I was studying in standard six and a new period was added to my time table. I was waiting for this period ever since I knew about this. Club, it was called. There were 5 clubs — arts, drama, music, dance and my dream club, the Band. Being in the school band was something you could be proud of those days. You can bunk classes in the name of practice, you will always be part of whatever function or event that is held in school and you will be the one who gets to invite the Chief Guests to those functions, you get to wear those shining red uniforms and what not. My personal favourite perk about being in the band was that I got to play my favourite instrument — the trumpet!
The reason why I always wanted to play the trumpet is that my father was a die-hard fan of R.D. Burman. And I grew up hearing his numbers.
In my first period, my band sir divided us into groups and asked for the instrument that we wanted to play. For the starters, there was bugle (which then evolved to trumpet and euphonium), side drum, base drum and flute (followed by clarinet and saxophone). Since I’ve always wanted to play a trumpet, I gave bugle as my instrument of choice. As I was passionate about playing a bugle, I eventually became a very good player and was promoted to playing the trumpet during my eighth standard. This was pretty high by my school’s standards, because people get to play it only during their 10th or 11th standards. I was taken to many an event and was also allowed to stand in the first line of the band which was the greatest honour one could get being in the school band. During the morning prayers, we needn’t have to stand with our class. We were allocated a separate place in the ground to play before and after the prayer.
We got to do a special performance in different formations, playing different tunes with the whole school and some chief guests as audience. We practiced for more than two weeks to deliver our best. We also got to play the national anthem during flag hoisting. Those are the moments when i enjoyed being in the school band the most.
The last time I played a trumpet with my school band was on my school’s annual day function in my 12th standard. To make this day more memorable we had practised some cine songs which were strictly banned in my school. We had already been caught a couple of times for playing the Paruthiveeran tune during the prayers. Even then, as this was our last chance to play those instruments, we took the risk and played 3 songs since there wasn’t an official working day after that day, assuming no one could punish us. And it was indeed a memorable one when one of the players forgot the notes and spoiled the whole performance and then the Vice Principal came down from the stage to make us stop playing.
A year later, I still hadn’t gotten a single chance to play my favourite instrument in college. I even thought of asking the Dean once to establish a college band (which is always a matter of pride to institutions), but eventually dropped the plan. Three semesters had passed and then suddenly one day I saw a poster on instrument auditions. The first thing that came to my mind was my trumpet so I called the number in that poster immediately to verify whether we can actually play a trumpet in the college music troop. Though the answer was yes, I could not participate in the audition as I didn’t have my own trumpet.
I used to talk to my parents about how I loved playing the trumpet and how much I missed playing it. Eventually came my 19th birthday and there came my birthday gift — my very own trumpet! I was on cloud nine. I don’t remember thanking my parents this much even when they had bought me an Apache. I had twenty days of holidays just around that time and I planned to practice it every day, so that I could get into the music team at least that year, but then came the neighbourhood nuisance. They were disturbed of their afternoon serial and nap time. And when I came for the next semester, I hadn’t practised anything more than my basic seven tones.
Then I decided to practise in my room but the seniors next door came begging for silence because they were busy with their GRE and placement preparations. As time passed came the auditions but I hadn’t practised a single tune. When I went to the auditions, they asked my instrument’s name and when I told them it’s a trumpet, their faces seemed to indicate that they were expecting quite a lot from me. If they had to include a new instrument in the troop, it had to be the best, and I was obviously rejected because I hadn’t practised antyhing. It wasn’t a big shock for me as I knew this was coming.
When I was losing my hope of ever playing the trumpet again, then came the solo instrument competition in one of the fests. I registered my name immediately and started to search a place to practise my trumpet as there were only seven days left. And it was at that time I found the hostel water tank in the terrace after a three-day search. I had always thought it was full of water until I took a closer look at it that day. It took me a day to select the songs to play in the competition and write the notes for them and then suddenly, I had only two days left. I spent all my evenings and nights near the water tank practising those tunes but due to lack of time, I wasn’t doing things perfectly.
Then came the D-day. I woke up early that day to get ready for my performance at 10 a.m. I went to the auditorium at 9.30 only to see myself all alone in that whole block except for the two people in the PR Desk outside. I didn’t wait any longer registered myself for the competition. When I told them that I was going to play the trumpet, it was like Deja Vu again — they had big expectations. I only hoped for better as I had practised day and night for this event. There were only three registrations for the competition that day. The other two were: a violin and a miruthangam. And I was told that there were only 2 prizes. That moment, I really hoped that I don’t end up being the last one. Then they introduced the judge who was a carnatic expert, loved carnatic music and instruments and all my hopes vanished then. Not even the greatest trumpet player ever could play a carnatic tune. I thought of running out of that auditorium that second. Then they called my name first. That was not a shock as my instrument was different and they’ve never heard anyone play an actual trumpet ever in their life. And there I was, standing in the stage, in front of some 20-30 people who don’t even know what it takes to play a trumpet.
I had practiced around five tunes, of which four were cine songs and one was a tune that I had mastered during my school days. To my best knowledge, I played well. I didn’t get that much of an applause as I had expected or at least as the other participants got. If I were the judge, I would at least have given myself the second place because the miruthangam player was terrific. I lost eventually because of a poor judge, fit-for-nothing audience and the two other carnatic instrument participants. They deserved to win it. I don’t want to blame my performance for my loss.
After that competition, I thought I’ll never play trumpet again. Till now, I haven’t played it. But I don’t think that was end of it. I will be playing it as long I have the energy in my body even when others think I suck at that. And if there ever was any competition like this in my future, I will participate in it no matter I win or I lose. After all, life is about participation and not winning!