Jeff

I came to School of HONK in early 2016, fresh off a serious heartbreak, after a recent diagnosis with a chronic illness, during a years-long stretch of my life without music and dance. I was in serious need of joy and exuberance, and my friend Deidra pointed me this way.

I was hooked from the start: the warm welcome, the subversive public display of music and joy, the unconditional “no wrong notes” embrace paired with teaching and mentorship.

School of HONK has given me so much since then: a community of friends, a newfound relationship with movement and dance, the thrill of helping others learn — plus some really priceless, joy-packed musical memories and relationships I’ll always treasure.

This thing is really special. (You, reader, should probably join us.)

Betty

My musical history started in 4th grade with classical violin and viola. But by the end of college I was burned out on the expectations and perfectionism. Twenty-plus years later I learned how to play by ear and improvise with a local rock band’s violinist. I started playing with lots of Boston bands in various genres including Irish Punk, Goth R&B, Pop, etc. I also started acquiring other instruments – accordion, electric bass, percussion, et al. – but not any brass or woodwinds.

Then while yard sale-ing on Fathers Day 2017 I came across a trombone in decent shape – and the seller only wanted $5! My father had played trombone. I had just finished five months of chemo for breast cancer and was about to start radiation (and my wife had as well – bonus stress!), so my life was very disrupted and in need of some unpressured fun. I decided the trombone was a sign – I bought it and showed up at School of HONK the next Sunday.

SoH was exactly what I needed: friendly people who didn’t mind that I am somewhat introverted, music arranged in comprehensible uncomplicated parts, no guilt if I wasn’t feeling up to coming or marching any particular week, no pressure to be perfect (a wrong note among 20 brass players isn’t noticeable). I love being surrounded by people having a good time, and seeing the joy we bring to random strangers as we parade. Music can’t fix the world, but it can provide respite and re-energizing to uplift us from despair.

(Linked Photo by Gay H. Sheldon)

Tara

I stumbled upon School of HONK thanks to a friend whose daughter was invited to play during the 2015 HONK! Festival. She asked if my son, Julien, wanted to join too. He was game, so we used markers, scissors, and masking tape and dotted up a t-shirt and off he went. We mostly spectated that weekend, but I started taking him to Sunday practices regularly. Watching and listening to the group play music filled me with so much joy and excitement, I simply could not resist picking up an instrument and playing myself. I don’t know who I thought I was. I had never played an instrument in my life! I knew nothing about reading music or what notes were being played or playing scales. But… I. Could. Not. Help. Myself!!

At that time, my eldest was 7 and we had another 3-year-old who spent those Sunday afternoons at home with my husband. Parenting is hard, man, and in the haze and demands of it, I had sort of forgotten the parts of me that were not just about being a mom. There were so many hours spent at the karate studio, soccer fields, school potlucks, birthday parties, playdates, racing to pickups and dropoffs. It’s easy to get lost in all that. But, quite unexpectedly, here we were, me and my eldest, getting to do this amazing, challenging, fun, creative thing TOGETHER, and enjoying it EQUALLY. This experience, which really started out as a fun activity for him, turned out, to my surprise, to be a fun activity for me too. And so, the first gift School of HONK gave me was quality time with my son making joyful music.

Over the years, School of HONK has continued to give us many gifts. My son and I have learned to play our instruments competently. I play trumpet and he plays trombone. We have made so many friends, we’ve traveled together to two HONK! TX festivals, my son has trusted, adult role models in his life that have become dear friends, and we’ve created memories that will last a lifetime. Most importantly, we have fun, and most of the time, we still don’t worry about playing wrong notes.

Rosalie

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/apsrv5USO0DxGdbV4_h6Cfyibr9x4J3djcVPluYBj5KEqyyGCIqg33FOn21D6REmEJKWnnEIOeA=s512

Megan

I have a hard time doing new things. Maybe that’s true of most people. Failure is scary. The vulnerability of screwing up in front of other people is overwhelming. My life has been ruled by anxiety in a lot of ways. Before School of HONK, I’d dabbled in music just a little. I know a few guitar chords, I sang in high school, played a trumpet for a year and a half in middle school, but never learned to read music. When I first saw School of HONK, I’d been in love with the HONK! Festival for five years, always thinking, wow, look what I could be doing if I had only stuck with practicing. But practicing always reminds me how bad I am at something, and practicing something LOUD comes with additional embarrassment.

School of HONK said: “You could be playing with us!”

and I thought, they don’t mean ME, I can’t read music.

“You don’t have to have any musical experience!”

If only I had kept that trumpet.

“We have instruments to loan you!”

