How many of you played in school band or music programs?

[lefort_1]

oh yeah, I forgot to mention:

In the 5th and 6th grades, I was part of a 50+ voice Boys Chorus at Harding Elementary in Corvallis.

We were not 'hand picked' voices...it was all the boys of that age.

Our instructor was a lady by the name of Joyce Eilers, who later went on to some level of notoriety and success in the college-level chorale teaching, writing world. She taught us, a real ragtag group, to sing exacting 3 and 4 part harmonies that were decidedly NOT barbershop material (NOT everyone on a third).

Somehow, she convinced an educational record label to record/press a few hundred vinyl albums of us...one for each year in the 5 th and 6th grades.

I'm pretty sure my mother still has those. I gotta gett'em onto more modern media.

[Beyer160]

I was a drummer in my 4th grade school band until I got kicked out, which was basically my Dad's fault.

I'm not sure how I wound up in band in the first place- for better or worse I've never been a "joiner", so I think my parents must have forced me into it. I'm pretty sure I chose drums because they were loud and involved hitting things. 4th grade band in our school was basically a way of weeding out the kids who (like me) didn't really want to be there, and our teacher was brutally efficient. Anyway, a few months into my tenure there was a combined 4th-6th grade Winter Concert. My folks said I couldn't quit until Christmas, so I was still kicking around. The 4th grade "drummers" lined up our practice pads on a table at the back of the band, and there was obviously no point in our hitting them at all since even we wouldn't be able to hear them over the cacophony. I was looking forward to the whole thing being over when something happened.

About a minute before the concert started, the 6th grade kid who was playing the bass drum dropped the mallet and ran away, I guess he had stage fright. I figured "what the hell", walked over and picked up the mallet, and promoted myself from the least important member of the percussion section to one of the key members of the entire band. The music teacher didn't realize what happened until we were into the first number, and I thought his head was going to explode when he saw me.

At this point, I have to explain what my father has to do with this. When I chose drums as my band instrument, Dad took me into the living room, spooled up his reel-to-reel deck, and played me Cream's "Wheels Of Fire." "This guy's name is Ginger Baker" he told me in a reverent tone as if he were introducing me to the Holy Trinity. I was too young to really understand what I was hearing, but I did realize that Ginger Baker guy could wail.

So, in my debut as bass drummer and timekeeper for my school band, I decided the best thing to do was to play like Ginger Baker. In my memory, I played dizzyingly dynamic, inventive polyrhythms under the staid, boring holiday classics the rest of the kids were droning out. In reality though, I was just a 10 year old beating the {censored} out of a bass drum while 40 other kids tried like hell to maintain whatever vague semblance of time they had. I do know I hit that drum hard though, because I remember hearing the sound reverberating around the gym and loving it. I knew Ginger Baker would approve.

For my enthusiasm and sudden renewed interest in music, I was asked to leave the band. This was fine with me though, because even then I knew I had bigger fish to fry. In a couple years I would take up guitar, because I realized guitars could be WAY louder than drums.

[Beyer160]

I was a drummer in my 4th grade school band until I got kicked out, which was basically my Dad's fault.

I'm not sure how I wound up in band in the first place- for better or worse I've never been a "joiner", so I think my parents must have forced me into it. I'm pretty sure I chose drums because they were loud and involved hitting things. 4th grade band in our school was basically a way of weeding out the kids who (like me) didn't really want to be there, and our teacher was brutally efficient. Anyway, a few months into my tenure there was a combined 4th-6th grade Winter Concert. My folks said I couldn't quit until Christmas, so I was still kicking around. The 4th grade "drummers" lined up our practice pads on a table at the back of the band, and there was obviously no point in our hitting them at all since even we wouldn't be able to hear them over the cacophony. I was looking forward to the whole thing being over when something happened.

About a minute before the concert started, the 6th grade kid who was playing the bass drum dropped the mallet and ran away, I guess he had stage fright. I figured "what the hell", walked over and picked up the mallet, and promoted myself from the least important member of the percussion section to one of the key members of the entire band. The music teacher didn't realize what happened until we were into the first number, and I thought his head was going to explode when he saw me.

