Miscellaneous Monday - Atlassian Band Geeks Assemble ! !

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

TOOT TOOT TOOT ! ! ! - HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE !

This week I have the honour of taking over the Miscellaneous Monday from the fabulous @Meg Holbrook (thank you kindly!! And also @Monique vdB for making it happen!) and based on a recent fun Community discussion with @Jodi LeBlanc @Heth Siemer and @Teodora V _Fun Inc_  about being in bands at school, there was really only one discussion for this week; BAND GEEKS !

SUMMON THE BAND GEEKS!

I am sure that many of us, at one time or another during school or youth,  have been involved with playing an instrument, be it a simple pre-school bash on a recorder, or Conservatory next-level-getting-whipped-into-shape-whiplash-style Orchestras!

[If you don't know the movie Whiplash... OMG... go and watch it!!!]

So I thought it would be fun to get everyone to delve deep into their memory banks, maybe climb into the attics, and dust off the cobwebs for this Community discussion!

For me, I haven't been in an Orchestra since I was 17... but I kept my flute (NERD!) all these years and I am glad I did so that i could make this ludicrous GIF in my Atlassian hat! Hah hah! Luckily this is not a Vlog. No way I'm going to be recording myself playing anytime soon!

SO OVER TO YOU GUYS:

• Were you in a band at school or in your youth and which type? Or at the very least did you once touch an instrument?
• What is your favourite story from all the years of playing an instrument or being in a band / orchestra?
• Do you still play? Or at least still have the instrument...? If yes... POST a PICTURE! Bonus points and extra kudos if there's some Atlassian swag in the pic. 
• Double bonus points if it's a GIF.
• Got a picture from that time...? Brilliant! Share it with us and get some triple kudos points!
• Never been in a band, nor touched an instrument - now worries! Go find one, take a photo (or make a GIF) whilst in your Atlassian swag, and post it here. The more Band Geeks the MERRIER!!! TOOT TOOT!

[Jens Iwanenko]

Hell yeah.

I'm from a very (!) musical family. My mom and dad were founding members of very successful competitive choir Vokalensemble Hannover, my dad still sings with them. My sister plays the flute and had harp, piano and organ lessons. My dad plays the viola, piano and guitar. My mom plays the flugelhorn in a trombone choir and sings in a vocal choir.

Over to me:
I believe the first instrument I ever learned was the trombone. Actually, my arms were too short, so I started with a tenor horn because of the same size mouthpiece. I picked up the guitar when I was about 10 or so and had my dad show me the basics. I mostly learned the guitar by myself.

I partook in a couple of performances of my mom's trombone choir in my earlier teens. I played the guitar and sang in a rock band in my later teens.

A couple of years ago I picked up a Nuvo DooD, because I was thinking about getting into reed woodwinds. After a couple of first tries and finally understanding how to form an embouchure, I was blown away from how good I actually sounded. I grabbed a tin whistle I had lying around for ages which I never really managed to get a decent tone out of (air management) and just whistled along as if I had never done anything else. In the summer of 2017 I bought a used no name alto sax and started playing that. Last year I bought a vintage Keilwerth trumpet and tried restoring it. It blows pretty nicely, but still needs some work. Around holiday season last year, I bought a younger, more proper trumpet. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a tenor sax. I have an incredibly large pool of instruments, of which I'm proud to say I can produce straight sounds out of each. I'm still struggling with the trumpet embouchure and am clueless about what to play on the saxes. And I must admit that although I have a bazillion instruments, I hardly ever practice on any one of them. :-/

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Wow you are musically gifted! I always wanted to learn saxaphone, I had the option to move from clarinet to saxaphone in grade 9 but not sure why I didn't go for it.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Jens Iwanenko : Oh wow! Master of the Wind Insturments. This is epic. 
OMG... a Nuvo DooD!!!??? You have one....!? You... are... a.... LEGEND! What colours??

[Jens Iwanenko]

Haha, thanks @Andy - PTC Redundant, I wouldn't call myself a master, though. I can play a straight note out of most I get my hands on (loving my nose flute), but I'm far from mastering a single one.

