I’ve been living the band mom life for the last seven years, and it’s about to come to an end. My senior will graduate in May. I’ve lived the thrill of victory with straight 1s and best in class and celebrated afterwards with pizza and skeeball at Chuck-E-Cheese. But I’ve also suffered the agony of defeat, right along with the kids, with hearing the dreaded “2–2–2–for an overall 2” and the ensuing tears and sniffles during a sad bus ride home.

But one of the best things, and the worst, about participation in school band, is getting to do honor bands, The best, because it lets you earn medals. Meek High School band kids are known for their jingle when they walk.

But earning that medal isn’t as easy as you think.

For those of you not in the band world, here’s the rule taken directly from the Alabama Bandmasters Association’s All State Festival and Auditions Article XV, section 2c:

“A student auditioning for the High School Bands must correctly play a minimum of seven (7) major scales with their related arpeggios, and a student auditioning for the Middle School Band must correctly play five (5) major scales with their related arpeggios to advance to the Prepared Studies and Sight Reading portions of the All-State Band audition.”

In other words, you gotta pass your scales before moving on to the other stuff. Gotta know your fundamentals, or no chance for an All State medal for you.

There are twelve major scales and their related arpeggios students play as part of the All State audition, along with a couple of nifty minor scales and the chromatic scale. It’s free points for students who know them all.

But way too many students show up at the audition and fail to make it through their scales. They either didn’t spend enough time practicing, or tryout jitters got the best of them. It’s a sad thing to see a kid come out of their scales session with that look of disbelief, or shock, or teary-eyed frustration.

They might have practiced their prepared studies for hours. They might have sight-read music to sharpen their ability to play a piece well after seeing it for only a few seconds.

It doesn’t matter if they can’t pass off only seven scales for high school and five for middle school.

It may seem a little harsh, but it’s part of the process, so the point is to know your fundamentals, or the rest doesn’t even count.

In our “cart before the horse” kind of world, where we expect to earn the accolades before putting in the real work, it’s a hard lesson for a kid to learn. But it’s a good one, and it’s one adults should remember as well. It’s easy for us to think we’re going to win the race, when we haven’t bothered to run a lap in practice.

Do you give lip service to what is expected of you and live a delusion of grandeur, or when the rubber meets the road, and the judge gives you a score, will you pass the test?

I’m thankful that God makes things simple. There is no tryout session of scales in order to make it to the next phase of the judging process. As a former band member myself, I’m glad I won’t have to worry about missing the D flat.

But there is a judgment coming, and we who are alive and kicking should prepare for it:

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

II Timothy 4:1-5

For we who believe, the instructions are clear. We are to preach the Word, but before we can do that, we’ve got to know it like a band kid who knows those scales. It takes reading and studying, praying and growing to know the fundamentals of our faith. We should be prepared at all times to represent our Lord in a world that has always denied Him.

For those of you who do not believe, there’s still a judgment coming. A one and done kind of deal, so to speak.

You’ve either believed Jesus is Lord, or you haven’t.

It’s a lot easier than learning a bunch of scales.

And the reward is far greater than a little bitty dinky medal.