As a child, Tim Burton’s films would intrigue me, but mostly terrify me. There was more nightmare fuel in his films to an impressionable suburban person such as myself, that I was often hesitant. From Barbara Maitland tearing her face off, to Selina Kyle having a total breakdown, a lot of things freaked me out.

I might not have gotten over this, if not for my band director, and our high school marching band.

Our director was an artist, and it seemed he embraced the works of Burton and Elfman. My freshman year, we played music from a number of Burton films, and slowly, I began to explore more of the Burton filmography as I saw so many people around me embracing the works.

Needless to say, by the time “Mars Attacks” was previewing trailers, I was more ready to embrace that film, and went into it ready for whatever Burton could throw at me. A year afterwards, we played the theme from it and a few other Burton works my Senior Year, and I felt like I could go back and handle anything that had terrified me before.

The link is to a performance by the high school band a few years after I graduated, but it’s pretty close to what I did as a Freshman and a Senior. Just thought I’d share some of what my old band director did, that helped me get over my fears.

How my high school band director helped me work through my unease with Burton’s films