(same as previous years)

School of HONK is a weekly meet-up and parade, as friends and neighbors learn to play lively, spontaneous music together. As with any form of play, the goal is fun. The more we listen to and support each other, the more free we’ll feel to express our musical selves, the better we’ll sound and strut together, and the more fun we’ll all have. But worrying too much about each passing note or phrase gets in the way of having fun at all. So we don’t sweat the sour notes or fumbled queues, and just move on to the next. As long as our beat and our feet keep moving forward, nothing anyone does can stop the music, or the feelings of joy and empowerment that follow.

We provide an opportunity for anyone, at any age, to learn an instrument, or a rhythm, or a dance routine, or otherwise help us make music together. We value diversity, inclusion, egalitarianism and mutual love and respect, and we have mentors and players with all levels of experience, eager to help others learn to play too. Everyone is encouraged to find their own voice, and participate at whatever level is both comfortable and rewarding. And although playing music involves cooperation and some simple rules, unlike most other play, it is completely non-competitive and open to all. Want to learn trumpet? We’ll show you how to blow one note, then maybe you’ll play that note on every fourth beat. It’s a very important note in the song, and it’s easy to play, and the next thing you know, you’ve just taken your first steps to playing music with us.

Our approach is more show than tell, as the honk band form of lively and spontaneous music-making involves listening, repeating, watching and moving, more than explaining and sight-reading. We provide music charts and other learning aids, and we can provide more individualized instruction if desired. But everyone is encouraged to learn together during our Sunday sessions, mostly by rote and by ear. Unlike conventional music schools, our repertoire is mostly riff- and groove-based, with simple but fun notes and melodies for beginners, and more complicated parts for whoever wants to learn them. We play any kind of music at all, as long as it gets people dancing and grooving and moving along with us.

To offer anyone the joyful, liberating and community-building experience of playful music-making, all together in the streets, for friends and neighbors

Yes

Our activism is quite specific, but also universal: to promote and facilitate the (nearly lost) art of spontaneous, collective music making, that once upon a time healed broken hearts and bound us together against hate and fear to become our best selves and our best community. We hope to bring the HONK! Festival as much joy and inspiration as we provide ourselves and our audiences every Sunday afternoon. Our Sunday sessions aspire to reawaken us in a way that used to only occur once a year, and each week we have a slightly different group and parade, with one-of-a-kind moments of celebration. And of course, it only whets our appetite for the next October convergence, when we can share songs and hugs and mutual admiration with our activist compadres from around the world.

We host 50 Sunday sessions a year, as well as our popular two-week Camp HONK for middle- and high-school students, as well a variety of local parades, porchfests and other city festivals.

It is a central part of our mission not just to endorse diversity, but to actively welcome, promote and support non-white-cis-male members, from every part of our local community. We take every opportunity to put women and people of color in mentoring and other leadership roles, as well as working to ensure a safe space for learners of all ages, backgrounds and musical experience.

10

90

All

3