My DooD is all black. I also have a jSax in black and green and I want a TooT. I don't like the new revision of the TooT, though: I want one without keys. I'm looking at white/blue.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

OMGoodness!! NOSE FLUTE!???This is getting better by the MINUTE! 😍👍

Nice of you to be so modest @Jens Iwanenko however you are now up there with the GREATS! 
#Master

I won't lie... a small part of my was hoping your DooD was white with bright pink buttons.... ;) Hahaha!
Wow... what a blooming marvelous collection you have. Seriously awesome!!  😎🤘✨

[Jimmy Seddon]

This is a great post @Andy - PTC Redundant!

I did play in the band through school (I was a clarinet player).  My dad is a very musical person in that he bought I clarinet when I was playing in school and he still plays in a band today.  He is also a concert trained pianist, and he inherited an alto saxophone that he "plays for fun".

I think he is disappointed that neither I or my sister really took to playing music, but I do enjoy listening to a wide range of music.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Clarinet players unite!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Jimmy Seddon : That is still damn cool. If you don't want to join us with an instrument, the unofficial Summit2020 Marching Band will defo need a manager... you game?

Also, don't forget the promise of Vega Dodgems with DnB music and singing by yours truly! Will need you for that one too! 😎🤘

[Scott Theus]

Love the question!

I started to learn the trumpet in Junior High, but the school's music instructor was creepy, so I quit.

Last year I was gifted some filigree kona wood, and I have some scraps of Spanish cedar, rosewood, and Peruvian walnut from a previous project so one of these days I'm going to make a ukulele. I just need time to make it and to learn how to play it. 

[Jodi LeBlanc]

What a unique project to make a ukulele, can't wait to see the finished product - but for now that cat playing is pretty darn adorable :) Sad to hear your instructor deterred you from continuing music, that is usually the case. Teachers can really make or break someone's interest in a subject or extra-curricular. Glad to hear you will be learning to play your ukulele.

[LarryBrock]

Woodwork and music - awesome combo!  :-)

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Scott Theus : Yeah, most music instructors do tend to give off a pretty creepy vibe. Eek!

That GIF! Amazing! Fun Man Andy highly approves! 😎🤴👏

I badly want to see your custom Ukele. That is BADASS! When it's ready please do share a photo of it on Community !

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

OMG! @Andy - PTC Redundant the GIF, THE TOPIC!!! LOVE IT!

And now I need to pay my debts and share the answers, right? 

Okay, when I was a kid, I have about 4 or 5 years of singing in our school choir. As a teenager, I loved singing at some events only for fun, supporting the guy with the guitar, or when we were walking in some mountain walks. I even try to support a rock band once!

Then a few years of piano lessons took part, but my parents never had the opportunity to buy one, so that dream also vanished. 

I miss singing, and I'm planning to go back to it with some personal lessons. As a grown-up is much harder to get back to something like this; all the worries that you are "too old", and "my voice is not the same", and so on.

Now the only music hall for me is my car :D You won't be surprised if I tell you that there are no photos available haha. I will try to dig the archives for some embarrassing frames from the past.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

So much talent! I hope you will get back to singing, they have a just fun choir here where anyone can join and they just sing - it's called playing with choir :) https://www.facebook.com/playingwithchoir/

Maybe you could start one in your city if one does not exist, it's quite popular here :)

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

Hah Hah ! FunManAndy strikes again with the GIFs. I just can't stop. Obsessed!

YEY for the Singers. I love singing too. Maybe a Summit 2020 we can do a duet!? 😎🤘

Hahaha. I am not surprised, but @Teodora V _Fun Inc_ next time you're singing in your car take a SELFIE and send it through! (Obviously, don't take the photo whilst driving.... #SafetyFirst!)

@Jodi LeBlanc : are you suggesting an AUG Choir...? 😍👍

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Haha, count me in! I'm thinking of taking a few lessons soon enough 😎

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

Brilliant! Consider yourself enrolled!!

