those not able to be contacted.

Glossary for F Major: WTO - William Tell Overture. EOI - Expression of Interest.

A Different Key – F Major

Afterschool practice the following day highlighted it wasn’t practical to hold them at the park we had chosen because of the lack of amenities to allow electrical instruments to be played there. Certainly the rest of ensemble was able to improve its playing and yes, our 24 member choir were able to practice their harmonizing there, but without the electric instruments, important places in the music weren’t able to be worked on properly.

A few people living in the houses on the other side of the road next to the oval/park had heard the instruments being played and came out of their houses for a sticky beak. By 4.30pm there must have been about 60 to 70 people (mostly elderly or perhaps unemployed) who were sitting down over the far side of the oval/park benches listening to the ensemble, giving slight applause when a piece was played all the way through. It would have been nice if it might have possible to show them how good the full ensemble sounded but we didn’t have electricity. Still, when we played through the 6 songs at 5pm as a final rehearsal and on playing the WTO heard it earn a loud round of cheering and we had all of them standing up during the national anthem and could quite plainly hear their muted words to the Star Spangled Banner.

I’d already asked dad at breakfast if he could arrange to pick me up at 5.30 and he’d parked his car and was waiting outside it listening to the ensemble practice. On the drive home he said we all sounded pretty good for an amateur school band and I explained to him that we would’ve sounded a lot better if we’d been able use the electrical instruments we used at school. Dad turned to me momentarily and grinned as he informed me that he saw one of the park/oval’s lighting columns had a power connection at the base we could use before laughing at the expression on my face after being told about that!

He also mentioned how I had a bit of interesting news to look forward to reading when we got home. This seemed quite trivial to me at the moment since I was already on my mobile and phoning up the guitar and keyboard players and telling them about the power access. Dad listening in told me after I disconnected from my last call, (which was to Penny about the park practice tomorrow) he had a half day in the studio tomorrow and would arrange to bring down all the necessary cabling and even a couple of old microphones and amplifiers as well as an out of date portable sound mixing console.

It wasn’t until after we’d eaten tea and I’d cleaned away the plates that dad handed me a letter from Crazy Music Records (CMR). The letter showed my EOI songs sales record to date as of Friday week ago. The two recordings dad had given them had combined together now sold/downloaded over 50,000 copies with my first EOI recording “It’s always too late” having now sold over 35,000 across two southern states (Louisiana and Mississippi) and was becoming a regular request on MTV as well as local television stations in the far south. The letter stated that CMR would now be targeting the rest of the southern states and was projecting potential sales well in excess of 200,000 for the song and if all went well, then they’d release it nationally.

My second EOI recording “Don’t Stand to Close” was now being revised promotionally and would be rereleased both within our state and of course along all of the southern states, certainly first of all in Louisiana and Mississippi with much greater backing from CMR because they’d only been looking at the market in my own state and only released it because of my local popularity there. The song was very different from “It’s Always to Late” but both dad and I had always been of the opinion it had been a far better commercially viable song then “Don’t Stand to Close”.

When I finally looked up from reading the letter and absorbing all of its statistics, there was mom looking at me with a huge happy smile. So was dad before he interrupted my thoughts and told me that we’d better start looking at a third song to record and offer to CMR quickly, so as to improve my chances of a better recording contract offer when they finally woke up to themselves. He then informed me that as my agent CMR had deposited into his bank account a royalty payment which after deducting his “own” agent’s commission would leave me more than enough money to be able to purchase a small car, if I wanted one……My own car, too right I did which the look on my face again had both him and mom laughing loudly.

