In the Margin of the Music

• ○A. It presents the band’s confident movement before revealing the speaker’s separation.
• ○B. It introduces the speaker’s skill before describing a challenge to that skill.
• ○C. It describes an empty room before showing how the musicians fill it.
• ○D. It describes a disappointing ending before explaining the band’s preparation.

• ○A. Half the school year has passed; the musicians move straight into the piece’s ending.
• ○B. January marks the middle of the year; the speaker carries a clarinet case through the doorway.
• ○C. The band plays beneath a held note; the speaker carries the instrument case sideways.
• ○D. The band moves through familiar musical turns; the speaker enters a sound that travels without them.

• ○A. It makes the instruction seem separate from the rehearsal’s events.
• ○B. It interrupts the reading pace and emphasizes the speaker’s exposed moment.
• ○C. It suggests that the speaker has stopped paying attention to words.
• ○D. It makes the director’s instruction sound like a lengthy explanation.

• ○A. “The director lowers her hands.”
• ○B. “My note steps into a silence that belongs to someone else.”
• ○C. “The word lands alone between two rows of chairs.”
• ○D. “I lift the instrument too soon.”

• ○A. It gives equal emphasis to individual actions that together offer support.
• ○B. It ranks the musicians according to their importance in the rehearsal.
• ○C. It suggests that one musician performs every task during the pause.
• ○D. It separates three competing ideas about how the piece should sound.

One player marks my entrance with a pencil borrowed from her pocket.One player taps the waiting beats against the metal music stand.One player hums the phrase that comes immediately before my own.The director turns back to the opening measure, and the room settles into the particular quiet that comes before another try.

• ○A. The count shifts from an easy exercise toward a passage the speaker cannot follow.
• ○B. The count shifts from the director’s command toward the speaker’s spoken reply.
• ○C. The count shifts from private effort toward a rhythm the speaker shares with others.
• ○D. The count shifts from marking a musical entrance toward marking the rehearsal’s end.

• ○A. In stanza 2, shoes tap under chairs; in stanza 6, the piece continues playing.
• ○B. In stanza 2, the speaker counts alone; in stanza 6, the count moves through others’ hands.
• ○C. In stanza 2, a page has a star; in stanza 6, the speaker writes in a margin.
• ○D. In stanza 2, the pages show instructions; in stanza 6, the speaker’s entrance is rough.

• ○A. The speaker’s growing confusion about which musical note comes next.
• ○B. The speaker’s plan to replace the group’s music with a solo passage.
• ○C. The speaker’s new focus on a manageable contribution, made step by step.
• ○D. The speaker’s wish to draw attention away from the other players.

• ○A. Longer lines reject catching up all at once; short lines present a smaller goal.
• ○B. The speaker notices the edge of the page; the speaker hears music across the room.
• ○C. A pencil mark provides a visual cue; a tapping shoe provides a steady beat.
• ○D. The clarinet is lifted first; the flutes carry a familiar phrase afterward.

• ○A. It leaves uncertain whether the speaker has decided to return to band.
• ○B. It presents belonging as something that can grow while learning continues.
• ○C. It suggests that writing instructions matters more than playing together.
• ○D. It makes the speaker’s original timing mistake the rehearsal’s final result.

• ○A. The piece continues playing, and the speaker chooses to write the word LISTEN.
• ○B. The speaker reaches a rest, and the page has a margin wide enough for writing.
• ○C. The count begins with four numbers, and the speaker writes a word in capital letters.
• ○D. The imperfect entrance is part of the music, and the speaker leaves room for tomorrow’s learning.