I love a parade.
It takes me back to childhood. I was a drummer in the Columbia Central High School Band, and we marched in the Mule Day Parade in my Maury County hometown.
Tens of thousands of people would line West Seventh Street, our main downtown artery, to watch marching bands, floats and farm animals pass in review. Trust me, it was a show. There was also a Mule Queen, which has to be one of the most ill-named beauty crowns in America.
As a snare drummer, I had the advantage of being able to see the street in front of me, which was a definite advantage when dodging mule piles. Trombone players and bass drummers, with their vision partially blocked by their instruments, would sometimes stomp right through the muck.
Drummers are especially active during parades, playing cadences between songs and then “roll-offs” to signal the brass and woodwind sections to snap their horns and get ready to play. I have tinnitus in my left ear today that I attribute to 10 years as a drummer.