School the next morning comprised of unannounced quiz tests in all of my morning classes (the results of which would be part of my final assessment grading) which was fine by me. I’d never had too much trouble soaking up knowledge in class and along with my studying usually saw me getting at least an A in all of them with an A+ in my favorite mathematics class. Gym after lunch was now at least sufferable. I was left alone by the Queen Bee and her friends who no longer seemed to care what I wore under my clothes as school fashions change in a second. Mr. Dean’s Music class today concentrated on explaining the reasons for using of “Harmonic and Melodic Minor” scales as opposed to using “Natural Minor” scales! His enthusiasm for the subject left everyone else in the room confusingly bemused however!

Band saw everyone concentrating on practicing another two songs. At the rate the class was progressing, it’d be impossible to learn all fourteen songs before Friday week, which with today only allowed us nine more days to learn to play them competently including the weekend, which was exactly what the section leaders had asked me to tell Old Sid would be needed to be done. As long as we didn’t run too late on Saturday for Steven and I to shower and change, to allow him to pick me up to go out again this time to the town’s only acceptable restaurant for a date/dinner.

That afternoon after school I learned that dad had already arrived at the park/oval and set up all of the cabling and lead boards that only required everyone plugging in their own amplifiers. The singers now had 5 microphones between them to share, while dad had also bought along his studio’s miniature electric drum kit for me to use, which I’d completely forgotten about. Needless to say Wednesday’s park practice was 100 times better than yesterdays and yesterday’s “crowd” seemed to be slightly bigger too.

While Old Sid had made me Co-director of the ensemble I designated Anne (who was the ensemble’s 1st chair) to control the practice in regards as to the order in which each piece of music was to be played. Dad had at my insistence (pleading) listened closely to give me (and therefore Anne) helpful tips as to how to improve our playing. Even Jerry Potts had to agree with some of dad’s suggestions.

By the time Saturday rolled round the ensemble had mastered (if not yet perfected) 10 songs plus the WTO and the National Anthem. So Saturday’s practice, this time overseen by Old Sid saw us perfecting the 10 and attempting the last 4 songs of the possible program. This time though, instead of using the school’s playing arena, (because they were only part way done getting it rewired) we used the Music room instead, while advising everyone that Sunday’s practice was no longer going to take place. Steven and I didn’t get to go to dinner on Saturday night due to an enthusiastic over run of practice time and although I would have liked him to, he didn’t accept my mom’s offer to join us at home to eat.

By Tuesday Band and with just two and a bit more days to practice, the Audio teacher advised Old Sid the rewiring of the school’s arena was completed and we spent Wednesday Band and sometime after final bell practicing outside in a hasty dress rehearsal. It was also then told to everyone that the WTO would now be part of the program, although not being used to play the team onto the field apparently because soccer teams “walk” and never run or charge out onto the field!

Because of the large increase in the size of the Band we would now no longer be playing in our Purple People Eaters uniform and would instead wear white or purple shirts (depending on which student had what colored shirt in their wardrobe) and wearing long grey trousers (skirts were an option for the girls). As yet no decision about the new uniforms had been given either. As for the cheerleading group, they hadn’t bothered to get back in touch with Old Sid so the half time break consisted of little more than cheers to the crowd on our side of the park while Lennon High’s cheerleaders did the same on their side of lightly filled arena.

Still the crowd from both towns who did turn up that Friday seemed to like our pre-game show and some of them were even heard singing along. But to us musicians, it was a bust of epic proportions. Still Old Sid stated when everyone was packing up that he now thought he had enough information of his own to determine a musical program for the sports we’d be playing for during Autumn/Winter to at least keep the musical interest of enough new people for the band. It turned out that after a few more weeks nine students eventually gave Band away, mainly girl singers no longer interested but also several musicians from both sexes.

The following two months however saw my own personal musical ambitions begin to bloom. Emerald, CMR’s publicity department had decided was a more gimmicky name to promote than Jane Seymour and besides was already out there. The combined sales of my released songs now totaled over 858,000 downloaded sales plus over 3 million hits on line. I’d certainly have enough to get through college if I didn’t earn a financial scholarship. My 3rd and 4th releases had also done well although none managed to “break” through the market out there and become a nationwide hit. Still CMR decided it would sign me to a 3 album contract over the next 2 years, which dad told me they’d ask him to be the producer for.

