School of HONK is once again hosting a trombone choir, to perform Sunday in Harvard Square. It is open to all trombone and tuba players participating in the festival.
Rehearsal: Saturday night after dinner (~ 10 pm)
Performance: Sunday, 5:00 pm call, at the Harvard Main Stage
We are performing an arrangement of the traditional Greek/rebetiko tune, Miserlou, familiar to most of us from Dick Dale’s surf-guitar interpretation. Our arrangement has four trombone parts and a tuba part. It is not necessary to practice/memorize your parts before the weekend, nor will we be reading from sheet music: we hope to teach the entire tune by ear in about 20 minutes on Saturday night. But, for those looking to prepare…
Trombone 1 – If you’ve been playing trombone for 2 years or less, this is the part for you. You’ll open and close the tune with a very simple, rockin’ beat, and for part B, we’ll all be playing one of the most beautiful melodies ever conceived.
Trombone 2 – If you’ve been playing more than 2 years, but want a simple and very fun part, this is the part for you. Your vamp (along with the Trombone 3 part) will keep our train moving, and provide part of the essential chord structure that defines the song.
Trombone 3 – Also for players with more than 2 years’ experience, and good middle range, this part is similar to Trombone 2. But it is slightly more complicated in part C, and essential to defining the changed chord progression for that section of the tune.
Trombone 4 – This is for lead players with a very high range (strong playing up to high A#, aka Bb). This part takes the first turn on the melody, in the upper range, as well as the “bridge” melody for part C. Here is an audio file of the complete T4 part.
Tuba – For any strong tuba players with a good sense of rhythm, this part carries the long-long-short (street beat) rhythm in each bar, in contrast to what trombones are playing. It is a relatively easy part to play and remember, but really needs to be staccato throughout, so as to keep our tune from slowing down.
NOTE: If anyone is interested in playing any part other than Trombone 1, kindly email kevin@schoolofhonk.org so we can send further details/clarifications.