Victoria Day Parade

It was cold and rainy all day Sunday and I wasn't at all optimistic at the chances for good weather on Monday's Victoria Day parade. However, I got very angry at god and gve him a piece of my mind, and what do you know.He Smiled and the weather turned out to be almost perfect. I know god loves us and all, but I kind of think he likes a guy who stands up for himself more than the weepy type. I pointed out that I have never ever blamed him for any problems I brought on myself, but that this was different. I reminded him of all the eager and innocent high school bands up from the States and how it would be so unfair to them to get rained on. Well, we had our nice day on Monday and today it's raining again- not exactly raining but getting ready to rain.
I was lucky enough to have had one of the better seats in the house. Starting at 9am the first tendrils of the parade reached my vantage point about 9:40 and the last band went by at about 1:10. Well, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped. Why does nobody ever play the great band music by Sousa and so many others? Let's face it, band music is march music originally military in nature. But I suppose that answers my question. The military is not very popular in educational circles, and to make matters worse most of that music was composed by the dreaded and reviled dead white males. Even worse, it's so much better than what is most played now that it would be embarrassing. Better not to play it at all. Instead we have all this 'jump up' music (as I think of it) which would be fine as a kind of spice added to the dish. But a whole meal of it is tiresome in the extreme. By the end of it I was getting a headache.
Wouldn't it be nice if a conspiracy took place in band music departments of influential American High Schools (the ones our American hating teachers copy) to start teaching again the elements of harmony, texture, rhythm, tonal beauty and melody as illustrated in the works of the great band composers and arrangers? Another little prayer for you, God.
But absolutely nothing can spoil the delight of watching leggy young high school girls high stepping and twirling batons. Thanks a lot to all those who participated and gave us such a wonderful show. I only wish I had the foresight to make up a banner saying, "Thank you America, for standing up for our freedoms."