What's Your Band Called?

I'm sure we've all spent many hours trying to find names for our projects and bands that are eye-catching and memorable, whether or not they bear any resemblance to the music we're making.

When I moved to Sileby I decided that my next African Percussion Band would be named after my new home village, and one of the sounds we play on the djembe, the "slap" ...  The Sileby Slappers was born, and my small group of enthusiastic adults have performed at many local community events over the years.

I recently decided to invite all my other students to play with us at the village gala, and some twenty year 4-8s joined us on a hot, sunny day in Sileby Memorial Park, which was the first time that many had performed outside of school, and to such a large crowd, at a very well attended event.  They had had only one rehearsal with all 28 of us together, and couldn't have performed any better on the day, we were all so proud!

One of those students was Maya, who has appeared before in my blog "Colour Blind?"  Her mother approached me on the day, and said she had something to share.  Maya had been staying with her grandmother for the weekend.  When Mum went to collect her, grandmother took her to one side and said, "I'm a little concerned about a conversation I had with Maya.  She tells me she wants to be a slapper when she grows up ..."

It's these gems that keep me going, and if it brings a smile to your face, I have plenty more to share.  I learn a lot from the network blogs about the serious things, the funding (or lack of it), the issues we face, the blood, sweat and tears that goes into making music happen for us and for the people we work with.  It's good to strike a balance with the little gems that make it all worthwhile though ...