Sousaphone

I have always enjoyed music. (stay with me—-it relates!) My mother was good at piano, so was my sister—when she wanted to be. My father played trumpet and Saxophone in high school. Although I enjoyed music, I did not take it seriously enough to work at it; that is, until I saw the movie, The Stars and Stripes Forever. It tells the story of John Philip Sousa, who grew up virtually in the United States Marine Band. He became known as the “March King… bringing the United States Marine Band to an unprecedented level of excellence: a standard upheld by every Marine Band Director since.”

The movie includes the story of how from the Tuba a twin was hatched—the Sousaphone; named for, well, John Philip Sousa. I got home from the movie and told my father, I want to play the Sousaphone. I signed up for lessons, and was kinda defaulted into the high school band; a new director arrived after I’d had four months of lessons. He announced a meeting to organize band for the new year. He didn’t know I was such a fledgling so he kept me—he needed at least one Sousaphone in the marching band. In college I made a similar unlikely debut, but studying trombone, I soon gravitated from Sousaphone to 4th chair trombone.

The Sousaphone is big. It is heavy. It is cumbersome. It must be dismantled for travel. Still, I had fun in band. I made friends, many of whom I continue with some rapport. Football games, parades, band tours, all added experience and richness to this kid from Deepstep, GA.

I have storied experiences from those years; Once, at a football game, as the band lined up at the goalpost for halftime, the Drum Major whistled forward march! A smoker tossed his lighted cigarette down the bell of my Sousaphone—I never found out if smoke billowed from the bell…. but I got more than a whiff of the smoke through the mouthpiece! On one occasion, the a brisk wind on the football field caught the Sousaphone’s huge bell and nearly blew me out of formation (I weighed only 125 pounds!).

Our college band was invited to march in a parade somewhere in South Georgia. As we waited in parade formation a besotted citizen chose to stop and chat. His conversation ended as the parade started—with him saying loud enough for anyone to hear, “Hey boy! Toot that thing!” And then, there was the time (with trombone now) as parade formation was assembling, I let my slide, well, slide—completely off onto the grass. I barely had time to clean and oil it before we marched down the street.

Paige, my late wife, and I were in college band together; she played saxophoneit was my trombone era. Both our daughters grew up to play in high school band; Melanie went to Governor’s’ Honors in Flute and piccolo. Jennifer played Saxophone and was a majorette–leading their band in the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C. in sub freezing weather—actually, it was not that cold, but they felt like it was in their skimpy uniforms.

You do not have to be perfect or spectacular to enjoy music. Nor must you shackle yourself to a practice room ten hours a day for music to matter to you —which is why neither of our daughters chose to major in music. Granted, superb musicians do take the severe practice sessions route. Many make that choice because of a number of rational reasons; However, there are musicians who feel, or felt, imprisoned. That is sad. Music should lilt and flow, not shackle and force.

Music is good for the soul. When King Saul was in a deep depression, he sent servants searching for a musician to lift his spirits. They found the shepherd boy David, and brought him in to help. Later, When David was in power, he set aside officially, a family of musicians with a variety of instruments. The Bible is profuse with stories of music, musicians, and musical instruments. And. For a lighter take on music—there is an aphorism among preachers: Good music can redeem a poor sermon, but there is no sermon that can redeem poor music!