Musical Hams You'd think musical ensembles would be exclusive of hams because in order to be good at an instrument you need dedication and a drive to succeed, but no. Let me share with you a story from my days at school. I was in a multitude of ensembles because I'm a music nerd.  Since I'm in a multitude of ensembles, I'm not allowed to be section leader in ALL of them and I understand that.  Honestly, I'm more comfortable being an assistant to the section-leader.  Unfortunately in this particular ensemble, everybody gets a chance to be a leader, even if they are incapable of leading and their tone is the crappiest in the group. Now since this is an upper-level ensemble, we played a lot of pieces which showcased soloists.  We played a gorgeous lyrical piece which had a two minute flute solo.  But I didn't get the solo, she did, because equality.  But she couldn't play it.  She breathed in all the wrong places, had no vibrato, and didn't count a single beat (she liked to "go with the flow of the music" to make it seem more "natural") in all the rehearsals.  We spent so much time working her entrance/exit so we'd be able to play that piece for our concert. I learn everybody's part within my section so I can help if I'm asked.  That's what assistants do.  If I notice you're not comfortable with a section, I'll play it with you once or twice so you can get more comfortable.  This means I learned Hammly's part too, including her solo.  I didn't practice it much, just enough to explain how it fit with the rest of the sections because I didn't want to be reported for "stealing her solo." But one day Hammly was missing from rehearsal.  I'm (naturally) the only one who learned her part, and since my part was well-covered since I've been working with our section, I play her part including the solo.  It was the most beautiful solo they've ever heard, and everything fit, and nobody in my section started late, and we were able to work on parts that needed adjustment which hadn't ben noticed before.  The director and others thanked me, and said it was the best they've heard that piece played. But Hammly played her solo at the concert.  And it sounded bad and she didn't count.