We laid our first track last night.

Beirut’s “Postcards from Italy.”

I brought my clarinet to practice. I hadn’t played in a long time. Our tambourine/vocal was ready. Our ukulele was ready. Our trumpet seemed to be coming down with a cold, but she said she was ready.

We started sometime after 9:30. We listened to the song once to remind us what it sounded like. We talked about parts.

We ran through it a few times, recording each take. We listened and discussed where to make adjustments.

I’d never approached a rehearsal so casually before, nor had I contributed to a song not really knowing my part the way I really didn’t know my part last night.

Final take: The ukulele starts her steady strum pattern. The vocal comes in, then the tambourine and clarinet provide percussion. The trumpet enters, then the clarinet joins as second trumpet. Ukulele solo. Trumpet interlude. Last verse with the three curly-haired band members singing with clarinet accompanying the ukulele first beat downstroke. Trumpet comes back, clarinet joins, ukulele returns to original strum. Trumpet drops out, clarinet fades, ukulele ends on the tonic.

We listened to the recording.

We sang, played, harmonized. We made music.

People, we’re not bad at all. AT. ALL.

We wondered why we hadn’t been practicing these last few months. I mean, dang.

Then we took a bunch of pictures to put on the cover of our, um, single.

Once editing is done, I hope to post the song for everyone to enjoy.

One of the sweetest moments of my life.

I’m really, really, really going to miss those girls. They have no idea.