Scales

Not the kind you find on fish nor the kind you use to balance weights.

The kind you find in your typical elementary band room. It's so odd. SO odd. Music here is exemplified through speakers or traditional instruments at a wedding. I'm talking about trumpets, tubas, an alto sax, a clarinet, a snare! This is very, very strange to find in Cambodia, and here I was, just workin' away a the Provincial Office of Education (POE) in Takeo Town and: "Doooooo dooooo doooo doooo doooo dooooo dooo doooo.....dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo."To be honest, my biggest question: "Where did you get the instruments from?" Most music stores in Cambodia have classical or acoustic guitars; it's very rare to see anything else. I would have asked to step in, but I'm not so sure I would have wanted to share reeds.

Talk to you soon,

Garrett

Singing at the 4th of July and Why Didn't I Take Advantage of That?!

Yesterday, both the Khmer National Anthem Quintet (yeah, we have group names) and the Star Spangled Banner Quintet got to sing at the U.S. Embassy for the formal 4th of July event (on the 1st). We got there around 1p just to do an initial sound check. It was sounding pretty impressive throughout. After the sound check, as we were walking to the Marine house, the foreign service officer who was running the event said, "Oh. Yeah. You guys will need ties." Huh?! TIES?!! I brought 1 tie (for swearing in), and I didn't even know where to find it. Thankfully, the gentleman from the Embassy who is housing us has plenty of ties. I thought the red tie with my gray shirt, charcoal pants and black shoes looked pretty fly. Anyhow, the Marine house was pretty swank. 52in flat screen and a full-service bar. When we came back around 4 o'clock until 5, then mingled a little before waiting behind the stage to come on to sing. Both groups did a tremendous job. At one point, a Marine came up to me and said, "You guys were just amazing. You really choked me up with that Star Spangled Banner." So, thanks Star Spangled Banner Quintet. You guys rocked it.

As for the missed opportunity. Well, I was hangin' around chatting with various peoples of varying import, I ran into the director of the Marine Band (from Hawaii: there are 14 I found out). We had an intriguing conversation about this and that, and then he ask, "So, how long have you been singing for? I imagine your answer will be, 'my whole life, of course.'" "I've been singing awhile, but my primary instrument is actually the saxophone." "No shit?!" he said, "You've gotta get up there and play. I was really impressed that you recognized the song, 'Chameleon'. I'm sure our guy'll let you jump in on a tune." My response: "GUhhhhH DFUHHHhh DGUHHHH!!! WHAT?!" At that very moment, our group (definitely not their fault) was leaving to go see another group of friends. Did I stay and play with the ridiculously good Marine Band from Hawaii? Unfortunately, the answer is no. I definitely missed out on one of those lifetime opportunities. The term is "chickened out." No pussyfooting around that one! Eh. Life has passed. Maybe, I'll find the band practicing when decide to visit Hawaii. Props to them, though. They were fantastic. Not only did they play "Chameleon", they played an arrangement of "The Thong Song" and some other fine pop tunes.

Talk to you soon,

Garrett