Hitting the skins

I started playing the drums over 30 years ago. I was pretty serious at it for a while and not too bad. Eventually started College on a partial music scholarship and a music major. Mistake I made was going to a Liberal Arts College that wasn't all that liberal when it came to musical styles (I remember a jury solo we had to perform, I played the drum part from a Police tune which was quite hard. Yeah, they didn't get it). The Jazz Band, of which I was a member for 2 years, pretty much stuck to music from prior to 1970. Good music and I enjoyed it but I wanted to Rock. The fact that I skipped Freshman orientation to go to a rescheduled Def Leppard concert may have been a harbinger. Of course the music dept really didn't know what to make of me with my long hair, concert Tshirts, actual work ethic and real sense of humor. It wasn't long before I realized whatever career I wanted in Music wasn't going to happen there. It was a good school, just not for non-traditional music. So I switched my major (got a music minor) to something that would get me a retirement plan (back when people still thought there would be such a thing), a steady paycheck and vacation pay.
I played in several bands while there, they never went far, people had bigger goals in college.
Played in a few after college and like most bands that don't have an amazing click, they disolved due to internal pressures and drugs. I was just happy to play. (Not surprising I ended up stickfighting either, eh?)
Got my son to play drums in the band starting in the 6th grade as well ("become a drummer, they're the only cool ones in the band"). He enjoyed it and was pretty good at it as well, certainly better with keyboard type stuff like vibes. Eventually he realized the direction of nerdiness the band would take him (and the uptightness of the director) and opted out. That, and the fact that there wasn't enough room in his high school schedule to fit in all the science and advanced placement classes he wanted.
Well, it appears I'm playing again - sort of. My daughter is in the local theater production again this summer and co-opted my wife into it as well.
And oh, they're doing a musical.
Oh, and "you need a percussionist? My husband/father plays"
You see where it's going.

So, I've now sat through two pit orchestra rehersals trying to read the most horendous music scores ever. This is all hand written stuff from back at the time I actually began playing.
Scores for musicals are bastardized based on the desires of the director and this one ranks up there. It goes all over the place.
But I realized last night, my old teachers would be pretty pleased. Even on the first run throughs and just sight reading it I'm hitting 80-90 percent of my part. Despite that I haven't really played from music since 1987. I've always been a good listener and can pick it up despite the music anyway. Must have been all that sight singing, piano and composition classes back in '83, ugh.
But if only they could have picked something a bit more uptempo, even "The Sound of Music"! but I mean "Anne of Green Gables" of all things????