So my last year of middle school my parents got me a Selmer Paris Series III Action 80 Alto Saxophone. This is the Bentley of Alto Saxs AND I had no business with one! This is a professional horn. I had been playing for 2.5 years when I got it. O___O
It sits on its stand on display in my apartment but I haven't played it in ages.
Now…armed with this amazing instrument and a diligent practice routine honed by the years of playing piano prior to sax, I was pretty good. In fact, my best friend Shannon and I met and became friends because she was 1st chair and I was 2nd in 8th grade.
When we matriculated to high school, there was a group of us that played sax. We had 4 altos in our friend group alone along with tenor and bari players.
It was decided that we would have a saxophone ensemble since there were so many of us and THIS is where trouble started.
This is Maximilian. I named him that when I got him!
One of the guys in the group fancied himself a serious musician. O___O This is now laughable because the only one of us to go into music is Shannon but I digress. He didn't want to share a part with anyone and so his brilliant idea was to try and get me kicked out of the ensemble. Now this didn't make any sense because not only did I have the nicest saxophone…but I was also ahead of him chair wise. For years Shannon and I switched first and second chair back and forth but he was NEVER above me chair wise.
Well knowing that Shannon was a no go on trying to get me kicked out, he went to this other girl who played bari sax. I don't remember exactly how all this went down but he came to me and told me at some point that I couldn't be in saxophone ensemble. Now I'd always known he had problems with Black people but it didn't seem to be all Black people. He seemed to have a issue when class and race collided. You see my parents have 5 degrees between them AND they're Black AND we lived in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in my bedroom community of a home town. There was no deny that class wise…I was above him. I think the combination didn't sit too well. Now I know you're wondering how I know this. Well he made the mistake of telling Sarah, my other bestie who didn't play the sax, something racist thinking she'd side with him.
She didn't.
Also he clearly got along with other Black people who he assumed were "on his level" or beneath him socioeconomically.
SN: I found that it was always the combo of race AND class that brought out racism. No one has a problem with the poor Black student playing a school instrument but some have a problem with the upper middle class Black student playing a professional horn.
Anyways….I went home and told my mom. She came right up to the school and spoke to the band director and you better believe I was in Saxophone Ensemble. Issue resolved.
Also, I learned a lot about people through this. I learned about how character is what happens when no one is there to hold you accountable. I also learned that there are good decent people out there who don't care if you're Black or Blue or Purple. If they're your friend. That's the whole ball game.
Senior Band Trip to Canada
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