Regrettably I also learned what genetic girls already knew about and had suffered from since the start of time. First crushes almost inevitably never last very long and alas Steven and I only survived three more weeks before he dumped me. With hardly any form of apology, he simply stopped asking me out and I soon learned from other ensemble girls that he’d apparently started dating Simone from the ensemble’s choir and despite my tears and silent plotting of a spiteful revenge, they seemed suited to one another. The break up also caused me to get my first ever “D“ for a class assignment that saw me being looked at both in sympathy and annoyance by the subject’s teacher. It also merited another parent’s letter needing to be signed and returned, which under the circumstances mom decided to cut me some slack over it.

On the school band front, we performed Friday evening shows at both inter school and home games and were starting to gain a following among the local townsfolk. To ensure we didn’t become stale, two new songs were rehearsed each week and swapped in for others to ensure we didn’t begin sounding repetitive and our repertoire soon numbered almost 30 songs we could choose from. Mr. Dean had even organized for lyrics to be printed in the local paper for people to read that saw extra cleaning work for the contractor on Saturdays. At least like last year, the school treasurer liked the unexpected additional revenue from Friday evenings again.

With the football season starting in a few weeks time, Old Sid had for the past few weeks been scheming with me and now along with Anne and the other section leaders, about finding ways to assist the “money maker team” which even their coach acknowledged would very likely have a mediocre season of results barring a miracle.

He’d already made it known he wanted the WTO played when the team ran out onto the field both before the start of the game and after half time break renewal. The ensemble also now all had their new uniforms which had finally been approved by the school board made even though they’d been paid for by the ensemble member’s parents.

The ensemble had also decided that although we were expected to play at other schools for their home games, it wouldn’t be feasible to try and load onto a school bus all of the necessary cabling, speakers and amplifiers required to produce our unique sound and try to set it up in their school’s arenas. Then afterwards need to break it down to reload onto the bus for the trip back to our own school and unload it there before then having to store it back inside the Music room, while using the typical school busses that had been provided to transport us to those schools.

Instead at away games, we’d decided to play a combination of modern and classical tunes as well as the WTO to entertain the people attending those games. The program for away games was set in stone and actually sounded quite good to listen to possibly because of the two song changes made each time. Besides we only had to play for 30 minutes and then play short stirring excerpts from the WTO though out the game (if our team needed encouraging) to fulfil our commitment. Besides, the halftime break was always the responsibility of the home school to provide.

So Old Sid had been using band classes for the past month to concentrate on rehearsing for the five “Theme Nights” programs to cover the school’s “home” gridiron football games. It came as quite a surprise when the list for the theme nights was read out. He actually read out more than five Themes, ranging from “Golden Oldies, Cats, (who’d have thought that) even the old standbys of school bands everywhere “Rocky Horror” was on the list. But no one expected Dance Crazes to be there or for that matter, musicals such as "Phantom", "Aspects of Love", "Evita" or even "Starlight Express". But Old Sid justified why a particular theme had made his list and besides he’d already organized for all the printing so everyone had to accept it now and accept a copy of the manuscripts concerned.

Our sporting events performing along with Mr. Dean’s incredible ability to have our local paper continue to give us free plugs as well as printing the lyrics to songs we’d be playing that week, soon saw as many as 1,500 people who didn’t have children or knew of students competing at the games attending each week. It was discovered that some brought along their children with them to try to get them interested in playing a musical instrument.

But it was always thought among the ensemble that most non parents turned up holding onto the newspaper pages showing the songs (some dressed up, others not), simply because there was nothing better to do for so cheap an entry price. Everyone no matter what age also invariably ended up watching the game and enthusiastically cheering when our teams played well. That would then see the following week’s local paper mentioning players who had done something special if our school had won, especially against a school that had a particular rivalry with and sometimes publish a photo of the crowd or individual supporters.

