Articles
THE PERILS OF A TROMBONIST
It must have been one of the laws of the Medes and Persians because it has never changed.
The trombone section is always seated right in front of the percussion section with its snare
drums, bass drum, kettle drums, cymbals, bells, whistles, and gongs!
People talk about how loud the trombone section is. My band director said, “It takes six
years to get the trombones to play loud enough, and another six years to quiet them down.” I saw
a cartoon in which the director said to his band, “Don’t speak to the trombone section, it only
encourages them!”
But even when the trombones blow the notes off the page, it’s nothing compared to the
sound of the gong! You sit there with the gong right behind you, and you know that in just three
measures the guy behind you is going to hit that gong with all his might! And you will be deaf
for the next ten minutes while the whole building reverberates from the sound.
The apostle Paul by inspiration says, “If I...have not love I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal.” (It makes me wonder if Paul played trombone.)
What a contrast Paul draws between the banging cymbals and gongs, and the quiet voice of
love.
In an age that loves “noise,” the thing to be remembered is the love that the church has for
individuals and groups.
“If I have not love...I gain nothing.”
John Gipson
via Windsong church of Christ, Little Rock, AR
A common love for each other, a common gift to the Savior,
A common bond holding us to the Lord;
A common strength when we’re weary, a common hope for tomorrow,
A common joy in the truth of God’s Word.
