Good job! I'm happy to hear you are in a school that still promotes chair placement and healthy competition. There is a lot of touchy/feely stuff about how it should be about music and not about who is better or "best," and blah blah blah.... I believe that attitude is the path to mediocrity.
I understand the feeling though. When I was in 7th grade and in the 7th/8th grade band, I once did a chair placement tryout that bumped me from almost dead last (a tryout I didn't prepare for) to 3rd in the band's trumpet section. I stayed there the rest of the year but still in the 1st section behind an 8th grader and another 7th grader named Shawn. The following year me and Shawn battled for 1st chair - I think I probably held it longer than he did, but he did bump me once. As I recall it, he started the year as 1st, I bumped him, he bumped me back, and then I wound up with it by the end of the year. Then came HS band - ultimately I spent much more time as 1st than anything else, (Shawn kind of peaked around that time but I continued to step it up and advance) but it didn't start that way and I didn't take 1st until halfway through my 10th grade year.
And then the "real deal" began. As an Army Bandsman, there weren't "chairs" per se, but there were other indicators that let you know where you stood among the section as a whole, part of which were the ensembles that were secondary to the concert band and the ceremonial band, such as the big band and the brass quintet, both of which I became a part of. The big band had 4 trumpet players and the quintet had only 2.
Sorry for subjecting you to my meander down memory lane.
In any case, good job, keep up the great work, and I hope you are able to hold on to the seat. Just remember, while talent is a wonderful thing to have, many talented players have been trumped by players with less talent who were willing to work hard, so get to work! Haha!
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