Band classes were now not just educational classes, but also a forum to air musical ideas and sometimes complaints. The worst of those was on learning that while the ensemble’s new uniforms had been paid for by our parents, the Cheerleading squad had been allowed to have new uniforms paid for by the school (along with several supporters). Especially so since it was common knowledge that no college people had made special visits to view their performances so far and that they’d competed in a greatly reduced number of contests for school cheerleading squads.

Their coach Mrs. Grebopple had even given Old Sid a list of songs she required the ensemble to play for their half time break show, which he had agreed to and had made the ensemble rehearse for, yet surprisingly never critiqued our playing any further after she had made it known she didn’t like his personal interpretational changes to her music choices. So he and therefore the ensemble simply lost interest in how we played their half time program. The ensemble soon noticed after a few half time performances how the crowd from both towns tended to get up and go to buy food or for personal breaks when we played it at our home games anyway.

It was after our last away game and when everyone was loading their instruments on-board the third of our school busses that Mrs. Grebopple came storming over and gave everyone a verbal spray not only about our playing of her half time music program, but about the ensemble’s skill level at even playing musical instruments. There were quite a few pissed off student’s heads looking out from the three busses windows listening and we all cheered when Old Sid looked at her and told her to “drop dead you silly old bat!”

Back at the school and unloading, Mr. Dean called the music section heads together and told us we had the rest of the weekend to come up with a better musical program and convince Mrs. Grebopple, “otherwise I may need to find another school to teach at next year” he told us primly before walking off to go to his car and driving off. The other section leaders all turned towards me as if I had the answer.

While mom was driving me home I spent the entire time talking on my phone to each Section leader and finally with Anne our 1st chair. Mom had been listening to me on the phone and on easing the car into our garage and turning the engine off suggested I should ring everyone back and invite them around tomorrow, then talk to my dad after I’d eaten something. Instead I decided to do everything mom had suggested in reverse and on hearing dad tell me the studio was free for the entire weekend if I wanted to use it, told me “get moving young lady and make the silly old cow choke on her words” and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then a short shove towards the kitchen where mom was plating up my rewarmed dinner.

Between mouthfuls of casserole I phoned every section leader back and invited them around to my place tomorrow for a special music session that I had an idea about and wanted to try. I told Michael Lee to make sure every singer came even if he had to phone the others to arrange transport and that I’d take care of tomorrow’s lunch. Mom had as always sat at the table to make sure I ate everything after Friday night performances before telling me she’d see dad about getting the BBQ cleaned away tomorrow morning and saying she’d make sure there was enough food for 30 people at lunch tomorrow. It turned out we only needed to cater for 27 because a few of the girl singers couldn’t make it however much Jenny (the joint leader of the choir section) insisted.

After I’d eaten and changed into my jimjams, I went down to dad’s studio and using the equipment played and then sometimes replayed a number of songs before eventually downloading and recording 4 songs that would run to about almost 17 minutes of continuous music before going to bed. I’d thought about the half time program a few months previously, but back then the pressure was on getting the ensemble performing well and like everyone else didn’t care about half time or the cheerleaders.

In the morning I waited for everyone to start turning up to listen to what I had to show them. But I knew I had a few critics among the ensemble and two of them would be here today so if they and a few others didn’t agree with my idea, it may all be just a waste of time. Fortunately by 9.30 am everyone was starting to turn up when I had asked them to arrive, and when Anne got out of her parent’s car followed by the school’s Queen Bee Vivian Jones, I wasn’t sure whether to cheer or ask WTF is she doing here.

Instead I kept quiet for the moment and led everyone around to the large covered patio area out the back where mom had set up several trestle tables with enough timber, plastic, fold up and kitchen chairs as possible to sit on along with several buckets of ice containing cans of cold drinks. I’d also put my CD player on one of the tables with the CD I’d recorded last night in it.