Huh. Well then. But I had another regular Sunday thing going on, so it took months, plus the nudge of a childhood friend who’d been involved with HONK! for years, to get me in the door. It was terrifying. I could barely play one note. I felt ridiculous standing there essentially pretending to play while I tried desperately to make a sound. I couldn’t possibly parade until I could at least play… but of course they invited me to come anyway. “Just pretend. It’s fun.”

I was mostly mortified and didn’t go back for two months. But I was determined then. All my excuses were useless in the environment of School of HONK.
Every week we are reminded, “First and foremost, we’re here to have fun. You can’t have fun while worrying about playing wrong notes. So don’t worry.”

I told that to my anxiety over and over until it started to stick. For weeks I was convinced that eventually people would stop being nice, they’d decide I was too slow of a learner and they’d lose patience with me and then it would all be pointless and I’d have failed at yet another thing and would have to just go back to my boring unchallenging life. I would get a little choked up at the beginning of every session when we were reminded not to worry about doing it wrong.

The idea finally started to stick. Best of all, it has percolated into other areas of my life. School of HONK is teaching me how to learn, to approach everything with curiosity and a mindset that talent comes not from some inborn knack but through being open to trying, and trying again.

Bill

The story of how I got here? I have to acknowledge three important pieces of my story.

First, my love for brass music and two special people who got me here. The first person is my good friend Miranda and then another woman named Melanie. Miranda brought me to my first HONK! Festival back in 2009. I have to admit, being somewhat of a natural born cynic, that I did not want to go when she invited me. I have a tendency to immediately shut down any suggestions someone might have for me when considering my musical tastes. But I am beyond amazed that she convinced me to go. Instantly hooked, I have attended every HONK! Fest since that very day back in 2009 and I’ve no regrets whatsoever. It’s the one weekend of the year that no one should expect me to be doing anything else.

Earlier in my life my father had pushed an electric Gibson guitar onto me when I was 12 but I could never seem to take to it. I was a child of the early 80’s who was raised into hip hop music as a student in the Boston Public School system belonging to parents of a classic 60’s and 70’s rock era. A true product of my environment. Towards the end of teen life, I soaked up the Boston Rock scene attending shows regularly and having the fortune to go shows at old Lansdowne, the Rathskeller, the Middle East (before they permanently raised the pipes to the ceiling), and many others. When I grew tired of that, I ended up in somewhat of an underground electronic subculture which made me eventually try a very brief stint as a DJ. But only for a small period at a college radio station and honestly, only a handful of house parties. That didn’t take either… and I grew bored of that. All those forms of music above are what I “fell” into. It’s not to say I don’t like them. I really do and believe they shaped a big part of who I am. But getting into jazz was something I could say that “I”… “put” …myself into. No encouraged me to listen to it. I had never seen a live brass brand, unless you want to count many a ska band that I saw back in the day. But jazz was waiting for me to find it. That’s how I truly feel. So I found it on my own. Temporarily setting all my other musical tastes aside, it was one day in the fall of 2002 when I made the decision, “I think I’m going to see what this jazz thing is all about”. I was entranced. Since then I had always wanted to play the trumpet, having become a huge jazz fan. Trombone would be my second choice. But I could never muster up the courage or motivation to even think that holding a trumpet in my hands would be a reality, never mind playing one. Melanie smashed that delusional thinking of mine right out of my head. During the start of 2016’s Somerville/Cambridge HONK! Fest weekend, I had run into Melanie, who’s in the Extraordinary Rendition Band based out of Providence. I would see her friendly face throughout the rest of that weekend up until the very end. At the weekend finale at PRONK! down in Providence, I saw Melanie one last time when she asked me, “Well how was your weekend?” … and my reply was… “You know? I had a fantastic time, but I’m sick of being a spectator. I want to be in one of these bands! I want to play the trumpet!” She told me that I need to start playing the trumpet, then. And then she referred me to School of HONK. The next day I sent feelers out on social media asking if anyone knew ANYONE… that might have a trumpet for sale. The following Saturday, I found myself going for a 3 hour drive to Maine to fetch a trumpet which was very generously given to me by a friend‘s husband. The next day I attended my first School of HONK session. Not even a week after HONK! Fest! My life has been changed ever since. This instrument has helped me out in so many ways along with all the great people at School of HONK that I’ve met in the past year. Special mention to Maggie, as she was the first person there to greet and welcome me. I have come to know so many great people there since. I just played in my first HONK! Fest ever this past October. Also? I now own four trumpets. Not bad for someone who was shy to even look for one a little over a year ago. I just needed a point in the right direction. And I got just that. Now my only task is to give back to School of HONK for what they have given to me … and to become a better trumpet player as time goes on. It’s truly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. And if you’re like me, shy and unsure about entering a world you’ve never been in… I say jump at it with all you can! What’ve you got to lose?

Micha

My name is Michael (Micha for short) and I play trumpet. I’ve been playing with the School of HONK since early 2016. The School of HONK is largely responsible for helping me make music become an integral part of my life.

I found the School of HONK from another local brass band, the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band. I had tried out to be in SLSAPS and it became clear during the tryout that I was not ready to be in their band. A friend from SLSAPS suggested that I go to the School of HONK, where I could work on playing by ear and soloing.

I swallowed my pride and gave it a shot. I wish I had come to the School of HONK sooner! I found something entirely different than I expected. I found a community of lovely people who happen to play music. I have learned more about playing trumpet at the School of HONK than I ever did in public schools. I am getting more comfortable playing by myself (which still terrifies me) and being able to hear the key parts of a song. Let’s flash forward one year: I auditioned for the SLSAPS a second time and they took me on in November 2016.

I believe that there are three “secrets” that keep the School of HONK the lively group that it is. We are a group based in community, integrity, and having fun. School of HONK sees and embraces the musician in everyone. It’s as simple as that!

Sammo

I joined School of HONK in May 2015 when Maggie convinced me to stop talking about wanting to learn trumpet and actually give it a try. I had met many of the first mentors through the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, and I was intrigued by a community brass band with an almost nonexistent barrier to entry. I got hooked when I was empowered to play songs and take solos on an instrument I had never played right on the first day.

I am a lover of many genres from concert music to jazz. I have played amateur saxophone since childhood and work as a professional composer and software developer. You might be surprised to learn how similar composing and coding are. I would wager these threads of music woven through diverse walks of life is part of what attracts so many to our beloved little school.

I believe strongly in the value of learning to appreciate a wide selection of music. When I want to feel shivers running down my spine or experience a melancholy catharsis, I seek the orchestra or the opera. When I want to sense the palpable connection with my fellow concert-goers over a uniquely American art-form in an intimate setting, I haunt a jazz combo in a tiny club. But when I want to engage the singular sense of playfulness and energy riding an irresistible urge to move, I play in brass bands like School of HONK.

As a composer, I spend many, many hours perfecting the few minutes of music that a piece of mine comprises. I am pleased when I craft a work of inventiveness and nuance, but it can be a daunting task. Our community of players here provides a wonderful musical outlet to balance my world of theory and orchestration with a refreshing group of friends who don’t take themselves or their music too seriously.

Photo by Mike Lovett.

Josh

I’ve been having fun on the trumpet with School of Honk since its first meeting! Each week I look forward to spending time with all the great School of Honk members, exploring how this thing called a trumpet works, and making great music together in the practice hall and on the streets. When I’m not honking I can be found spending time with my family and building robots to operate the world’s farms and mines.

Ezra

My name is Ezra, and I’m 14 years old and play the trumpet. When I was little, I played the piano, and even wrote a few of my own melodies. I also loved the HONK! Festival; I would go to the parade every year and march alongside the bands, attempting to play a harmonica (with varying degrees of success) to whatever the band was playing. I started playing trumpet in school band when I was 10, and have loved trumpet ever since. Since then, I have started formally composing music, and now compose more than ever. For a few years, I played trumpet in the pickup band at the HONK! Festival. I also participated in various attempts at creating a HONK! kids band, all of which died because of a shortage of young musicians that could come to practice with any degree of regularity.

School of HONK started just after the 2014 HONK! Festival and I quickly joined. Unlike the kids bands, SoH is still alive after over a year! I instantly loved SoH because of the way songs are taught. In school, music is taught by forcing kids to play the most boring and monotonous songs that teachers can find over and over until every single person gets it exactly right, and then we move on to the next boring and monotonous song. (You wouldn’t think music could be monotonous, but somehow the schools manage it.) This is why SoH is so great. The idea that someone still learning how to play an instrument can play good music and have fun at the same time seemed too good to be true after playing in school band, but School of HONK has it figured out. Not to mention that we have three times more members than school band and still manage to learn harder music twice as fast.

After regularly coming to practice for about 8 months I was invited to become a mentor, an invitation which I readily accepted, mainly because I thought that I could help the other members learn new songs, and I had a personal desire to learn the intricacies of our songs and other parts besides the trumpet parts. (Also, being a mentor gives you more opportunities to play music, and who doesn’t want to play more?) I have enjoyed being a part of organizing SoH practices and figuring out ways to make the practices more enjoyable. I also enjoy listening to recordings of songs and trying to find the notes by ear. SoH also helps me compose music and has taught me how to improvise. Thank you for reading this, and I hope you will join School of HONK!