[Russell J Zera _Philadelphia_]

Ok, I can definitely do a GIF soon (playing in a hobo band in a parade at end of October and I'll slide in some Atlassian Swag into my getup), but for now I'll stick to the Miscellaneous Monday task at hand:

I went to college originally to be a music teacher, so I naturally played a wide plethora of musical instruments, but my principal instrument is Tuba (I played Jazz Bass Trombone and also did a decent amount of chamber euphonium). I played for a short while in the Hershey Symphony, and traveled a great deal to play in fun and exciting locations around the world. I even (at one point) had an album on iTunes (long ago and since has been pulled because I think maybe 11 people ever bought it). For those curious, the long-used profile picture for me is actually from the photo shoot for that album!

Yes, the album was called "Low Notes in High Places" and yes I hiked to the top of Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania with the Tuba on my back to get that picture!

So yeah, I'm a bit of a band geek lol. I am actually an alumni Brother of Kappa Kappa Psi, The National Honorary Band Fraternity.

My favorite story (appropriate for the forum, cuz hey... band camp is real) is probably having someone come in to my high school band room Freshman year on behalf of the Queen of England to invite our marching band to play in the annual London New Year's Day Parade (which we did on New Year's Day 1997).

[Devon Henderson]

Yes, the album was called "Low Notes in High Places" and yes I hiked to the top of Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania with the Tuba on my back to get that picture!

I'm crying 😂😂😂 That is too perfect! If you find your album is still uploaded somewhere, I'd love to listen!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Seriously this is so awesome! Please share the link to your album, I would love to listen as well :)

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

OMG @Russell J Zera _Philadelphia_ : there is only one word for this.....

L E G E N D ! ! 

🤴✨😱🤩🧐

How do we buy the album...!? 

And I cannot wait for that GIF!

[Devon Henderson]

Oh boy, here we go!

I have now been playing classical trumpet for 20 years, which is crazy. I started in middle school, became first chair, and then held that throughout high school. I did concert band, marching band (even became drum major), jazz band, and show choir band in high school. Then I got a performance scholarship and attended Butler University, where I graduated with a degree in classical music performance! Totally use that degree every day... 

In high school, my highlights were having a great time in a solidly mediocre marching band, and being in one of the top show choir bands in the country (we won Best Band at FAME in Orlando my junior year). In college, my highlights were traveling Europe performing with our wind ensemble (where I ended up principal trumpet) and doing marching and basketball band. I timed it perfectly, too - my junior and senior years were the years Butler went to the NCAA national championship for men's basketball. My membership in the basketball band sent me all over the country to travel with the team - for free!

Now I just play recreationally in our 104 year-old community band, which works for me. I discovered in college that I actually hated playing for money - it killed the joy for me.

Photos time:

Here's me, standing like a dork with my hat over my eyes like a dork in marching band in college.

Here's me at Beethoven's grave in Vienna with my friend Mary. This was during a trip touring Europe to perform in spring 2008.

Here's me and the rest of the pep band at the 2010 NCAA National Championship game. I'm the one towards the front right you can see holding a trumpet. Don't ask about the face paint - I don't know what I was thinking. Probably lack of sleep 😂

Bonus shot!

Here's Taco playing my trumpet (for the nerds, I play a Yamaha Xeno 8335 RGS Pro-level Bb trumpet with a Hammond custom gold-plated mouthpiece out of Chicago), with an assist from my cat perch haha.

Band nerd out! 🎺🎼🎶

[Jodi LeBlanc]

OMG Devon, I had no idea that you were a professionally trained trumpet player! The experiences you had were life changing and your photos capturing the moments are incredible. Taco is sure loving that trumpet of yours! Beyond cute :) 

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Devon Henderson This is everything I had dreamed of and MORE! Oh my goodness. This... is... PERFECT!

You are the ultimate band geek and I am now crowning you the official Atlassian Queen of Band Geeks! 

🙎+ 👑 = 👸🏻  

💖✨🎵🎺🎼

What an absolute glorious experience you have. Amazaballz!! 

[Jodi LeBlanc]

This post is sensational! Actually there is not even a word that comes close to describing how awesome, fun, nostalgic, and excitement busting through the seams it is @Andy - PTC Redundant !

