Big Band

Tonight was the last of my 3 musical performances for this week. I play lead alto saxophone in the jazz band "Notochords". The group started in 1949, and was originally a group for doctors and nurses who who worked at the Mayo Clinic. Over the years it's diversified, and we have quite a mix of musicians in it now.

Tonight we were playing a concert at the Charter House. This is probably my favorite place to play every year. Besides the fantastic room (with great acoustics) that we get to play in, the people there are always a great audience, very attentive, and I can tell they truly appreciate us coming there. I think one of the big reasons they love having us so much is because much of the music we play is from "their time" - big band music like Glenn Miller and others, which is probably the stuff they grew up with. I love to see their eyes light up when we start a song that I can tell they know and have fond memories of.

There are so many aspects to what a person likes about music. Some of them, like the memories you have associated with them, are explainable. But others can't be explained in words - why do you like this song but not that one? Why does this song make you feel a certain way and this one make you feel another way? And then things like tonight, where I get extra excited and energetic playing for a crowd I know wants to hear us. Musical tastes are something we all seem to share with each other, and yet also a very individualistic thing too. I would imagine no two people's iPods have the same set of songs on them :)

So my request for tonight is for everyone to share a "music" memory - some song at school dance, something you played in a band, church, etc. I'll share one of mine - I was in the ISU marching band for 5 years in college. After each game, we'd march back from the stadium, have announcements, and sing the alma mater "The Bells of Iowa State". My final game of my last year, it had been a cold and extremely wet day - it had rained all night the night before and our morning practice and been in puddles of water and mud. As we all huddled together at the end and sang the alma mater one last time, I was in tears looking around at everyone who was cold and tired and wet, so proud to be a part of that group of 300 people who were dedicated to entertaining the crowd with their music and energy. Most of my other senior friends were in tears as well...I will never forget that song or singing it that day.