Pickin' out a tune by ear

Stray Cat Strut; The Stray Cats

One day during my freshman year in high school, while all of the other band members were warming up on their instruments, I zeroed in on one of the senior trombone players. He was playing, but he wasn’t looking at his stand. It sounded like he was trying to figure out a melody that he’d heard, and juuuuuust couldn’t get it right. He happened to look over in my direction and saw me making an appraisal of his efforts.

“Hey, Applehead,” he called over the cacophony of band noise, “you pick up songs off the radio, don’t you? How does this part of the song go?” What are you trying to play? “Stray Cat Strut.” I don’t know the song. He rolled his eyes and resumed his attempt to figure out how to play the song by ear.

After band, while I was putting my horn away, he came over. “If I bring you a tape of the song over noon, can you help me figure how to play it?” I can try.

It didn’t take us long to figure it out for him. “Thanks, Applehead.” He didn’t need it for anything. He just wanted to play it. He tapped me a few more times during the year to help him figure out the melody on some Top Forty tune.

At the time, I was immune to the charms of the Stray Cats. The music of my generation didn’t resonate with me. I closed my mind to it. And, unfortunately, some tunes, some bands, some albums, some writers – some music got by … that shouldn’t have got by.

Thank heaven I’ve loosened up – a little. When The Brian Setzer Orchestra released their first album, somebody actually had to tell me that Mr. Setzer played in The Stray Cats. And then I remembered helping my trombone friend with “Stray Cat Strut”. So I had to download it. And now, it’s on my iPod.

I don't bother chasin' mice around

I slink down the alley, lookin' for a fight

Howlin' to the moonlight on a summer night

Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry

Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy

I wish I could be as carefree and wild

But I got cat class and I got cat style

What a great song! I wish my sister's cat had this kind of attitude.

Credits: To all young musicians who poke and prod their trumpets, clarinets, trombones, saxophones and everything else that can carry a tune, with a venture to learn a song without the written notes in front of them. Good for you. Never stop trying. Who cares if you don’t get it perfect? Music is coming out of your soul!