me and the post

As some of you may or may not know, i have a propensity for sitting next to/behind posts or potted plants. Tonight was no different.

On friday i joined the local community band. Tonight was my first time playing with them. My mom sent me an instrument by bus yesterday and i practiced some old music from high school. I wasnt too worried about tonight because i thought i sounded ok when i practiced. But i had forgotten to take into consideration the familiarity with the music. Now i have never been even a passable sight-reader but it has never shown in the past because there has always been a hoard of people playing my part or something like it for me to follow. This is no longer the case. What kind of band doesn't have any flutes?! Seriously. Flutes are the plague of musical instruments. And quite frankly, i hate playing it. It's the plague of my time.

The only thing worse than sight-reading unfamiliar music is sight-reading unfamiliar music that everyone in the band has been playing for the past 10-20 years, is handwritten in 75 year-old chicken scratch, and no one else is playing your part.

Half way through i stopped playing because i suspected my instrument was sharp. There had been no warm-up. Shouldn't we have had a warm-up to, you know, tune our instruments or something?!

In the band there are 3 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, a trumpet, (an absent trombone), a tenor sax, an electric bass, and a percussionist. I sat between the clarinets (on the wrong side of them according to every other band i've been in across the country) and the post. On the other side of the post was the drum kit. Yep, me and the drums. Who sets up their band like this?!

I really should stick with the flute because it is the instrument i play the best and it would fit the best with what they already have, but i despise it. If i'm going to suck, i might as well suck on an instrument i like. Next week, i'm playing the oboe. Sure it'll sound unbalanced and i'll play it poorly but at least i can happily use the excuse that i'm still learning it.