After everyone had a cold drink I started to explain my idea, after which I played the CD though its entire 17 minutes before it shut off automatically and waited for someone to say something. It was Anne who did so first saying she liked it before explaining to everyone what Vivian was doing here. As soon as she finished explaining and asked Vivian what she had thought of it, I just hoped the Queen wouldn’t throw a hissy.

She stood up slowly while carefully putting the can she was drinking from back on the table. “It’s so raunchy I can’t wait to devise a cheer program for it” she said enthusiastically. “Can I call a few of the girls to come around and try out a few things Janey” Janey? Where’d that name just come from, which I knew meant that for the rest of the day and at school from now I’d be probably called Janey.

Everyone then tried to speak all at once about the music, but best of all no one seemed to have any objections to any of the songs. Michael Lee managed to be speak the loudest and said he just wished we had the ensemble here to practice the music so we could possibly play it first thing at Band on Monday. Penny (who before Anne joined the ensemble had been in charge of the String’s section) knowing about dad’s business and had seen the studio before asked me if dad was working today, and with my negative head shake asked aloud why we couldn’t do it today, which had most of the others looking confused.

Looking over at mom and telling her we’d see her up top around 1ish, I asked everyone to follow me and led them towards dad’s underground recording studio. Once downstairs and with the lights turned on, the squeals of excitement or disbelief had me quietly chuckling to myself before I nonchalantly asked Jenny which girls she thought should sing which songs, then asked Michael who wanted to be the school’s next school’s heartthrob. Everyone who hadn’t been inside dad’s recording studio before (which was most of them) was still walking around and looking at everything there while I asked Jenny and Michael.

So to get everyone’s attention focused I gave everyone a brief demonstration what could be achieved using the studio’s equipment. I began so by playing the first song on the CD “Man I Feel Like a Woman” and breaking the music up into musical sections and even changing the pitch of Shania Twain’s voice. I did the same for the next song which was an old ZZ Top song “Legs” which was a raunchy and cheeky oldie. After that, I started to get all the singers into various soundproof areas that held microphones and then move each group of singers to one of the various microphones in each room, so there was a distinctive soloist in one room and then a separate vocal accompaniment in several others.

The section heads watching all of this now realized that for today at least, no one would be playing an instrument in the studio although Jeromy Potts quickly realized how unless someone scored the music, not many of the ensemble might be playing the half time music. So it was him who suggested that we'd need to get Old Sid here and up to speed quickly, so he could musically score the music for the rest of the ensemble to start rehearsing as soon as possible next week, which saw Anne phoning him and asking if he was free today and if so could he organize to come out to my place and decide if we had a good idea. Vivian had already arranged for some of her cheerleading girlfriends to come over after lunch, but we did need Old Sid here as soon as possible so Anne got it all arranged to happen.

After I had copied the lyrics of the two Shania Twain songs I’d recorded and handed out the first one, we tried to determine who would be lead female singer. It was a coin toss between Judy, Nicole and Jenny so I tried all three singing the soundtrack before the section heads all agreed on Nicole for the first song. The other girls then all huddled up close to two other microphones while the guys gathered around a combined bass and baritone microphone.

It took almost an hour and a possible phone call to get dad’s help before I finally decided we had a passable recording we could use for a test bad level in future practices. Mr. Dean turned up shortly after we had nailed the first song and after going back upstairs to get him led him back down to the studio where he simply stopped in total shock at seeing both the studio and how crowded it was.

When I played him the master tape he grinned before jokingly saying he wished Mrs. Grebopple was here right now to see and hear this. I then played him the first song rerecorded with our voice dub while excusing myself for the lame effort, but told him it had been agreed to so as to allow me to continue on with the next song. Old Sid seemed surprised that I’d said the recording was lame and said for a test bed level, it was very good before excusing himself and telling me it was extremely good.

