We played our pep tunes, and we just went through with everything, and it didn\u2019t stop us from doing what we knew we had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When her fifth-grade class studied the recorder, Roden found a deeper connection to music. It was more than a grade for Roden, who would stay after school learning how to play and read music. The decision to join the middle school band was an easy one. On the other hand, choosing an instrument seemed a bit harder until she picked up the trombone, brought it to her mouth, and began to play. Band teacher Mrs. Watts told her immediately it was the instrument for her. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what I was doing, because I\u2019d never picked up an instrument like that before. I don\u2019t think I could see myself playing anything else,\u201d Roden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before she discovered the trombone, Roden listened to and sang along with the music; now, she is a part of the music. She said, \u201cI\u2019ve always loved music. I\u2019m always singing with the radio; whether in my car or at work, I\u2019m singing. Beforehand, I just saw music as one of those things I could always go to, whether I needed help, was down, or even when I was happy. Now, if I need music, I don\u2019t just have to listen to it; I can get out my trombone and play it. It\u2019s therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the drums may be the heartbeat of Friday night games, there\u2019s more behind it. \u201cThrough my eyes, trombones are the backbone. We support everybody, and in a lot of songs, we have the main melody. When we have our parts down, everybody else knows this is where we\u2019re at. They can thank us for giving the main melody and supporting the next part of the song,\u201d Roden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like someone dear to us that we thought would always be here, we may take the band\u2019s contribution to games for granted. A void exists if the band is absent. The rhythms are off, and the energy is weakened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The band is part of our community, and our community is part of the band. Its most vital assets support performances and life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roden said, \u201cBand is really all about spirit, teamwork, and communication, because without communication we can\u2019t really help each other. It doesn\u2019t even have to be talking. We don\u2019t have to verbally talk to communicate with one another. If we\u2019re marching and walking past someone, all you have to do is give a certain look or make a certain movement, and they know, \u201cI have to fix this, or, okay, this is what we\u2019re about to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the band community and in everything she does, Roden is the backbone. \u201cI\u2019ve always been that friend that, no matter what, I\u2019m always here for you, always supporting you. People can literally fall back on me. I\u2019m that backbone, right there supporting everybody and helping everybody else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roden is wired for community. She lives to lend her support to everyone around her. On her job at the register at Food City, customers become family and friends who often share their stories with her. She offers a listening ear and focuses on the positives she finds in each of them. Her outlook sings out through her description of her job. \u201cBesides the register, if you stay late at night you get to do chores, and there are times when you have the opportunity to go and do somebody else\u2019s job in a different department.\u201d Roden shines with a get-to attitude fueled by her love of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Roden, music and band will go with her into college, where she\u2019ll join a new community and continue lending her support to university spirit. She already sees band, beyond college, continuing to influence her life. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to keep it with me for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whenever I\u2019m older and have kids, that\u2019ll be stories I can share with them and possibly influence them to look up to me. Whenever I have old friends over or try to make new friends, it won\u2019t really be as awkward because I can always say, \u2018Hey, I was in [the] band, and I have all these amazing stories I can share,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps in uniform, Roden carries on the story her aunt, Melanie Walker, began as a band member in middle school. \u201cI\u2019m adding onto her story, doing things she didn\u2019t get to complete,\u201d Roden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhenever you\u2019re in uniform, it\u2019s not only about character; it\u2019s pride, because you\u2019re with a band that you didn\u2019t really expect to become your second family. Being in the same uniform as everyone else, we\u2019re all the same. We\u2019re doing our job. It\u2019s rebel pride, taking pride in what we do. It shows a lot about us and who we are,\u201d Roden said. It\u2019s the theme song of Roden\u2019s life. GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE AIR is charged with chatter, a unique language of melody and scales. As the scoreboard clock counts down, they run through the Star-Spangled Banner and pep tunes, more tradition than technique. Soon, they fall naturally into position to begin their march to the field. Cadence begins at the drums\u2019 signal, followed by each instrument\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC00346-1024x683.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC00482-2-1024x683.jpg\")