Tuesday we had a conversation over dinner about the percussion section within marching band. The gist of the discussion was that there is a natural hierarchy to the instruments played within the percussion section and that choosing to move from a higher instrument to a lower instrument is socially unacceptable.
I attempted to point out that any such hierarchy is simply a creation of the community and as such a person who is secure should be able to play whichever instrument at whatever point in his musical career he chooses. That argument made little headway among our three teenagers and reminded me again that we often accept community-defined hierarchies as though they are reality.
First a quiz and then I’ll turn to us as adults.
QUIZ: Put the following instruments into ascending order of social standing among the percussion section.
A) Marching bass drum
B) Marching snare
C) Marching quads
D) Cymbals
Adults: Do we fall into the same trap when it comes to the zip code in which we live, the make of car we drive, and the labels in our clothing? Of course, as adults we have sophisticated explanations as to why our choices are the appropriate ones and how we have discerned some real difference of significance among the choices. I have no problem with that as long as we are being honest with ourselves. If a person used to drive a Lexus and now drives a Hyundai, must that reflect a loss in social standing or could it be that the Hyundai is the best choice for this person at this time?
Are you trapped on the ladder of social standing, always fearing that a perceived step back is a real loss?
Don’t allow the perceptions of others to control your behavior – that’s a lesson we are trying to teach our teenagers and one that many of us need to relearn.
ANSWER: In ascending order, the instruments are D, A, C, B. Having reached the pinnacle of playing snare, one would never descend the mountain of instrumental greatness to play cymbals. Trust me on this.
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