“Legs” was quite difficult to over dub the words to but not because of the music or the lyrics which were both simple to play and remember. It was getting a consistent gravelly sound from the lead singer Michael. Poor old Michael Lee’s voice was ruined by the time Old Sid and I were in agreement that it was good enough to use for the test bed at rehearsals and copied it to a separate CD then with the CD in a cover led a very excited group back upstairs to find mom talking to five more cheerleaders while dad kept an eye on the BBQ meat to make sure it didn’t overcook and burn.

During lunch Vivian asked if she could play the tape for the other girls to listen to, which caused a noisy riot as soon as they heard the first few bars blaring out of the speakers. The other cheer girls had all turned up in their uniforms which till now had been the ire of the entire ensemble, but now the girls outfits were being admired by everyone for just how glitzy and stunning they looked on them. I know dad was admiring their outfits no end.

We had to hurry through lunch and even then didn’t start back downstairs until 2.15pm. Everyone had been warned to phone their designated driver about now turning up at 6pm instead of 5pm. Even then it wasn’t until 6.20pm that everyone started walking out into the now night which had the house’s outdoor floodlights all switched on to cater for as over 40 cars were parked over the front yard and dirt driveway.

Mr. Dean was the last to eventually leave and was like a dog with two tails he was so enthusiastic. He used the afternoon half of the recording session to work with the section heads about instrument ideas needed for various songs and making notations on keys to be used. Vivian had used the afternoon staying upstairs trying to work out the steps and moves she thought could go best with the five other cheer girls. One thing was for sure, the cheer squad now had a half time music program that they thought was worthy of them! Mr. Dean was told not to worry about Mrs. Grebopple and that the senior girls on the squad would get her in line on Monday morning.

For the rest of Saturday evening from about 8pm onwards I was inundated with texts or phone calls discussing the music today. The ensemble members who hadn‘t been asked to come were even texting me. In each case they were texted back telling them to contact their section leader and that we’d all get the chance to talk at band next Monday. I turned off my light just after midnight and mom’s 2nd visit to remind me it was late and we had church in the morning. Even there it was hard not to have to deal with ensemble members without having to explain why he or she hadn’t been invited or else to listen to suggestions about who could and should sing which song. There were several very definite guy or girl alternative volunteers if illness or misfortune should strike someone.

During Monday morning it seemed everyone wanted to know what Mrs. Grebopple had said or if she’d even spoken to Mr. Dean yet. During lunch Vivian let it be known that she and the other five girls had both spoken to Mrs. Grebopple as well as playing her the master CD and telling her they thought it was real brill idea.

In Band, Mrs. Grebopple came in and speaking with her usual pushy tone of voice said her girls thought the music they were played over the weekend could be made to be satisfactory for their half time performance provided we worked to bring it up to the level required!! I have to give Old Sid his due, if it had been me she’d been addressing, I might have suggested something extremely un-lady like as to what she could do with her opinions, but Old Sid simply thanked her and said the ensemble would try it’s best, which she only deemed her due before walking out of the room. He’d already configured the score for both Shania twain songs and had had them copied. How he’d been able to do so beggared certainly my imagination as both scores covered all four sections of the ensemble allowing all of them to contribute.

The next four Band classes were spent practicing the two scores and all that was needed was to try and blend the songs into whatever type of dances and cheers were being worked out by the Cheerleaders. What was then needed to be decided on for the season opening football match was the Theme Night. Although Mr. Dean always claimed final say on all matters musical, because of what had happened over the weekend he at least allowed the ensemble some rights as to vetoing. So "Dance Yourselves Crazy Music" was to be the first home (and season opening) game’s Theme Night.

