As most of you know, I am working with my municipality's band in hopeful preparation for our Independence Day parade on September 15. This has been a process. Here are my observations thus far.
Andrea's 10 Laws of Honduran Marching Bands:
1) The instrumentation of the band depends on the instruments available. The number of students in the band also depends on the number of instruments available.
2) The instruments shall never be tuned.
3) If it is remotely long and slender and made of wood, metal, or plastic, it is an acceptable drumstick.
4) If you don't know how to play the instrument, just play random notes as loudly as possible.
5) Do not... I repeat, do NOT... give the big tall dopey-looking kid a low brass instrument (see law 4).
6) Don't play the trombone. The slide will stick. Hondurans fry everything in a vat of oil, but there's not a drop of slide oil to be found.
7) Any drum can be made into a marching drum by simply attaching a belt to it.
8) It is impossible to expain anything band-related in a 2nd language (for example, how to get a sound out of a clarinet).
9) Even if you can explain it in Spanish, don't bother trying to teach kids the clarinet. If they manage to produce a sound, it will be inaudible in the cacophony (see law 5).
10) Have fun. Wear earplugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment