I have a confession....

I really enjoy elementary school music presentations. Like, a lot. Not so much I'm going to start crashing random recitals, but if a friend's kid is singing a song and I have to sit through an hour of tortured Beethoven, I dig it.

First, to anyone who thinks the sound is awful, it kind of is. But I have friends who make power noise, and the percussion is *supposed* to sound like a grinder on a garbage can. That's the finished product. These kids are going to get better.

They're also awesome to watch. It's like a slice of the cosmos behind that dim proscenium in the cafeteria. All these different levels of proficiency and attention, harmonics where there really shouldn't be any, the notes of chaos that somehow manage to rough in the theme of each piece, sharps and flats kind of canceling each other out. Hell, sometimes the moose calls of the horn section are even in the same key.

They try and they're proud of what they do. And then when they pause for a moment, say to let the string section do their bit, Entropy! They start out still, and then start to jiggle and vibrate as the order of the conductor that contained them looses its grasp. The jiggling becomes shifting becomes giggling becomes the back row bonking each other with drumsticks and dropping chairs.

The parents are there for torture in the name of love, proud of their offspring and the future. The kids have fun, I'm grinning like an idiot the entire time because it's just magical, thinking of the South Park episode where Cartman yells at Kenny for screwing up the song, when the whole band sounds like they're trying to strangle a violin *with* a cat in heat.
Babies make themselves known, little siblings try to join their big brother/sister on stage, parents are vying for the camera shot. It's a big, fat slice of "look what I made!"

Love. It.