Brass Band…One Band, One Sound

I left Haiti in October with plans made to play Christmas music in a big public market on December 23rd. When I returned and heard the band, we were still far from ready. A few rehearsals went by, and progress was slow. I set up an evening performance here in town where we could play the songs w/o the pressure of a big crowd. On that evening, the band was missing many players. We couldn’t keep the appearance. It was the first time such a problem occurred in the band…at least recently.

With that Tuesday evening performance scratched, I didn’t know what to expect for our Thursday final rehearsal, so I cancelled the Friday event. On Thursday the band gathered, but we were obliged to discuss our future. We talked about a band as a body and read the Corinthians passage Paul wrote about the body of Christ. Then, on Friday, in place of the market performance, we watched Drumline, the movie. It’s the story of a marching band who’s credo is : One band. One Sound.

It was helpful, I think. We’ll see how things go. The band members are growing up and are leaving their family nests. No surprise they are less present in the band’s meetings. We have since gathered to play some music for an evening soccer game, but again we were without a member or two.

It’s another reason for me to be busy preparing new players for the band.