3. Band Karate

3 Band Karate We fooled around with the instruments for a long time. We all sounded pretty horrible, except for Andrea of course. Mrs. Bacon told us not to get discouraged. She said it takes hard work and lots of practice to get good. She also told us our parents could rent an

instrument for us and then come see us play at a recital. "Okay, it's time to choose your instrument," Mrs. Bacon announced. "What do you want to play?" "Clarinet!" shouted Andrea. "It's the only instrument here that I don't already know how to play." "Flute!" shouted Emily. "It will be easy to carry home from school." "Trumpet!" shouted Michael. "Because they play them in the army." "I want to play French horn," said Ryan, "because I like French fries." "Drums!" shouted Neil. "Banging on stuff is fun." "I want to play trombone," said Alexia, "because that slide thing is cool." "How about you, A.J.?" asked Mrs.

Bacon. "Which instrument do you want to play?" "I don't want to play any instrument." You could have heard a pin drop. Well, that is if anybody had pins with them. But why would you bring pins to school? Everybody was staring at me. It was like the earth had stopped turning. "I beg your pardon?" asked Mrs. Bacon. That's grown-up talk for "What?" Grown-ups are always begging to be pardoned. Nobody knows why. "I said I don't want to play any instrument," I told her. "I just like to play video games." Mrs. Bacon dropped to the floor like

an elephant had just fallen on her head. "Noooooooooo!" she screamed. She got down on her knees in front of me. Tears were running down her cheeks. Either she's really emotional, or Mrs. Bacon is fakin'. "Anyone can click a button on a video game," she moaned. "It takes effort to make beautiful music. I think

video games are bad for kids." "But they're fun," I said. "Playing music is fun too," said Mrs. Bacon. "Won't you just try an instrument, A.J.? You might become the next Beethoven!" "Who's that?" I asked. "Arlo," said Andrea, "Beethoven was the greatest composer who ever lived!" "You might be the next Mozart!" said Mrs. Bacon.* "Never heard of her," I replied. "Mozart was a man, dumbhead," said Andrea. "Oh, snap!" said Ryan. "What a waste it would be to have musical talent and not use it," said Mrs. Bacon. "A.J., you might be the next

Tchaikovsky, the next Rachmaninoff, the next Shostakovich!" She named a bunch of other people with names I couldn't pronounce. "Playing an instrument is boring," I replied. "I don't want to spend hours practicing some dumb instrument when I could be playing video games or doing something fun, like going to karate."