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This post exists for no other reason than to answer the question, "what did you play in band?"
Yes, I'm a band geek. But oddly, in my school at least, the band members were not known--at least to each other--as geeks. The band was heralded in our school. Sure, there were probably those in the school who looked down upon us, but we didn't know it. Our band was fairly acclaimed, and we didn't suffer ostricization.
But when I answer the question, "what did you play," and answer, "the frumpet," nobody knows what I'm talking about. During the winter doldrums of the school year, I played the French horn. You couldn't be in marching band without also finishing out the year in concert band, or symphonic band. And in those more austere bands, the French horn was the instrument of choice for those of us who couldn't play melody, with the trumpets.
During marching band season however (the most fun part of band), the French horn was deemed too clumsy. So we marched with either an alto horn (even more obscure), or the frumpet. A frumpet looks sort of like a pregnant trumpet. It isn't as flashy as a Flugelhorn, or as sexy as the alto saxophone. It's heavy, has a tiny dime-sized mouthpiece that causes lip indentation, and holds copious amounts of spit. But we held the more-important-than-realized responsibility for producing harmony, and reproducing other sounds from popular music otherwise performed by bass guitars and such.
While in marching band, I dutifully learned the parts to Hawaiian War Chant, String of Pearls, On Broadway, and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. This was, after all, 1980-1984. But truth be told, I never actually learned every note of the Whitehall-Yearling High School fight song. And I never memorized the Star Spangled Banner. Faked 'em, all the way through. The Alma Mater too. But I faked it gooood.
This post exists for no other reason than to answer the question, "what did you play in band?"
Yes, I'm a band geek. But oddly, in my school at least, the band members were not known--at least to each other--as geeks. The band was heralded in our school. Sure, there were probably those in the school who looked down upon us, but we didn't know it. Our band was fairly acclaimed, and we didn't suffer ostricization.
But when I answer the question, "what did you play," and answer, "the frumpet," nobody knows what I'm talking about. During the winter doldrums of the school year, I played the French horn. You couldn't be in marching band without also finishing out the year in concert band, or symphonic band. And in those more austere bands, the French horn was the instrument of choice for those of us who couldn't play melody, with the trumpets.
During marching band season however (the most fun part of band), the French horn was deemed too clumsy. So we marched with either an alto horn (even more obscure), or the frumpet. A frumpet looks sort of like a pregnant trumpet. It isn't as flashy as a Flugelhorn, or as sexy as the alto saxophone. It's heavy, has a tiny dime-sized mouthpiece that causes lip indentation, and holds copious amounts of spit. But we held the more-important-than-realized responsibility for producing harmony, and reproducing other sounds from popular music otherwise performed by bass guitars and such.
While in marching band, I dutifully learned the parts to Hawaiian War Chant, String of Pearls, On Broadway, and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. This was, after all, 1980-1984. But truth be told, I never actually learned every note of the Whitehall-Yearling High School fight song. And I never memorized the Star Spangled Banner. Faked 'em, all the way through. The Alma Mater too. But I faked it gooood.
I own a Frumpet--tricky intonation, but overall an okay instrument. Love the sound.
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