Trombone Choir

Jingle Bones

Long ago and far away . . .

A nine-piece trombone choir called Jingle Bones played
at a Christmas party as one of several musical acts.

The [mostly] guys walked onto the stage one by one wearing [primarily]
Santa hats and carrying [for the most part] trombones and music stands.

"Which member of the Jingle Bones is unlike the others, and how?
The judges will score creative answers higher than accurate ones!"

The partygoers were given cards to fill out, and at the end of the event,
prizes were awarded to the three answers determined to be the best.

Actually, each player was supposed to have a "distinct distinction,"
so that any choice would be correct and the explanation was the aim.

 

  1. Brad had a professional stand; the others had fold-up wire stands.
  2. Melissa [pre-adult] was the only female. (Unplanned, she also had a cast on her wrist.)
  3. Jim wore a different style hat. (He called it a Salvation Army hat.)
  4. Russell made his entrance from the opposite side of the stage.
  5. Kevin played the jingle bells instead of a trombone.
  6. Herb carried his instrument and stand in the opposite hands as the others.
  7. Tony sat on a stool instead of standing.
  8. Adam [pre-adult] didn't wear glasses.
  9. Ben [pre-adult] had his trombone decorated with purple tinsel.
However, the best laid plans went awry;
Melissa forgot her glasses,
and Kevin forgot his hat!

This was the winning entry.
(Certain names have been obscured.)

Here are the two runners-up.

  1. Russell was mentioned in 31% of the entries, apparently because he was the spokesman.
  2. Melissa was mentioned in 26% of the entries, most of which referred to her femaleness.
  3. Jim was mentioned in 14% of the entries, half of which referred to the hat.
  4. Kevin was mentioned in 10% of the entries for a variety of reasons.
  5. Adam was also mentioned in 10% of the entries for a variety of reasons.
  6. Brad was mentioned in 5% of the entries.
  7. Ben was also mentioned in 5% of the entries.
  8. Herb was mentioned in 2% of the entries.
  9. Tony was not mentioned in any entry, making him the truly unique one.
Yes, these percentages, plus the entries that stated that all players were unique,
add up to more than 100%. That's because some mentioned more that one player.

Here are excerpts from other comments:

~ FURTHER READING ~

The piece played by this choir was written by Curly Robertson, according
to the emcee. The title is "Let It Slide Let It Slide Let It Slide." Although
an original work, it "quotes" from a few "winter tunes," that is, songs heard
often during the Christmas season, although they are not about Christmas.*

You see from this snippet that it is written as a trio,
so the eight bone players doubled up on the parts.

Some partygoers had a hypothesis about the real identity of the composer.

*See the display in the Mechanisms exhibit hall tagged
"An Instrument Originally Played By A Horse."