When I was in a Boy Band.

I used to be in a Boy Band!

 

 

When I was about four of five years old I was in a Boy Band.  Well really a bundle of boys who thought they were a band but didn't have any instruments, so we improvised.

The instruments were based on those that we were used to as percussion in infants school.  I have no idea if they use these in schools these days but they were comprised of drums, tambourines, triangles, clappers ( sort of castanets on sticks) and cymbals.
Each instrument was given a colour name, and sheet music was put up onto the blackboard, and when the teacher pointed to a note, the one with the appropriately coloured instrument gave it a bang.  Not sure if we learned any music that way, but it was amusing.

Most of these instruments were not difficult to emulate, a drum was usually an upturned biscuit tin strung around the neck with string, cymbals were two biscuit tin lids banged together, a triangle was made from a bent bit of old iron and so on.  There also proper instruments like a penny whistle, a kazoo and comb and paper.

So we used to march around the courtyard of the block of flats that we lived in, banging away for all our might until such time as we were chased off by some adult  who couldn't stand it any more.  Another requirement to be a member of the band was to have access to a peaked cap.  Most the of the bands that we ever saw, mostly in the street processions wore peaked caps, except for the Tower Hill Pipe Band, who wore berets.  I suppose a peaked cap would not have looked right on men wearing kilts.

Fortunately I had access to two peak caps in our house which could be "borrowed"  My eldest brother, Ernie played the flute in the St. Patricks Church Band and brother Tom had been a telegram boy for Cable and Wireless and his cap had a silver badge saying "Via Imperial", which I never understood.  Other caps in the band had been old army caps and one from a Walls Ice Cream man.

Eventually we grew out of that, thinking that there was no future in Boy Bands that couldn't play a tune, how wrong we were!