The True Marks of Excellence

I started out in high school a cheerleader, but remember being down on the sidelines looking up at the marching band kids and thinking they sure seemed to be having a lot more fun than I was. When the band director, Mr. Boyce, got wind that I knew how to play piano and read music, he had my friends suggest I join them on the marimba. So the next year I hung up my pom poms and picked up a set of mallets. 

Mr. Boyce was a character. He told jokes to the seniors in the back of the bus on long trips home. He chain smoked out back of the band room. He knew every bit of trouble (and I mean everything) the students got into and helped point kids back the right direction when needed. He talked about his wife and kids as if they hung the moon. 

He expected a lot of us. We weren't great, but we were far better than we should have been given the complete lack of financial resources, absence of general music education, and there being no other adults invested in the band program at our school. And in big letters above the chalkboards at the front of the band room was the anonymous quote:

"Success is not a right but a privilege granted only to those who understand that sacrifice and dedication are the true marks of excellence."

Those could have been his words for all I know. I never asked.

Mr. Boyce died much too young of cancer, and I wish he could know the impact he still has on my life. I didn't much like high school, but I don't have a single bad memory from marching band.

My son is now in his senior year, and is a proud member of his high school marching band. The band director, Mr. Jack, has taught there for many years now. His mannerisms, and his dedication, remind me so much of Mr. Boyce. He and others who pour so much time, energy, and effort into my son and other students' education brings me so much joy and hope, because I know they are learning the same lessons about sacrifice and dedication as they march their way to excellence.