He already had decided that since around half the crowds watching the soccer and other games we played at were parents aged between their late 30’s to late 40’s, to start off with “Let’s Do The Time Warp”, then “Put On Your Dancing Shoes”, “Do You Want To Dance”, “Rock and Around The Clock”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Let’s Twist Again”, “ Staying Alive”, “You Make Me feel like Dancing”, “Achy Breaky Heart”, “Dancing Queen” and finishing it off with a more up to date song “There’s Nothing Else I Can Say” which would total up to round about 30 minutes.

The WTO would then be played for the team’s entry onto the field. Even then Old Sid told the ensemble he’d speak to the coach to make sure the team didn’t actually run out onto the field until two minutes eight seconds of the WTO had been played, to ensure both the team and the crowd heard the more stirring second half of the music to rev everyone up. Therefore he told us we had to make very sure we all commenced on his time and kept to it.

The following two weeks saw us out in sports arena seating for Band class where the ensemble had already been sitting so far this year practicing. We practiced both the 30 minute Theme Night segment of music as well as the cheerleaders 15 minute half time show and would then replay the 30 minute show again, except this time without the cheerleaders having to stay. At the first outside rehearsal and band class, it saw the cheerleaders come out and hear Michael Lee saying that he’d like to thank everyone who did so for coming out onto the field tonight and dancing or else sitting in the grandstands and singing and hoped that everyone enjoyed it and that the half time gala would be nothing short of sensational.

At first Mrs. Grebopple took instance to Michael Lee’s speech and poor old Mr. Dean had to patiently tell her that Michael wasn’t trying to pre-empt the cheerleading squad’s performance. He had to allow her to first sit through her cheerleader’s program which she felt necessitated having to repeat one of the songs twice before she was satisfied and allowed her girls to leave. She however then sat through the 30 minute pre game performance to learn what Michael had meant with his closing address to the crowd.

It came as something of a surprise to spot her moving her lips to most of the songs we played before allowing Old Sid to assure her that the ensemble would not be changing the show very much if at all and assured her that Michael would not attempt to change his closing speech in anyway unless she was permitted to veto the changes!

The next afternoon saw the Queen Bee sitting down after the cheerleader’s rehearsal and listening to our pre-game show. The next day saw the entire squad listening to our rehearsal and by the following Monday and with the game on Friday night, the squad was practicing cheers to our playing, now with the blessing of Mrs. Grebopple.

When Friday afternoon rolled around, there was nothing more that Old Sid could have done to not only have the match publicized locally, but also several nearby towns. He’d obviously been on the phone pleading his case for more publicity for the event.

The arena started to slowly fill up on both sides of the field as the other school’s player’s parents, relatives and friends parked their cars and entered the stadium’s far side entrance. Our own side of the stadium appeared to be filling more than normal, while the opposing school McCann High’s band was setting up in the opposite corner to ours and ensuring their instruments were in tune. At 5.30pm and with a cool breeze starting to make the coming evening cooler, they started playing their musical program while their side of the stadium started to fill again with more spectators.

By the time our turn came around the McCann High band received a fair smattering of applause for their efforts which our own ensemble also politely applauded. Michael Lee than stood up and gave a very brief welcoming talk addressing it to both school’s supporters and inviting both to either come out onto the field and dance with us as we celebrate dancing music or else to sing as loud as they could from the grandstand.

With his baton raised in his right hand and showing the ensemble his crossed finger on his left, Old Sid waved the tempo and smiled broadly when everyone hit their opening note perfectly and together. The first notes of Time Warp are so well known, you could actually hear people exclaiming their amusement or pleasure. By about half way through the song, there were about 80 people out on the field dancing the "Time-Warp" with quite a few in the stands singing the words. Our choir sang together and in tune so that before the end of the song, Michael was asking for people to come out and join our cheer leaders encouraging McCann’s cheerleaders to do the same for the rest of the night.

By the end of the program there was probably around 150 people on the field dancing and having a lot of fun judging by the laughter and cheering after each song. The stands on both sides were very vocal and it appeared all of our hard work and Mr. Dean’s chivvying in our classes had paid off. As both sets of supporters vacated the field, McCann High’s band played their school’s song as their football side ran onto the field and over towards their side of the stadium and their supporters.

