The leader of the vibraphones, Lillian Monroe (10). Monroe is the first chair vibraphone, meaning she is the leader and helper of her fellow vibraphones. With an avid passion for all things music and writing, she stands as a focal point for fellow musicians at MCHS to look up to and admire. With her dedication to music and helping others, it is a wonder she isn’t as talked about as she should be. Especially when her instinct leads her to help build the confidence of her fellow players.
Monroe has been known to help build the confidence of her fellow vibraphones and bring out the best in them.
“I got the other two out of their comfort zones, and they play much better than they ever have before,”
Monroe says regarding her two fellow vibraphones, while she enjoys teaching she says that she doesn’t know how to explain certain things, and much prefers to use examples. When asked further what she meant, she explained that she just can’t get certain words across, and when it comes to helping someone she uses examples so that both she and the pupil she’s teaching get the point across. The vibraphones have to do a bobbing motion when it comes to marching, and she has instructed them to act like they are digging for ice cream so that they can be on time with the rest of the Marching Band. While she is an excellent teacher and player, her love of music doesn’t just stop there. She also enjoys listening to music in her spare time.
When asked about favorite music genres, Monroe told us that indie music is her favorite musical genre. But that doesn’t stop her from enjoying hit pop artists.
“I’ll like, listen to a good ole’ Harry Styles, Connan Gray, or Olivia Rodrigo, just not stuff like Driver’s License,”
Monroe tells us later on. Showing her innate love for the unknown music, and how she pumps herself up for a hard day in the marching band.
We also asked her in the interview if she had other hobbies apart from music, and she shared that she’s always been a writer and a book lover. Between both writing and reading, she enjoys romance and fancies herself a bit of a romantic. She has tried to write her own stories but worries that she can’t make good plot twists and can’t build her characters how she envisions them. Her struggle with the plot twists and character building shows us a more human side of her, a person with flaws. However, the next thing I’ll bring up about her might make a few people a little jealous. 
On top of all that, she is also an extraordinary mathematician. With her enjoyment and excellence in math putting her at the top of her class she tells us
“I really like math, math is probably my strongest.”
Even at some points mentioning how doing math as a career wouldn’t be doing a disservice to her because she enjoys doing it, but we showed up here for more of the band side of her, so let us jump back into band.
When asked more about her experience in band, and when it comes to band competitions she explained that the people are what she loves about competitions and being in the band. The connections she has made with her fellow band members have brought them closer in a way that no other could. Her best memory from a band competition was her father It wasn’t my dad that had rented the Uhaul, it was Lovell, but my dad is on pit crew chilling in the truckrenting a Uhaul and putting hammocks in it so everyone could take a rest. In that same Uhaul, and competition, she said that she and her friend had a two-hour-long Connect 4 competition. It’s these experiences that have made her the truly remarkable person she is today. On top of that, she even allowed us to share her experience of rediscovering religion.
She has shared her journey in re-finding religion. She was an atheist for a good bit of time but found that she didn’t come to enjoy the person she was becoming. She told us that she was gossipy, and all around a person that she no longer found interest in being or further becoming. So, after going down to her family’s non-denominational church she found a new interest in religion. After her first re-experience, she goes down to church frequently, and hopes to stay on the track she believes is right. She says that with the new twist in faith, she believes she is becoming a much better person. 
On the note of speaking of her character, during the interview, we found that she believes that you should put other people’s betterment above your own, which is very thoughtful of her when quite a bit of people would step on others to get ahead. When discussing the people who play vibraphone with her, she stated that she wants them to get better before she gets better. Further showing what we mentioned before at the very start, that she cares about her fellow bandmates, and wants them to succeed and be the best that they can be—truly showing how she puts other people above, or before, herself.
With such a kind, genuine, and seemingly caring person it is still a wonder to me how others haven’t noticed the rising star hiding within the Marching Bands Front Line. A person who not only cares about music and writing but about being a better person and helping others be better themselves. We have Monroe the romantic, the future mathematician, the future musician, and the future writer. A person with such an excellent set-up in life who could truly branch off into doing other things, and a person who chooses to stick with what she wants to do because being the best her, is important to her. So, we have the shining person hidden practically unnoticed, by non-marching people, the Front Line. A person who helps others teaches them the best that she can do and a person who is willing to admit to their faults.
