WWA (Woodwinds Anonymous)

This morning I went to this competition called Solo and Ensemble competition (which is a really uninspiring name). I actually wasn't stressed at all though, it was a pretty low key environment.
So basically how something like this works is you are given a room to warm up in, and then you warm up (it's a pretty basic process), and then you go into a room (still basic) when it's your assigned time, and a judge judges you on how well (or how badly) you played. They're all nice judges, and they aren't of the same ilk as the classic pissed off band teacher who wants to assert their importance while trying to convince their students that their class actually matters.
So it was all pretty chill.
Unfortunately the first group from the school playing was a brass quartet, not that brass quartets are gross or anything. But that did mean that all the participants from my school congregated in the brass warm up room.
Do you know how terrifying it is to be surrounded by kids all holding giant metal weapons? Terrifying. We were the little woodwind people, with our lame ass wooden instruments, and we were being totally judged. Whenever I played a note in that room I felt the judgement. The brass people also took my friends stand, and there was no un-awkward way to get the stand back. So we were standless. Also our warm up room was one of those classrooms where the desk is connected to the chair. Come on! What, are they trying to trap the students at their desk so they can never ask to use the bathroom? Or maybe they hate when kids stand up and blow their nose, so they try to make it as awkward as possible for them to stand up.
Onto a different thought, you know that awkward feeling when you're at a recital or a concert or something and you are the only one of your kind there?
For example I'm part of a woodwind trio, and we perform at the flutists recitals, and we are the only diversity at the concert.
Well, there's a solution to this all too common problem.
Just join WWA. There you can be with your own kind, where everyone understands everyone and life is good. Just sitting around...with other woodwinds....doing woodwind stuff...
Okay, I have no idea where I'm going with this.
I'm out.