Stepping Out

Today I took a vacation from my vacation of doing nothing to do something. Fresh air is good. Getting out of the house is very good. And, most of the time, playing music is good. And so my father and I set out to play in a holiday parade in a part of Long Island generally referred to as “out East”.

We were to meet the band leader in his hometown “out East” where a van would drive us to another town “out East” where a holiday parade was being held. Because the band leader is nervous when it comes to time he had asked us to meet at 4PM when, as our suspicions were later confirmed, the parade didn't actually start until 6. We were giving a trumpet player a ride and though where we were meeting him was twenty minutes from our home, we left a good half hour before we were scheduled to meet because my dad is also nervous with time.

We arrived at 4 and waited half an hour for a drummer to arrive by train from Brooklyn, after which we all boarded the van and were on our way. It was a nice drive, and we even passed a movie theater my ex-girlfriend used to fondly refer to as “our little theater in the woods”. It was neither little nor technically in the woods, but from the highway all you could see were trees and the marquis by the entrance, a long driveway that led to a multiplex at the center of a big open area surrounded on all sides by trees which did a wonderful job muting the sounds of traffic and giving the illusion of being more secluded than it actually was. I miss that theater. Miss the girl more. Good times, most likely the best of my life. Sentence fragments, most likely from reading too much Claremont Wolverine dialogue. Best there is at what I do, makin' obscure references bub.

Musical instruments, especially brass, tend to sound worse the colder they are. So we played to keep them in tune while we waited, because it was FREEZING out there. It was rest-my-head-on-a-pillow-made-of-concrete cold. We were 47th out of 74 groups, and the crowd was immense. Finally at 6:30 it was our turn to play and when we rounded the corner, launched into THE most out-of-tune uncoordinated rendition of Jingle Bells I'd ever heard. For one thing the instruments had gotten cold again. For another our leader decided to start on the CHORUS. And of course, since he didn't hand out any music or tell us ahead of time what songs he was going to play since he chose them all on the fly, we had to guess what key we would all be in. I don't know why he never hands out music. I have no problem playing songs from memory although my dad and a few other guys do, but this particular band only has one Christmas gig a year. It's one thing to play all the Italian songs in our repertoire that we've done together so many times we KNOW how we're playing, and in what key. It's another for him to decide on the street, “OK guys let's play SANTA!!” and discern specifics. Still, either alcohol, intense cold, or untrained ears were on our side since the crowd roared in approval with every song we played, and seemingly were sincere. A long time ago a very wise music teacher told me never to get hung up on a wrong note on stage. Though I would know it was wrong, the audience wouldn't unless I stopped playing, or kicked my stand in anger, or some other noticeable giveaway. No matter what when performing, it's important to just keep moving forward.

We moved forward for about a half hour, and then had to freeze for another hour waiting for our van to arrive. Considering how far out the gig was from where I live, it made no sense meeting the van. It would have been better to drive directly to the parade location. We would not have had to meet as early, and we could have gone home as soon as we were done. If he didn't have to rent a van, our boss could have paid us a little better for the job as well. All in all it was fun while we were playing to the crowds of delighted parents and children though, as insane as they were to be out in the cold. And I've definitely had colder jobs. Several tree-lightings with a Baroque quintet I belonged to spring to mind. Thank GOD Hot Chocolate was served on these occasions. It was good to step out, but it's better to be home now.