Funny Things Said in the Band Room

[nafmeadmin]

It’s time to bring back the best thread on the web. Bring your funny stories so you can laugh again and we can join you.
I’ll start:

7/8th Band – An 8th grade girl trombone player was totally zoned out when I cued her entrance. I cut off the band and teasingly said, “Savannah, I know that look. You were thinking about Chance (a drummer). You were thinking about 20 years from now when you’re married and have 15 kids…” Chance immediately spoke up and said, “Well we’d better get to work!”

[nafmeadmin]

Today I was rehearsing the low brass and the euphonium player messed up. I asked him what happened, and he replied, “I forgot to breathe.”

[nafmeadmin]

I have a tendency to remind them what we’re playing during the count off, i.e. “1 & 2 & B flat Go.” Last week, I caught myself saying “1 & 2 & F & (sounded like f-in) Go.” Shockingly, nobody caught it.

[nafmeadmin]

While rehearsing one of our HS bands, I stopped to address something in the percussion section. Our percussion instructor, who was standing right next to me, had a slightly different opinion. Jokingly, I held up my baton and said “but I have the stick”. He held up a drum stick and said “yeah, but mine is bigger”………..it took us both a few seconds to realize what was just said….then the kids caught on……and that was pretty much the end of that rehearsal.

[nafmeadmin]

Yesterday in fourth grade band, I asked a question and then said, “Let’s see how many Einsteins we have in the room.” Quickly realizing that the kids might be too young to know who Einstein was, I then asked if they did. One boy raised his hand and said, “Yes, I do. He discovered the light bulb.”

[nafmeadmin]

My first year teaching general music I was teaching 5th and 6th graders about dynamics. I taught them from pp-ff. I asked them who can tell me what the double f means. They answered. Then I said who can tell me what the p p (pee pee) is? The 6th graders caught on immediately and then about 10 seconds later the 5th graders caught on….I was crying I was laughing so hard.

[nafmeadmin]

That reminds me of an incident last year in fifth grade. One of the sax players raised her hand in rehearsal and asked if she could use the bathroom. I said yes, but in a few minutes, as she needed to be there while we worked on a section. A few minutes later, I asked the band what dynamic level is softer than piano. Someone answered, “pp.” The girl immediately raised her hand and yelled out, “Speaking of that, may I PLEASE use the bathroom now?”

[nafmeadmin]

The first year clarinets in my band just started learning the upper register, using etudes called Grenadilla Gorilla Jumps. One of the boys asked about the word Grenadilla, so I explained that clarinets are sometimes made of Grenadilla wood, but most of ours are made of resin. During the lesson, I noticed a boy who kept nibbling at the side of his barrel. I let it go for a while, but I just had to ask eventually “Why are you nibbling your clarinet?” The answer? – “I want to see if it really tastes like raisins!” So then we had to have a talk about raisins vs. resins!

[nafmeadmin]

8th grade violinist while tuning his instrument: “I know how to screw it, I just forget which way is best.”

[nafmeadmin]

I was working on rhythms with the 4th grade today, and one of the trombones kept playing on a rest. I kept on saying “REST” on the rest to get the word in his head with no luck. Then, approaching it from another angle, I told him it’s a good idea to take a BREATH on the rest. I then asked him, what should you do there? His brain obviously was on overload at this point as he exclaimed, “You take a BREAST!” (He was completely unaware of what he had just said, though one girl and a boy started giggling to each other with unmitigated glee. I was about to collapse into laughter but was able to catch myself in time.)

[nafmeadmin]

I had shoulder surgery right before winter break and came back to school yesterday wearing a sling. At the beginning of HS Band a girl came up and gave me a hug. I thanked her for caring about me, and she said, “I was just sucking up. I left my music in my locker and need to go get it.”

[nafmeadmin]

One of my 4th grade trumpet players raised his hand the other day and said he needed to wash his mouthpiece. When I asked why, he said that while his trumpet was sitting on his lap, his mp touched the mp of the kid sitting next to him: “It was like they were making out.”

[nafmeadmin]

This actually happened in one of my general music classes, but it’s worth a laugh:

Last week was the first week back from vacation and it was a LONG one! Highlight of the week: when giving a very brief bio of Mozart (he lived from 1756-1791, was a famous composer, wrote nearly 700 pieces of music) a student’s hand pops up immediately. She says: “Not only that, but he’s named after crayons too.” Confused, I stick to my guns and assure her that Mozart was around long before crayons. She insists that there are Mozart crayons, so I finally ask her, “What color are the Mozart crayons?” thinking that it is some new color in the Crayola pack. She answers by explaining that they come in all sorts of colors. Finally, another student says, with a hint of frustration in his voice, “That’s ROSE ART, not Mozart!” The confused girl took it in stride and we all had a good laugh about it. I don’t think I’ll ever see Rose Art supplies again without hearing Rondo ala Turka in my head!

I’ll be sharing more student stories and ideas at my blog: http://www.budomada.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

[nafmeadmin]

In my jazz band rehearsal last week (7th and 8th grade), we were sight reading a piece by Michael Sweeney. My lead alto sax says “I just read his name Michael Sweeney and for some reason thought it said ‘Michael’s weenie.'” I lost it and so did the rest of the saxophones.

[nafmeadmin]

Michael Sweeney………….

Good thing his last name wasn’t Hunt………………………
jg

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