Middle school is one of those times that is just flat out terrible, let's all be honest with

ourselves. Between all the changing that happens physically, mentally, and even changes in

environment, trying to survive the jungle of middle school is a difficult time for many students.

However, it is one of the most defining moments in life for figuring yourself out and finding

your place in life. All of our social interactions, our time by ourselves, and the time we spent in

school make for something that starts to define us as we grow. We can all agree that band class

was one of the best classes we had, or in my case orchestra, but can we really explain why? Sure,

the music and friends are great, or at least I hope they were, but in my case, I always thought it

was the teacher. Ms. Mordente always seeming to have bad luck when it came down to it,

whether it was being moved to a tiny closet of a class room or having concert dates being moved

the day of due to snow or the principal just wanting to, but she was one of my favorite teachers

to have throughout my middle school terror. She was an upright bass player who not only knew

everything and anything about stringed instruments, but was also pretty cool about picking songs

and pieces for us to play. There were times were class might have been talking about Trogdor

the Burninator and learning how to draw him, there was other times we would talk about proper

bow position, then the next day it was back to playing Rosin eating zombies from space or

Dragon Slayer, which ever wacky song we decided on playing. There was such a relaxed feeling

about the class that I felt like I fit right in, and I did. The one thing that I do remember however,

Ms. Mordente was not one to take rules lightly. There were times when she would yell at the

students for not practicing or not doing something that was practiced over and over, which I feel

might just be part of a music teachers' job in all honesty, yelling at students who don’t practice.

When I think back to it, that’s about a good 20% of the job if I take the average of all of my band

teachers. The one thing that really pushed me to stay with my musical career is when she put me
in Jazz band. In elementary school, I played upright in jazz band, just as a little fun thing that

was more of a need for the band than a want for me to actually be in. In middle school, however,

Ms. Mordente brought her own personal Viola bass to school, sat down with me to teach me how

to play, and pretty much ruined my life by making me buy tons of basses because I love playing

so much. I even found my own viola bass to practice and play with just for the nostalgic feeling

of practicing in the cold dingy closet I called a band room. The fact that she sat down and taught

me how to play, but also the trust she put in me for playing on her bass was something that I feel

more middle schoolers need in their lives, as it creates such a strong feeling of maturity and

responsibility that can’t be taught as well in any other class. I still remember all of my music

teachers' names, but Ms. Mordente is the one that sticks because middle school sucked, but every

day I would walk into orchestra class, it was nothing but a big smile on my face no matter how

tough the day ahead was in class, and especially in Jazz band.