ROFL! There were a couple of good belly laughs in there.
Low brass here. Baritone horn. Had to march with a dang concert Baritone too. Thumb still hurts thinking about it.
Where's Kent? He will cry laughing.
The director holding his hand up shot -- was perfect.
Anyone else notice the misspelling on the sign on the wall behind him? LOL!
Ancient Music History:
I was a vocal guy sucked into band stuff. There's never enough low brass. Everybody wants to play trumpets.
A marching band with a big fat low brass section is an awesome spectacle to behold, however. God bless Sousa.
Pointing a monster low brass section's bells right at the judge's box for a fortissimo blast is fun.
"Flatten the box, low brass. We picked this score for you guys and gals right here. Set that line and then blast 'em, I want the judges to feel it in their butts."
We took first place.
Later in my misguided youth, I spent one semester at Univ. of Northern Colorado studying vocal jazz. Got a few minor awards, had fun. I scatted my way through Autumn Leaves once... the second verse just completely dropped out of my head on stage. Oh well, improvise. It's Jazz!
Standing O at the club. Wasn't expecting that. Ha. It was a graded performance too! Sweet! The absolutely masterful Professor, Skip Wilkins (his real name, and what a great name for a jazz man!) followed perfectly on the piano in his signature British racing cap. One of those magical, and completely accidental stage moments. He got a high-five for that one.
While there, in another fit of unintelligence, I was a roommate of a Tuba player I knew from high school, and when required to pick a string instrument, I picked Double Bass.
Between the two of us storing instruments in the dorm room and lugging them around for practice, I'm surprised someone didn't give themselves a hernia.
Musical Friends:
Have another aviation friend (who is where I learned the term "Blue bellied money sucker" in reference to his Skyhawk he owned many years ago) who plays in a Civil War re-enactment regimental band and a bunch of others here in Denver.
"Mo" Molberg spends most of every Memorial Day playing Taps... Properly. On a bugle, not a danged valved instrument. And that second note isn't meant to be a damned quarter note! The first two notes are equal in duration, as written. I get cranky when I hear a bugler screwing that up.
He usually plays those gigs on a bugle that saw action in the Civil War. He has a neat collection. His dad plays also.
http://4thartillerybrassband.com/
He also built his own pipe organ in his folk's house for his mom. It comes up through the floor into a main floor spare bedroom from the basement. Awesome sound, a real pipe organ in your house!
Oddly, a few years ago I met *another* guy who did that. Ham Radio guy. Doc's Rob's house is in Evergreen, CO up in the mountains, so he could make all the noise he wanted. He also had his own observatory, and was a RC aviation nut and had a bunch of awards flying them.
And for the very odd trifecta of "how many organ grinders can there be in my life", my former church organist was the live organ player for the Colorado Rockies, back when they wanted Coors Field to have that "old fashioned ball park feel". Chuck Shockney has more fun playing an organ than anyone I've ever seen. (His wife also plays and is amazing.)
I've never forgiven the Rockies for going to digital recordings over a decade ago. Chuck and his wife played at our wedding. I miss goading Chuck to play hockey music on the church organ.
After the recessional at our rehearsal, he broke out into playing the beginning of "Charge!" that you hear at every baseball game. We were all in tears, laughing.
Chuck now lives in Carmel, Indiana. Stop by and ask him to play some old time baseball stadium music sometime when church isn't in session if you're in the neighborhood. He's really really good.
http://www.carmelumc.org/index.php/about-us/meet-the-staff/93
So, I'm a vocal/low brass guy surrounded by a lifetime of aviation brass players, organ players and builders. Very odd.
Here at home:
Karen is a vocalist still... whereas I save it nowadays for the car or the shower...
She's in Sweet Adeline's and their chorus consistently places in the top three at Internationals. The competition is here in Denver this year, and the girls are pushing for a win. Many competitors are leery of singing at altitude, which is where these folks sing all the time.
http://www.skylinechorus.net/
And her Quartet, Deja Vu...
http://www.rmr8.org/quartets.html
She gave up on goading me to join these guys... But I love to hear them perform! Ten straight first place finishes in the Rocky Mountain Region...
http://www.soundoftherockies.com/
Their rendition of America the Beautiful through the headphones while looking at Pikes Peak from the Skylane, is about one of the best VFR flights imaginable.
And dad's a trumpet player... but rarely plays. We both play a little guitar once in a while, too. I have his original Yamaha guitar from Japan. It's got a lot of miles on it.
FMD what was Chuckie thinking with that in front of him... 
