Category: Band

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas My Family Gave to Me…

Instruments!

Were a family band, and a rather big family, so we already own: a piano, a cocktail drum set, three trombones, three or four trumpets, two alto saxophones, a tenor saxophone, three clarinets, multiple woodblocks, a glockenspiel (great name, huh?), harmonicas galore, a coronet, and an upright bass.  Despite the vastness of our instrument collection, the presents we opened today were all different and all instruments we didn’t already own!

From left to right: ukulele, thunder tube, double mijwiz, pan flute, thumb piano, bird whistle, frog tone block, ocarina, slide whistle, and xylophone.

Truly an impressive feat.  The instruments were received with much excitement and rambunctious noise.  The instruments don’t really belong to any member of the family, instead, they all belong to everyone.

 

Oh What a Difference a Reed Makes!

I am currently experiencing the sublime ecstasy (well, maybe it’s only extreme joy (well, it’s at least a nice sense of satisfaction)) that I’m sure every woodwind player experiences after getting a new reed.

But this experience is even greater than the usual pleasure of playing with a good reed. Nay, the happiness is heightened by the horrible shape of my old reeds (they were grey and bent in half).  They were so bad I had to play with them for half an hour before I could play the set right.  These new reeds are better in every way.  They have better sound, better control…they even taste better.

Thank You St. Joseph’s

Our family would like to extend our thanks to Fr. Ramon and everyone who helped with the St. Joseph’s Carnival.  We really appreciate the chance to play for our St. Joseph’s community and we had a great time.  We received a lot of support and are very grateful to everyone who came to see us. We’d like to thank all the people who clapped for us, cheered for us, or danced to our songs, as well as anyone who emailed us or tagged us on Facebook.

Thanks again St. Joseph!

Longbow at Arbor Oaks

As you may have guessed from the title of this post we played at Arbor Oaks recently, last Saturday to be exact.  The people there were very enthusiastic, clapping and singing  along with our songs.  We had a great time and made a short video of from clips of our performance.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Big Thanks to Grace Manor!

A big thanks to the Grace Manor for having us come play our show yesterday.  We had a great time and the staff was very helpful.  The people there were all enthusiastic and appreciative. They really seemed to like our show, almost as much as they liked Veronica.  She is a tiny ham.

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Me and My Saxophone

(Of course I just posted a picture of me so I’m not really one to talk.)

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At Grace Manor

We had so much fun performing we forgot to take any pictures except for Nicholas who had the presence of mind to take the one of me and one of our delightful audience.

This is Why no One Likes Drummers

As you probably know I’m part of a band called Longbow.  All of my bands members are also my family members (which is really nice because I already know all their names!).  Yesterday we were practicing together.

Dad said, “That wasn’t quite right, go back to the key change.”

To which Nicholas – in all seriousness – replied, “What exactly is a key change?”

Nicholas has been playing the drums for years, but he still didn’t know what a key change is, because he never had to learn.  He never had to learn!

 

A Tiny Girl and her Clarinet

20160928_083551That’s right, Veronica is learning the clarinet!  So as the senior woodwind player (well now I feel old), I am in charge of teaching her.

As you may know, Veronica is the youngest in the family  (only seven years old).  You might not know that we did not give her the nickname tiny girl.  Rather, this was self inflicted.  When she was a toddler Veronica would declare, “I’m a tiny girl,” pretty much in any and all situations.

But I digress, At 42 pounds Veronica’s still pretty little, especially since her brothers look like a football team when all together (minus the shiny pants).  She’s so little in fact that her slim fingers don’t cover the bottom holes on the clarinet! (well I guess playing scales is out).  Furthermore, when she first started playing the instrument I had to hold the bell while she was playing because she wasn’t strong enough to hold the massive woodwind!  Despite this small obstacle (get it?) she’s doing amazingly well and can play five songs!  Great job Veronica give yourself a pat on the back (just not while holding the clarinet please!)20160928_083650