Klarinet Archive - Posting 000283.txt from 1998/03

From: "Scott Morrow" <sdm@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: marching band
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 14:42:26 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Stan Elias <elias@-----.net>
Date: Wednesday, March 04, 1998 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: marching band

>> Scott Morrow writes:
>>
>> > C'mon, Mark! You can't play piano in marching band!!! (Although
wouldn't it
>> > be fun to field an entire band of accordions?!! "An-a-one! An-a-two!")
>
>They do this every year on January 1 in Philadelphia. It's called the
Mummers'
>Parade. The marching units are composed of banjos, accordions, saxophones,
>glockenspiels and an occasional string bass. The marchers are all in
incredibly
>ornate costumes and insensitive to the cold because of the heavy-duty
partying the
>night before, but they can still march in a (relatively) straight line. The
route
>goes north on Broad Street from Snyder Avenue to the reviewing stands at
City
>Hall. And there is no truth to the rumor that one of the questions on
Curtis
>Institute's entrance exam is "Name all the ways in which an accordion
resembles a
>musical instrument."
>
Stan,
I've spent YEARS trying to forget about Mummers, and now you have to
bring them up! Thanks alot! (Although, I suppose they have been seeping
onto the list subconsciously!) AHHHHHHH!!!!!

(We once had a public performance of the Colonial Ensemble brutally
interrupted by a group of Mummers!)

-Scott

PS: Before anyone asks about Stan's comments above, yes, they DO march
string basses! They have a special support that attaches to a strap.
Believe me, no one even THINKS this is weird, because the person playing it
is usually wearing feathers!

-Scott

Scott D. Morrow
DNA Synthesis Core Facility
Department of Biochemistry
The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
Baltimore, MD 21205
(410) 955-3631