Musique

19. Talk about something that happened in middle school

I used to play bass for the steel pans band in Abraham Moss High School. They're instruments made up from gallon drums (those huge metal oil cylinders), originating from the regions of Trinidad and Tobago (if you've ever heard of The Little Mermaid's Under The Sea, you'd know!). My first year in high school we rehearsed the arrangement for Lionel Richie's All Night Long, the highlight song for the school's annual theater production, an adaption of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. I'd wish I'd played tenor instead (they're more high pitched), but my ability to rotate between the base drums was rivaled by none, I kid haha. 

On the subject of musical instruments - in primary school a group of my friends and I signed up for Indian music classes as an elective. We'd thought that it'd be an upbeat Bollywood-esque banghra affair - but it turned out to be traditional classical ensemble instead. Every week, we'd rotate between playing tablas (like bongos) and the santoor (really, you'll have to google this one, it's like nothing I've ever played ever since), while our old teacher played the sitar. The whole period was a slow, meditative process and heightened my appreciation for bodily movement. 

In university, it's made compulsory by the department's studio society that architecture freshers to play the angklung. It's basically a set of bamboo pipes on a frame that you rattle or shake, and it's divided into several sizes that indicate its octaves. This instrument is said to originate from the Java-Indonesia region. Given the right song choice, an Angklung band can really lift up spirits. 

I can't claim to have mad skillz in the realms of guitar or piano - but if steel pans, santoor or angklungs really hit mainstream music then I'll shine gladly hahaha.