Just by reading all of this, it is good to know I am not the only one who is thinking like this. I am in year 25 and last year was not my best year and I almost resigned after a football game. This year the students are way better attitude wise, but they are a younger band, and I am going through the growing pains of hearing wrong notes more, not staying in step and getting to their spots late, and my trumpets, (God bless them, they are great kids) are only playing about 20 measures of the entire show, because they really didn't start until when school started which was 8/27. Tomorrow, we go to our first contest, and I am hoping that the judges don't do anything to discourage them, because they are working so hard to get things done.