D. Connor Band Bangs On The Door

The Iron Band had their first "gig" on Thursday, playing for their fellow students during morning assembly.  Since it was the last assembly of the second trimester, the principal was willing to fit in a timeslot for us and observe our progress over the last three weeks.  The students, to no ones' surprise, were very nervous at the prospect of playing for their peers, and some of the younger students even tried to get out of playing on stage, citing fears of being laughed at.  I explained that they would not be the only ones up on stage, and that when all was done, their fellow students would be cheering and dancing, not laughing at them.

This ultimately proved to be true. However, it wasn't clear from the beginning that this would be the case: the musicians' collective stage fright manifested by freezing each one when they got on stage.  So rather than starting out with a bang, they kind of started out with more of a whimper, hardly even playing until after (what seemed to me like) a few minutes.  Finally, they got moving around, and the audience, far from being inclined to dance, still was transfixed on the beat and the motion on stage.  So in the end they earned their applause, and I can only hope that this experience will translate easily into increased confidence for each of the students on future performances.

The students are now enjoying two weeks off for Easter vacation.  Since I knew the Band would most likely lose those four days of practice, due to the difficulty of scheduling meetings, I was amenable to trading that time for a little performance experience before May, when we'll be looking into scheduling our first real gig in Challengers, the next village up the Caribbean side.  Then, in June, all of the PCVs on island will head to Independence Square to host an all-day public meet-and-greet celebrating the Peace Corps' 50th anniversary this year, and I'll bring the Band by to play a set or two.  So the great news is that we're making noise, both figuratively and literally, and hoping that the possibilities don't end with just some out-of-town performances – eventually, a little radio or television exposure would serve to propel their fame much more rapidly, and a highlight video can't be far behind!

Mmm... new header.