At this point, I have to explain what my father has to do with this. When I chose drums as my band instrument, Dad took me into the living room, spooled up his reel-to-reel deck, and played me Cream's "Wheels Of Fire." "This guy's name is Ginger Baker" he told me in a reverent tone as if he were introducing me to the Holy Trinity. I was too young to really understand what I was hearing, but I did realize that Ginger Baker guy could wail.

So, in my debut as bass drummer and timekeeper for my school band, I decided the best thing to do was to play like Ginger Baker. In my memory, I played dizzyingly dynamic, inventive polyrhythms under the staid, boring holiday classics the rest of the kids were droning out. In reality though, I was just a 10 year old beating the {censored} out of a bass drum while 40 other kids tried like hell to maintain whatever vague semblance of time they had. I do know I hit that drum hard though, because I remember hearing the sound reverberating around the gym and loving it. I knew Ginger Baker would approve.

For my enthusiasm and sudden renewed interest in music, I was asked to leave the band. This was fine with me though, because even then I knew I had bigger fish to fry. In a couple years I would take up guitar, because I realized guitars could be WAY louder than drums.

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

i played sax when i was in 6-7 grade then dropped in when i got sent to a different school with no music program. back in public school, i started playing piano years later in the middle of my junior year. i immediately decided music was what i wanted to purue in life so i started taking private jazz lessons and in school both choir and an intro to music theory course. i did really well in the theory, so my senior year i did music theory AP and lucked out by having only one other student in my class (who was an all-state french horn player). we pushed each other so hard and tried to outdo each other that we were scoring 12-tone compositions for full orchestra by the end of the year as well as transcribing complex 4-part vocal harmonies. we did voice and ear-training every day, learned how to write for most instruments including percussion and even explored more esoteric compositional/instrumental styles like that of harry partch, steve reich, charles ives and more. i kept taking choir the same year as well as enrolling in jazz band. i wasn't that great of a player, but my drive outweighed my skill and i was able to keep up with everyone (it helped that it also wasn't that great of a band...).

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

i played sax when i was in 6-7 grade then dropped in when i got sent to a different school with no music program. back in public school, i started playing piano years later in the middle of my junior year. i immediately decided music was what i wanted to purue in life so i started taking private jazz lessons and in school both choir and an intro to music theory course. i did really well in the theory, so my senior year i did music theory AP and lucked out by having only one other student in my class (who was an all-state french horn player). we pushed each other so hard and tried to outdo each other that we were scoring 12-tone compositions for full orchestra by the end of the year as well as transcribing complex 4-part vocal harmonies. we did voice and ear-training every day, learned how to write for most instruments including percussion and even explored more esoteric compositional/instrumental styles like that of harry partch, steve reich, charles ives and more. i kept taking choir the same year as well as enrolling in jazz band. i wasn't that great of a player, but my drive outweighed my skill and i was able to keep up with everyone (it helped that it also wasn't that great of a band...).

[TomCTC]

I did, yes. Great memories and great music created with those groups that I think helped shape me into the musician that I am today.

[TomCTC]

I did, yes. Great memories and great music created with those groups that I think helped shape me into the musician that I am today.

[Jenesis]

I used to be in the choir at primary school. Before it all dropped. In my pre-hair days.

[Jenesis]

I used to be in the choir at primary school. Before it all dropped. In my pre-hair days.

[chevybusa]

 

Originally Posted by BG76

I played guitar in my high school jazz band. I never met a group of people who were less interested in helping students as the teachers in my high school music program.

