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About playing music at Political rallies Feb 2025, part one [1]
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Date: 2025-02-11
What I learned over the past forty years.
Providing music at a political rally is akin to what I always called “working in battlefield conditions.” Success or lack thereof is not related to your skill, but to your ability to function in the midst of relative chaos, reacting appropriately. the key is reading the crowd at any given moment and adjust on the spot. in the clip below, that’s me on the horn.
www.mainepublic.org/…
Rules for reading the crowd
5. as to being a musician? Many musicians have practiced at home by themselves or been in school, church or college group, playing classical music where the listeners are polite and quiet. If you spend time leading a band, eventually one of your regular guys won’t be able to join for this or that gig, and you get a replacement. I share all this because when my band was doing those receptions, or when I was in the Dixieland band in Honolulu that strolled through the 10,000-person street party crowd at Mardi Gras where they had all been drinking, or even when I play live for a dance event, I invariably hear the newbie say “I have played clarinet for years and I know what 3/4 time signature is, but I never actually saw anybody waltz before.” Once they have experienced that energy vibration happening, they can’t un-experience it and they crave future visitations.
6. depending on the rally, you can’t count on a sound system, or microphone, or even a chair. Don’t bring a music stand or sheet music. play everything by ear. You need to be portable. At a rally, I might play a given song for only about 45 seconds before stopping to allow for chanting or the next speaker. If you need to stop and fiddle with your setup you lose the moment. if your instrument will be damaged by bad weather, bring a “burner” version. For example, my pocket trumpet cost me $100.
Pete Seeger painted a slogan on his guitar – “this machine kills fascists” reminds me of the famous quote from Emma Goldman: If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution. My “real” trumpet is a Czechoslovakian-made Cerveny rotary-valve horn that would cost $4,000 to replace – more than the value of my car.
FINALLY
a) you won’t hear me playing “God Bless the USA” in the near future. If ever.
b) I created a YouTube list of the ten or so songs I play, to use as a starting point. If you are planning to join any rally this winter, these are always a good starting point. You don’t need to sing well – you just need to sing LOUD. Play them in your car and start learning them by singing along as you drive.
c) I also made a Word document that includes the lyrics to those same songs. they are easy to learn, but this helps some folks. I have a political FaceBook page, named “democrats of Maine House District 38” go there, like the page, and send a message asking for the lyrics along with your email address, and I will send it to you. Otherwise, I will bring a limited number of hard copies to the next event. I await word as to whether they hold it on Feb 17th (depends on the permit)
See you there!
PARt tWO?
UPDAtE: upon reflection, this is about crowd behavior. and it occurred to me to share that in college I was a member of the pep band (U Mass Amherst). I played a minor sport in college and I never have been one to enjoy being in a huge crowd of spectators, I don’t go to stadiums to see NFL teams for example. But I think I might write a part 2 on this topic to share what you can learn about crowd behavior that might help you overcome your fear of attending one of these rallies.
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