Skip to main content

I Volunteer for This?

Last night, I survived my first summer band rehearsal of the season (it's The Greco Band, should you care to explore the link in the sidebar). This band is a hodge-podge mix of people from the community, at least 70 of them at varying levels of musical ability. The key players sit first chair, but from second chair down, it's any body's guess. I sit second, but sometimes I think I should sit last given my apparent inability to count swing rhythms.

I have read Peahen's descriptions of her community band--they have a CD, they wear snappy jackets, they play well--we are none of those things. We are a big bunch of sweaty, noisy, obnoxious musicians. We are the ones you hope don't embarrass you at family gatherings. We are the ones you cross the street to avoid having to greet. We are the ones you seat at the back table so the mess we make doesn't disturb your other guests. And after we leave, you have to employ a team of industrial workers to clean up the crumbs and spilled beer.

I volunteer for this band every summer--only God knows why, but I love every minute of it. At last night's rehearsal, the trumpets played triple forte with every note right or wrong, the percussionists lost half the music, the conductor directed more like a creature with wings and less like a human with one arm that is meant to clearly provide a down beat, and I sat in the middle of it all with a big, fat smile on my face.

Here's a joke from the mechanic who plays trombone. When the conductor was trying to work through a piece, he said something like "there are two kinds of transitions." And the trombone player says, "There's automatic and there's manual." ka ching.

To finish the evening, we played Stars and Stripes Forever (by the way, this song serves well when someone is saying something you don't want to hear--cover your ears and hum it until they stop talking). My stand partner turned the music upside down, and we played it through, nearly perfect.

Yep, that's my band. That's what I volunteer for every summer.

Comments

sweaty, noisy, obnoxious musicians - I love it!! But musicians are good hearted folks on the inside are't we?

Sound like fun Robyn - why else would you be there?
oh BTW the boys in the photo... are they looking for their sheet music?
Great photo!
Anonymous said…
Yep, gotta love 'em! I'm still waiting for a keyboard part to come my way so that I, too, can join that sweaty, noisy, obnoxious group! :)
PF
Anonymous said…
what a great pic.
dive said…
Cool!
Robyn, all real musicians are sweaty, loud and obnoxious; that (and the beer) is why we do it.

And I love that picture. A tromboner at the urinal!
Gina said…
It sounds like a blast!
peahen said…
Hi Robyn, thanks for the mention! I always enjoy your musical posts. That photo made me laugh out loud. Rich - I'm sure there's a joke there somewhere about pizzicato, but as they're the brass section rather than the strings, it'll probably have to involve valves or water keys. You make it up.
Is there an award for the absolute most unique picture on a blogpost??!! I'll nominate you proudly, girl!

Popular posts from this blog

Cindy Loo Who In October

What is it with people and Cindy Loo Who? Of my last one hundred blog hits, forty have been direct visits from regular readers, and fifteen have been as a result of people searching for "Cindy Loo Who," the little pixie from Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas . A couple of years ago, I posted an image of the original Seuss illustration as compared to the TV cartoon image, and for some reason, that post is bringing in the crowds, relatively. Maybe it's the weather. It isn't even November yet, and already we've had frost and have had to dust off our winter coats. When it gets cold like this, I start to think about Christmasy things like listening to Nat King Cole and decorating the tree. It's ironic because I am offended when retailers start pushing holiday stuff early, but I don't mind my own private celebrations. When my sister and I were much younger and still living with our parents, we would pick a day in July, close the curtains to darken the ...

Happy Birthday To...

Pope Leo IX (the Pope) JCF Bach (German composer) Jane Russell (of Gentlemen Prefer Blonds fame) Daniel Carter Beard (founder of the Boy Scouts of America) Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher) Maureen Stapleton (Academy Award winning actress) Mariette Hartley (who?) Prince William of Wales (the prince) but most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 45 years ago today, I was born in Alabama in a small town on the banks of the Tennessee River. Yesterday, someone asked me if my family has any birthday traditions. The answer is no. My family never cared very much, but I do remember a few birthday highlights. I was given a birthday party in the back yard when I was ten years old. Two years later, my sister got married on my birthday, so I was just a bit overlooked, although I did get a stuffed animal--it was a white Yorkshire terrier with an AM radio in its stomach. When I turned 20, a different sister took me to an outdoor performance of Dvorak's New World Sympho...