Natalie

I was a band geek of the woodwind variety in high school – I dabble in other instruments, but am most at home with a clarinet beneath my fingers. In college, grad school, med school, and the years in between I kept my musical self alive by playing in whatever concert band, klezmer group, or synagogue band would have me. I moved to Boston in the summer of 2016 – by day (and by night!) I am a family medicine resident. A year later I stumbled upon School of HONK at HONK! Fest and immediately knew: “These are my people!” It’s not just that there are few other musical opportunities that would be amenable to my up-to-80-hr-work-week-schedule-changes-all-the-time-can’t-always-make-it-to-practice reality… It’s that coming together with folks of all ages and experiences to play & share music (for the sake of music and community and joy) and wear polka dots and dance around just MAKES MY DAY. The fact that my 3-year old niece is welcomed when she enthusiastically joins in on her one-note-recorder MAKES HER DAY and fills me with even more appreciation for the ethos of SoH. I love seeing the smiles on peoples faces when we are out on parade. I love watching folks in the audience jump in to join a dance for the first time. I leave every gathering with a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

Rick

I have been living near Davis Square with my family for close to 15 years now and chances are I have witnessed some of the very first HONK! Festival events. Over the years we watched (or sometimes just heard) the bands play in Davis Square or parade down Mass. Ave on the way to Harvard Square for the annual HONK! collision into Oktoberfest.

The sounds and sights of New Orleans style street bands were always a favorite of mine and admittedly, I was a band geek in high school, so I wondered if there was a way to audition for one of those bands. After a little searching I came across the School of HONK. I was surprised to learn that they are an open group accepting members at all skill levels. I attended my first session and everyone I met was welcoming and eager to help. Needless to say, I started in earnest during the Fall of 2017 and I now look forward to the Sunday sessions every week. I must admit that wearing polka-dotted attire, shouting out, and grooving to the music was not always within my usual comfort zone, but it is now.

If you are looking for a musical outlet and love the intoxicating sounds of sousaphones, trombones, percussion, and reeds then the SoH is for you. All you need is to listen, learn, and most importantly, have fun.

Marta

I joined School of HONK about 6 months ago because I was looking for a good way to improve my musicianship. Over the past couple years, I have been extremely serious about music and have taken classes at colleges such as Berklee and NEC. When I heard that School of HONK taught members the songs mainly by ear, I knew that this was something that would help improve my listening skills and ability to pick things up by ear. As soon as I arrived to SoH on my first day, it was clear that I would be sticking around; I immediately fell in love with the environment as well as the repertoire that we played.

Another thing that I absolutely love about School of HONK is the way that members help each other. As someone who is interested in pursuing a career in music education, I felt more than honored when I was asked to be a mentor about a month ago. Although I am still learning just like everyone else, one of the main reasons why I come to SoH now is so I can have fun helping others who are newcomers or just unfamiliar with their instrument. Everyone in this community has contributed to helping me become a stronger leader and I cannot thank them enough for that. School of HONK is truly a special group!

Shaunalynn

When I was a teenager, my mom and my high school band director had a tiff. My mom thought I would be a teacher, but Mr. Bastien knew I’d be a musician. “There’s music in her bones!” he said. And I did love music. I played in marching band and concert band and orchestra and all-state and clarinet choir and impromptu chamber ensembles at my church. I did finger exercises and etudes and scales and played all kinds of longer pieces. I practiced every day, but I never made music.

When I was 20 years old, playing in the MIT Wind Ensemble, I was sitting in Kresge Auditorium at one of our performances. I didn’t know anyone in the audience. I was getting my music in order to perform a piece called The Isle of Man by Percy Grainger. I think he’s most well known for Children’s March, but we were playing this more obscure piece, and we’d played it a million times during rehearsal. But, when our band director lifted up his hands and we lifted up our horns, I played that song for the first time. When it ended, I couldn’t believe what had happened. For the first time in my 10 years of playing clarinet, I’d made music. Collaborative, elated, out-of-body music. And it was then I decided to stop.

I realized in that moment, with my breath gone and the last notes of the Isle of Man still hanging in the air, that I loved music because it was transcendent. Or, better said, I loved music when it was transcendent. And, if I had to dedicate another decade of focus and practice for one more such experience, it wasn’t worth it. I left school and started sprout, and for a number of years, I thought my mom had been right. And then I discovered street music. Funky bass lines, pop covers, New Orleans rhythms, irreverent volume, dancing, yelling, joy, and spectacle. I picked the clarinet up again to play with Second Line, where I also learned sousaphone, be ear and rote. Boycott grew out of jam sessions with some other girlfriends looking to kill on their horns. I joined the organizing committee for the HONK! Festival and, after years of talking and dreaming with Kevin, joined him in starting School of HONK. Ultimately, I think it’s the unraveling of a more than decade-long feud between Mr. Bastien and my mom and an expression of my deepest musical, social, and educational values.

So, why do I come to School of HONK? I come to School of HONK for music, politics, connection, and joyful noise. I come to be free and loud, seen and heard, to have quiet moments inside myself amongst the ecstatic ritual of brass music and street revelry. I come for friends and for a better world. And I come because I find it — every, single week.