HONK to the Future

School of HONK thrived this year. Despite haphazard weather and the continuing health and safety concerns of the pandemic, we’ve learned some new songs, revived our mashups, developed our sound as an ensemble, and played some of our best shows ever!

We continued to keep it outdoors, in our usual spots, but also some first-time adventures to new nooks and crannies around the neighborhood. We’ve played daytime and night, porchfests and street parades, water fountains and band shells and everywhere in between—including a full weekend of shows at this year’s HONKfest, with our biggest group yet for the Harvard Mainstage finale.

But best of all, we’ve made a bunch of new friends and bandmates—many of them fans who stumbled upon us, spontaneously danced along, and then decided to join us at a future session to try out a trumpet or a trombone or a drum. One fan emailed us to say “I happened upon your performance in Cambridge today, and it absolutely made my week. I was so inspired by you all donating your time and talents to spread joy. Thank you so much for what you do.” And parents of one of our newest, young drummers said, “Everyone was so warm and supportive! It was amazing to see him overcome his shyness, integrate into the group, and start learning the rhythms. He’s really looking forward to the next one.”

And so are we! In 2023, we hope to bring together more new friends to make one-of-a-kind music and fun. We’ll be gathering indoors for the first time since early 2020, figuring out how to do that safely while making sure to balance outdoor and indoor time to support the diverse needs of our group. After a successful mini-return this year, we’re planning to run the first full-length version of our Summer HONK day camp since before the pandemic. And, in response to inquiries from musicians around the country, we’re working to create a “how-to” guide to help others organize similar schools in their own communities.

But as always, we need some money to help make it happen. Your donation to our school will help support all our activities as well as the rising costs of overhead like insurance, instrument inventory, space rentals and van maintenance. With your help, we can ensure a future that keeps our groove going and our band growing, note by note, step by step, each and every Sunday.