Klarinet Archive - Posting 000454.txt from 1995/12

From: Laura R Bornhoeft <lbornhoe@-----.EDU>
Subj: Holiday anecdote
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 14:00:38 -0500

I thought this little story might get you into the holiday spirit (or at
least it comes at the right time of year...)

Some years ago the band I play in (City of Fairfax) was rehearsing for a
performance of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". (For those who aren't
familiar with the piece, it's a narration of the famous poem, "A Visit
from Saint Nicholas", with band accompaniment.) The narrator was to be a
local radio personality. He was not at this particular rehearsal, so the
director asked for a volunteer to read the narration. One of our
clarinetists volunteered.

What JoAnn soon found out (and the rest of us had no idea) was that
someone had taken that extra score and doctored it up with all kinds of
irreverent words. She decided to play it straight, and reconstructed the
poem as best as she could. She did a fine job, too, but toward the end,
she missed a spot. When she uttered the words, "...and turned, like a
jerk," the whole band just collapsed. It must have been a full five
minutes before we were ready to play again.

Several years later, we're still laughing about it.

Have a happy holiday season.

Laura Bornhoeft