 

+INFINITY!!!! Had the EXACT same experience...I started playing guitar in 5th grade when Metallica's Black album came out (it was Kirk's solo in Enter Sandman that made me want to play, I would rewind the cassette over and over and over just to listen to it, it was MONTHS before I listened to the rest of the album LOL) and luckily my old man made me take classical guitar lessons for 2 years....I was really lucky to have a fantastic teacher, he was a grad student at the Hartt School Of Music, and even though I didn't really take it as seriously as I should have cuz I just wanted to shred on electric, it was absolutely invaluable, I wouldn't be HALF the muso I am today without that experience, and it gave me a really solid foundation in theory....

I was in my HS jazz band AND jazz combo (which was the best of the best of the jazz band, and was just me, the drummer, stand up bassist, a floutist, sax player, trumpet player (who also played electric violin), and trombone player....

I couldn't agree more about the teacher being any more useless, he literally didn't teach us a THING...he would just hand out sheet music for jazz band, then stand in front of everybody, just listening, with this annoyed look on his face, and would get pissed off if it wasn't up to his standards and would get all andgry and loudly and irately ramble on about how he was the greatest sax player in Mass in 1976 (even though he was "teaching" in CT in 97-99, I was in both of them my junior and senior years)...but seriously, it was {censored}ing REDICULOUS, he literally never tought us one single {censored}ing thing, no joke...

Then for jazz combo, we were completely on our own!!! No joke!!! He gave us no guidance whatsoever, it was totally up to us what to play at pep rallies and other town events and stuff...

I gotta say I actually enjoyed both of them, as I was a total metal head and had no experience with jazz, I was a total shredder, but luckily I had the skills and the knowledge of theory to be able to play the charts....I remember the first one I ever saw, I can't even remember the title of it or the composer, but I just remember looking at all the complex chords and how they changed like at least once every measure, often times more, and I gotta admit even though I was a great metalhead shredder I definitely had to woodshed with some of those charts LOL

[chevybusa]

 

Originally Posted by BG76

I played guitar in my high school jazz band. I never met a group of people who were less interested in helping students as the teachers in my high school music program.

 

+INFINITY!!!! Had the EXACT same experience...I started playing guitar in 5th grade when Metallica's Black album came out (it was Kirk's solo in Enter Sandman that made me want to play, I would rewind the cassette over and over and over just to listen to it, it was MONTHS before I listened to the rest of the album LOL) and luckily my old man made me take classical guitar lessons for 2 years....I was really lucky to have a fantastic teacher, he was a grad student at the Hartt School Of Music, and even though I didn't really take it as seriously as I should have cuz I just wanted to shred on electric, it was absolutely invaluable, I wouldn't be HALF the muso I am today without that experience, and it gave me a really solid foundation in theory....

I was in my HS jazz band AND jazz combo (which was the best of the best of the jazz band, and was just me, the drummer, stand up bassist, a floutist, sax player, trumpet player (who also played electric violin), and trombone player....

I couldn't agree more about the teacher being any more useless, he literally didn't teach us a THING...he would just hand out sheet music for jazz band, then stand in front of everybody, just listening, with this annoyed look on his face, and would get pissed off if it wasn't up to his standards and would get all andgry and loudly and irately ramble on about how he was the greatest sax player in Mass in 1976 (even though he was "teaching" in CT in 97-99, I was in both of them my junior and senior years)...but seriously, it was {censored}ing REDICULOUS, he literally never tought us one single {censored}ing thing, no joke...

Then for jazz combo, we were completely on our own!!! No joke!!! He gave us no guidance whatsoever, it was totally up to us what to play at pep rallies and other town events and stuff...

I gotta say I actually enjoyed both of them, as I was a total metal head and had no experience with jazz, I was a total shredder, but luckily I had the skills and the knowledge of theory to be able to play the charts....I remember the first one I ever saw, I can't even remember the title of it or the composer, but I just remember looking at all the complex chords and how they changed like at least once every measure, often times more, and I gotta admit even though I was a great metalhead shredder I definitely had to woodshed with some of those charts LOL

[arcaneaether]

Wasn't in anything at all, but took up the viola when I started university.

