Mike

Mike

I grew up learning to play Strauss and Bach on my father’s violin before I was lured away by the freedoms of rock & roll and a sunburst Stratocaster. But after playing every day for many years I gradually made less and less music until I mostly just daydreamed about it (including the crazy idea that I should play the trombone). For a long time, nothing came of these notions until a few things clicked together after a trip to New Orleans late in 2016. For three days there I heard a ton of amazing and inspiring live music in the streets and parks and pouring out of the clubs, finishing with the big sound of the New Breed Brass Band at the Blue Nile. As soon as I got back to Boston I searched for local brass shows, found the HONK! Fest website, and then the site for School of HONK. The next day I went to the SoH New Year’s parade, and the next week I showed up to play.
From my first day on, I’ve been learning to make great brass sounds myself, playing at least every week, and helping to bring a musical party to the streets, parks, and porches around town. The unexpected cherry on top of all this has been that School of HONK is full of remarkably joyful and generous folks. I don’t know if this is because of the type of people who are drawn to SoH, the communal way we learn and make music, or the SoH “we’re here to have fun” attitude. Whatever the case, I once again have music filling my hands as well as my head, and I get to be in the middle of a musical and performance adventure every time we’re together. To steal a line I heard from a brand new player on his first day “I can’t believe how great it is that this group exists and that I get to be part of it.”