When I put the signs up around the university, I couldn’t have expected the response I got.

My first band was the large-lettered heading on the notice, and I was asking for anyone who was interested in playing all sorts of different music, from swing to heavy metal to pop to jazz to blues to hip hop to folk to rock. My personal favourite was the sort of music by the crooners of old, such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, those sort of guys, but my tastes were widely varied.

At our first coming together there were 22 of us, and diversity was a real theme: four guitars (of course), two drummers, xylophone, harmonica, cello, bassoon, flute, piano, electronic keyboard, clarinet, three saxophones (awesome!), a violin and a viola, bagpipes (yes, bagpipes, and boy are they loud), an accordian, and a triangle (she assured us she would learn more percussion pieces to contribute more, because she wanted to be in the band).

Everyone was so excited…until someone realised we had no vocalist.