Someone had evidently gone to the effort of making a paper Mache sign wishing our school team good luck and it was being held out for the players to run through. Mr. Dean had Jeromy Potts stand up and on bringing his baton downwards, signaled for Jeromy to begin the playing the lone solo notes for the commencement of the WTO charge. Soon he was joined by the other trumpets and coronets and finally by the entire ensemble. Our own spectators were cheering loudly and waving their hands as if conducting. As we passed the 2 minute mark Old Sid must have somehow signaled to someone for the team to run out onto the field, because they only “just” missed their mark before crashing through the paper Mache sign which had our supporters cheering even louder and applauding enthusiastically.

As the WTO came to a rousing crescendo near the end, I looked look across the field and saw our opponent’s supporters and parents trying to enthusiastically mimic our own side of the field’s crowd in imitating Old Sid conducting us. With the final loud and abrupt finish, both sides of the stadium roared their approval with even our opponent’s school band applauding our playing.

The game had already been written up in the news section of the local paper as a game McCann High was expected to win reasonably easily. But by the half time siren, they were behind 20 to 7 and our team had been pressing for another score before the siren sounded half time. As both sides left the field, Michael stood up and introduced the half time entertainment while both school’s cheerleading squads looked for space on their sides of the field to perform on.

But from the opening notes of the brass section and with Nicole saying “let’s go now girls” along with my exuberant drumming, our side of the field was filled with supporters shouting encouragement and / or singing the words of “Man I Feel Like A Woman”. When it ended and we seamlessly commenced playing “Legs” with Michael singing, while our cheerleading girls began dancing even more provocatively than they had for the opening song. The ensemble managed to all end on the same an abrupt ending note (instead of the fading finish on the recording). Then several male seniors raced out to pair off with specific cheer leaders while the other cheer leaders hurriedly moved away towards our side of the field before Anne invited anyone from either of the field to come out onto the turf and dance if they wanted to.

The instant both sides of the field’s crowd heard the distinct opening to “Living La Vida Loca” it seemed like half the other side of the grandstands was either squealing in excitement or else trying to find a way to get out onto the field to dance as well. I could easily see the same thing was happening on our side of the field although everyone stayed well away from our cheerleaders and their male partners who by now were dancing up a storm of excitement, sex, enthusiasm and perspiration.

As the song ended and everyone started to find a way back off of the field, Simone started singing “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and to the ensemble’s delight she managed to sing the entire song faultlessly and in tune while Vivian out on the field marched and paraded in time leading the others. McCann High’s cheerleaders had already given up trying to cheer during "Legs" and were now merely waving their pom poms in front of them waiting for the 2nd half to begin where they could try and cheer to their side of the grandstand.

The return of our team to the WTO saw the same thing happen as had done so before the start of the game. But now you could visually see how pumped and excited our own players were. The final siren saw us getting an upset win over McCann 30 to 20, as our players happily left the field while giving silent hand claps to the ensemble as they passed in acknowledgment of our playing this evening.

As both sides of the arena emptied several of the McCann High band came over and congratulated us on our playing tonight. Old Sid and their director shook hands and exchanged words of encouragement. The school’s drum kit was quickly carried back to the Music room along with any cabling that wasn’t an ensemble member’s own property. A few had already decided to join the victory party which was usually held at a nearby soda shop, which most likely now would turn out to be far too small for the jubilant crowd.

I was invited along but had already been told by mom we had appointments tomorrow so I begged off albeit reluctantly, but not before having Mr. Dean shake my hand and thank me for my efforts adding that we seemed to make a good team.

Next key – F Minor which will hopefully be ready by the 12th June 2020, new vison permitting.

Look up “Shania Twain - Live from Vegas” on the web to listen to both of her songs in this chapter.