Fast forward five years and I plan on going as far, technically and repertoire-wise, as I can, and will hopefully make a career out of it in a few years. Having just finished a Masters (achieved a merit!) in Music and future plans to do a PhD in music will help.

I love the bloody instrument. Guit's just a hobby for me and probs always will be - the two different musical approaches are fascinating though, to compare, mix and contrast.

[arcaneaether]

Wasn't in anything at all, but took up the viola when I started university.

Fast forward five years and I plan on going as far, technically and repertoire-wise, as I can, and will hopefully make a career out of it in a few years. Having just finished a Masters (achieved a merit!) in Music and future plans to do a PhD in music will help.

I love the bloody instrument. Guit's just a hobby for me and probs always will be - the two different musical approaches are fascinating though, to compare, mix and contrast.

[BAXANDALL]

Got put in 2nd violin in the 8th grade orchestra after mandatory violin sessions in music class then after one concert said f this and joined the guitar club even though I couldn't afford a guitar.

This is back when music and arts were funded kids.

[BAXANDALL]

Got put in 2nd violin in the 8th grade orchestra after mandatory violin sessions in music class then after one concert said f this and joined the guitar club even though I couldn't afford a guitar.

This is back when music and arts were funded kids.

[mmcquain]

 

Originally Posted by BG76

I played guitar in my high school jazz band. I never met a group of people who were less interested in helping students as the teachers in my high school music program...

 

I too played guitar with the "stage band" (vs. the marching/concert band). Can't say they the least interested in helping out me as a guitarist but I was certainly last on the list since all the band director's focus was on the brass, woodwinds, percussion, etc. and he never seemed to get around to me as a guitar player. The bass player was also pretty well neglected (except he played the snare drum in the marching band so he did get a little more love than I ever did). Oh well... it was still good experience IMO (not great experience but still better than not having the experience at all). I also sang with the school's choir, which also gave me some experience reading music.

[mmcquain]

 

Originally Posted by BG76

I played guitar in my high school jazz band. I never met a group of people who were less interested in helping students as the teachers in my high school music program...

 

I too played guitar with the "stage band" (vs. the marching/concert band). Can't say they the least interested in helping out me as a guitarist but I was certainly last on the list since all the band director's focus was on the brass, woodwinds, percussion, etc. and he never seemed to get around to me as a guitar player. The bass player was also pretty well neglected (except he played the snare drum in the marching band so he did get a little more love than I ever did). Oh well... it was still good experience IMO (not great experience but still better than not having the experience at all). I also sang with the school's choir, which also gave me some experience reading music.

[Van_Muddlestein]

I played guitar in jazz band in middle school and high school. It was terrible but it guaranteed me an A in one of my mandatory classes in the 8th grade and got me out of Phys Ed in 9th.

[Van_Muddlestein]

I played guitar in jazz band in middle school and high school. It was terrible but it guaranteed me an A in one of my mandatory classes in the 8th grade and got me out of Phys Ed in 9th.

[driverhasabomb]

Did one semester of band in high school. Majored in music in college. Work in IT and play music on the side.

[driverhasabomb]

Did one semester of band in high school. Majored in music in college. Work in IT and play music on the side.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Bump for more great stories!

[Phil O'Keefe]

Bump for more great stories!

[H.R. Shove and Stuff]

Yep! Started trumpet in 6th grade and played it until I graduated. Played it in concert band, jazz band and brass ensemble. Played tuba from 10th until graduation in concert band, brass ensemble and marching band. Played baritone in 11th grade in brass ensemble. Played guitar in jazz band from 10th until graduation. Uhmmm... that was about it? Took a music tech class were I learned mic placement, recording techniques and how to use certain effects and whatnot.

I still have my trumpet and guitar. The tuba and baritone were the schools. The tuba was amazing, I wish I still had it. My all time favorite instrument.

I don't have any interesting stories about them, but one time my band director stood up to start conducting and he had a huge boner. He also did the ghost busters thing to the piano every time he walked by it.

[aj_guitarist]

Yes - I did, it taught me the basics of reading music.