Noise Pollution

I am currently sitting in an empty, dark, completely quiet sanctuary. I have eleven minutes left.

The day started at 5:30 with an alarm clock ringer. Then a recording of my trumpet practicing from the previous day as I went for my morning run.

Then some upcoming orchestra music in the car as I drove into Lima for a teaching day. Once there I practiced for about 40 minutes, loud long tones and lip trills as I prepped for a big broadway show with lots of big-band style playing.

Then the kids started coming. A saxophone lesson. A bassoon lesson.

Elementary band. Twenty three 4-6 graders who can't wait to squeak and squawk and honk on their instruments. An hour of nonstop noise. Banging and shuffling of drums even when they did cut off quietly. But most of the time they just keep on playing, or start playing music from last semester. One of the kids tipped over a snare drum.

And then the bell rings, and it's straight from elementary band into trumpet lessons, six kids blatting and trying to lunge into the high register by sheer force of will, each one practicing their own assignment as I go down the line kneeling in front of whoever is playing their lesson for me. And then straight from there into High School band.

More kids clomping in, banging on percussion instruments, playing their doodles on the piano, trying to decipher fast licks and big jumps and high notes as they warm up.

It's been non-step cacophony for the last five and a half hours. And now I have four more minutes until the next lesson group comes in.

Then there will be a quiet drive to Houghton. I think I'll pass on listening to the radio today.