We started to prepare ourselves for the parade. Band members grabbed their instrument cases and started to assemble their instruments. Soon the bus was filled with the sounds of students tuning and rehearsing their parts. However, the noise didn't last very long because as soon as the bus doors opened, all of the band members rushed off to escape the unbearable heat. When me and my three close friends got off the bus, CJ exclaimed  "Wow, it was sweltering in that bus. My clarinet is out of tune because of the heat." We needed to make sure that our instruments were in tune or else the band wouldn't sound nice. If the band sounded out of tune we would have points deducted from our score during the parade. So we each passed around a tuner and adjusted our instruments so that the sound from each of our instruments blended together and produced a pleasing tone. It was not yet time for the parade to start, so each of us sat down on a grassy area under a tree to stay out of the sunlight. The feeling of soft turf underneath my hands and the scent of a freshly mowed grass reminded me of all the effort we had put into this routine. Memories of reviewing the music over and over entered my mind. At the beginning of the band season, I thought I would never be able to memorize all of the music that the band director had given to us. Now, I could read every single note of each piece inside of my mind. I remembered how much we worked on our marching techniques until we looked like soldiers. We had practiced for many hours on the football field next to the school, even during rain, snow, and shine.