I started the clarinet in 7th grade. In 9th grade I switched to bass clarinet, and in high school I switched to contrabass clarinet (that's a monster of a thing!!!) For marching band in high school I was a flag, though.
I went to college as a flag first semester, but I got mono and missed the last 2 football games of the season (the Saturday before I was diagnosed with mono I was sitting in the stands during a football game while it was
snowing!) After my 3 week hiatus from campus (yep, was banned from campus by my doc!). The week I came back was tryouts for concert band chairs. The band director said "You're tryout is on Thursday, here's the music, you'll play clarinet, not bass or contrabass. No we can't delay the tryout so you can learn the music." Umm, yeah...up yours. That was the end of my band career.
I guess my mono self just wasn't "dedicated".
