Each year we play a carols gig at Ashfield Presbyterian Nursing home as preparation for our big carols in the park event (which was on Saturday night), and we also do it because we want to help out old folks.
I’ve been doing the gig there for about 4 years now and you start to recognise some of the familiar characters each year. There’s the lady who gets up and dances, there’s the lady that wants to play piano, and there’s the guy who heckles… (this year we had the guy who plays kazoo who paralyzed anyone with a hearing aid with the high pitch noise he made in the microphone…).
The guy who heckles I’m sure means well. He used to play percussion in the Australian Army Band for 30 years (so he tells me). This year we were doing a sound check and I was standing out in the audience checking the levels and out of nowhere he slidled up to me and half whispered in my ear “When are you guys going to learn to play your instruments?”
I said “well. You know. One day.”
He said “More importantly. When are you going to learn to play drums?” And then I got all the tips for playing “percussion”.
I don’t mind. But it was funny when he yelled out (during a lull in the music) half way through the set “Learn to play your instruments!”
…he’s probably right.