I went through my albums and yearbooks last night and boy was it hard to find a band picture. Tons from sports and random, but not sure where the missing files of my band geek days went. I did find one pic, however it is my mission to find a few more. Here is one from my yearbook, yes yearbooks were black and white back then, but no it was not in the days before coloured photos lol. Our yearbook printed in black and white to save the shoe string budget. Glad to have the memories :)

I put a heart around my photo as it would be hard to identify me otherwise, and it's funny the heart went around my best friend too. We have been friends since grade 1 and are still friends today. This was a photo of our concert band, we got to travel to perform and won gold a few times. Our clarinet quartet also won gold at music festival which we were so proud of. I played clarinet from grade 7-12, being in a band was such an honour and to play on the main stage was a feeling I can't describe. Proud band geek here! 

I did run into my junior high school band teacher a few years ago and he has a rec band that I am welcome to join anytime. Just never took the time to find a clarinet and brush up on my notes. It sure would be fun to play again.

Playing an instrument is like learning a new language for your brain, it keeps your neurons sharp. And like riding a bike you never really forget how to play an instrument.

Oh and someone mentioned a recorder, played that from grade 4-6. And of course grew up doing the lip syncing and group songs on our bus rides to sporting events. Music always made things extra special.

Thanks for this post Andy, so many memories came flooding back and it's lovely to see so many from the community played instruments and were in a band :) I think you will receive an influx of replies this week, once everyone dusts off their memory books like I did.

Fingers crossed I find a few more photos to add to the post :)

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Jodi LeBlanc : What an EPIC response. And you are so right, especially the nostalgia part...!
Good lord... not just a photo, but also a YEAR BOOK. Legend. 😎👏🎵

I am so pleased it helped bring all those memories back.
It certainly did for me. The music instruments are being dusted off more and more the last month...! 

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Yes, high school had great memories attached to it. that's for sure! Thanks for this amazing post that brought back all those memories!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

You are most welcome @Jodi LeBlanc always!

[Laura Campbell _Seibert Group_]

September to November every Friday night was playing for the football game and then Saturday was a bus ride to a marching band tournament in high school!

I could have passed on all the football games, but when we did a really good field show with good lines, great playing, and color guard on fleek, it was a good day.

I still play in a community band, and luckily it's nearly always indoors. We had to memorize all our music for marching band, which meant about 15 minutes of music for the field show, plus a march for the parade, and it's kind of amazing when I think about how I was able to do that each year plus play while walking around a football field to specific choreographed positions.

Senior year I was one of the flute section leaders, and it was a good first experience of leadership. Looking back I realize it was a more valuable experience than I realized at the time.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Laura Campbell _Seibert Group_ : YES!!!! Marching Band... totally amazaballz. I was never in one and am totally legit jealous of this. They seem so fricking COOL!

So awesome to find a fellow flute buddy. 

✨👍🎼

I did a lot of memorizing for different orchestras and bands. Tough but oh so rewarding!

[Deleted user]

Thank you @Andy - PTC Redundant  for this great thread.   Very interesting.    Ok, so I was never in a band and at first I thought I probably should not post this but will anyway.   

I do have a Bachelor's of Music degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI with a concentration in church organ and piano.  Pipe organ is sort of a band all by itself, so maybe it qualifies :-) 

I'm now a CPA and work in finance at the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.   So, yeah, like @Devon Henderson , not something I use every day but I do play regularly at my church in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada.  I always figure that music is for life and never wasted as this thread shows, too. 

Here are a couple of photos from last Christmas, one my daughter took from the balcony of our church and one I took while sitting at the organ

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@[deleted] : Oh oh oh my goodness ! ! ! ! we found an ORGANIST! My life is complete... I die a happy and content man. Thank you thank you for the response and beautiful photos!!
This is just BRILLIANT. 

🤘🤓🤯🤩🎶🎵🎼🏆

I remember the choir master at church tried to get people into the Organ and we had lessons with him... total disaster for me...

"So my left hand goes there... but also there... whilst the right is where now? And sorry... you want me to do what with BOTH feet!?!?" 

So yeah, what I'm really trying to say, you have my ultimate respect! 

[Deleted user]

@Andy - PTC Redundant  Too funny.  Thanks for the great reply.  Made my day!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@[deleted] : That is so awesome to hear. I am pleased!