Last night we went to the town-wide elementary school orchestra and band concert. Harry was playing with the orchestra, but we stuck around for the band, too (it seemed at least polite not to get up and leave mid-concert, after all). We were glad we did.
In the first place, they played decently. Not brilliantly, but you know, they're 5th graders, so one can hardly explain. The great part, though, was the discipline, and the kind of discipline, the director had them under. When he raised his baton, they more or less brought their instruments to what I'll describe as "attention" (not being a band musician, I have no clue what that 'ready' position is called). They were a little inconsistent about exactly how quickly they did it, but they all did it. Then, as he counted off before they actually began to play, all their toes started to tap in time. So they'd begin with "thump thump thump" and then the music would kick in. It was hysterical to watch, although I'm sure that wasn't the point. It also meant that they were all starting in time, which with a 5th grade band can be quite a trick. And it meant that they were all quite clearly taking direction from him. The importance of this last cannot be underestimated.
Whenever I go to one of these concerts, I'm reminded of when I was in middle school and my sister was in 5th grade. We went to a concert, and the conductor explained they were going to play the overture from Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado." He blew it, however, by joking beforehand that it wasn't supposed to sound like some kind of Native American dance. If he had just waited until after, it would have been insanely funny. If you know the music, you can imagine--it's supposed to go "dum dum dum-dum, dum dum dum-dum, dum dum dum-dum dum-dum-dum," but with these guys it went "DUM DUM dum-dum, DUM DUM dum-dum, DUM DUM dum-dum dum-dum-dum" Well, hopefully you get my point...
Off to talk about Latin American natural resources to 6th graders...
In the first place, they played decently. Not brilliantly, but you know, they're 5th graders, so one can hardly explain. The great part, though, was the discipline, and the kind of discipline, the director had them under. When he raised his baton, they more or less brought their instruments to what I'll describe as "attention" (not being a band musician, I have no clue what that 'ready' position is called). They were a little inconsistent about exactly how quickly they did it, but they all did it. Then, as he counted off before they actually began to play, all their toes started to tap in time. So they'd begin with "thump thump thump" and then the music would kick in. It was hysterical to watch, although I'm sure that wasn't the point. It also meant that they were all starting in time, which with a 5th grade band can be quite a trick. And it meant that they were all quite clearly taking direction from him. The importance of this last cannot be underestimated.
Whenever I go to one of these concerts, I'm reminded of when I was in middle school and my sister was in 5th grade. We went to a concert, and the conductor explained they were going to play the overture from Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado." He blew it, however, by joking beforehand that it wasn't supposed to sound like some kind of Native American dance. If he had just waited until after, it would have been insanely funny. If you know the music, you can imagine--it's supposed to go "dum dum dum-dum, dum dum dum-dum, dum dum dum-dum dum-dum-dum," but with these guys it went "DUM DUM dum-dum, DUM DUM dum-dum, DUM DUM dum-dum dum-dum-dum" Well, hopefully you get my point...
Off to talk about Latin American natural resources to 6th graders...
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