My Afterglow Moment: The Queen of Hearts

Written by Hailey Bartholomew

My Afterglow Moment is a series where staff writers and editors share their favorite music-related memories.

During my high school career, I played trumpet in marching band and loved everything about it. Looking back on it now, I know it was super nerdy, but it was still one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I loved the way people worked together and had a collective passion for music, I loved the dedication, and most of all, I loved the unity felt throughout the organization.

Every two years, there is a state championship competition held in San Antonio for marching band in which all 5A and 6A schools in Texas compete. My freshman year, 2011, my band placed 3rd in that state competition with our show titled Queen of Hearts which featured “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. From August of that year all the way until November, the 300 or so people in the band practiced almost every day for countless hours, both in blistering heat and biting cold, and even in the pouring rain. I made some of my closest friends during this time, and without these painstaking months I believe my high school experience would have been vastly lacking. After all of that time spent polishing every note and every step in the show, we made it to the finals of the state championships. Out of the hundreds of 5A and 6A high school bands, we made it into the top ten! We had one last chance to play our hearts out and show everyone what we had so zealously tried to perfect.

Before important shows, each section would gather in a circle just to talk, focus, and get out whatever nerves we had, and even pray while holding hands. Although I’m not a religious person, those moments made me feel like I was a part of something bigger. Together, we put on our hats and gloves, and marched out to an empty field filled with hope.

Playing on the Alamodome field in San Antonio was one of the first occasions in which I fully felt the emotion of a musical piece while simultaneously reflecting on the effort I had contributed, all in the name of music. Most marching shows have a ballad, and during the final note of ours was the moment: the moment that each instrument, each person was playing the same chord, and the release of that chord and the following echo that reverberated around the ceiling of the Alamodome brought a tear to my eye and to many others’. We had about a half a second to just stand in awe of that moment before we had to move onto the next movement, but in that second everyone knew that no matter whether we placed or not, the hard work was so worth it in the end.

That single second of sound, as well as the months and months of preparation, made me realize my need to be surrounded by music. It’s a craving that will constantly be present in me, and the fact that it can bring masses of people together continues to astound me. I always get treasured flashbacks of this period of my life when I hear “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and I know that I will never forget the feeling I had from performing on that field.