Will authorities take this lying down?

Could this be classified as a sax crime?

Authorities plan to drum up support among local pawn shops in hopes of snaring the criminals.

Oboe you di'int!

What a clef-hanger! Whoever did this is in real treble!

Tuba'd they don't have any leads.

Sheesh. First a bouzouki found in the garbage and now this.

hornblowerfan: Violins aren't band instruments.

We had one for concert band, though she moved after a year. Damn shame, as she was adorable/cut/hot as hell. And as a bonus, she had bad taste in men which meant I had a shot! :(

Also, I propose we launch subby into the sun for the headline, as well as every 5th person who made a band instrument pun.

The responses in this thread baritone of levity that is inappropriate.

poot_rootbeer: I guess your school didn't have the resources to have a separate orchestra class for the five Asian kids at school, huh?

That's weird, because concert band scores never include a violin part. Did she read off the oboe part or something?

She was white. IIRC, we had like three Asians in the entire school, all Vietnamese or Cambodian.

[Insert music pun here]

I_Can't_Believe_it's_not_Boutros: Personally, I'd have a couple of guards out watching the vehicle once the expensive instruments like the strings have been put inside. It's always so exciting with two out and the basses loaded.

CSB Time

Back in my music playing days, I got the chance to sit in with a symphony to play Beethoven's Ninth conducted by a very prestigious guest conductor. While he was well known and respected, it turns out he's a total dick in person. All week leading up to the performances he wouldn't give suggestions -- he'd berate people for not knowing his mind and just *know* how to play the music. Anyway, the day before the concert, two of the violas had had enough, told him off and stormed out (one of his particular gripes was that if a viola player was really any good, they'd be playing violin). During a break, the rest of us were discussing that these two guys, who were our friends, were clearly in the right and we should do something to show solidarity with them. The bassist and cellists noted that towards the end of the piece, they've got very little to do, so they decide to sneak off stage during the performance and start doing shots. Since they'd be in the wings, the conductor could see them, but not the audience, just as an added stab at him. The oboist -- a particularly crafty sort (don't ever cross and oboist as they'll hunt you down and eliminate your family line) decided that she was going to take some thread and sew the pages of his score shut right at the end. That way, when the time came, he'd be unable to keep up with his music. We also played a few other minor stunts like rearranging the furniture in his dressing room and the like.

Anyway, the night of the performance and it looks like we're going to pull it all off and the fancy pants conductor will just have to grin and bear it. The oboist got to the conductor's music in time and nobody saw her do it (a fricken ninja, that one). The cellists brought in a whole liquor cabinet, it seemed. To top if off, the two violas that had stormed off managed to get front row seats just to give the conductor the evil eye the whole night. The night started, the downbeat came and away we went. For most of the performance, it seemed like nothing was amiss. About halfway through, the conductor almost seemed to relax like he was expecting some kind of prank but it wasn't coming. Then at the end of the third movement, the basses got up and slinked off stage. The conductor scowled, but continued on. As we started approaching their return right at the end of the symphony, we realized that they just put away enough liquor to kill a horse -- each -- and we were no longer in playing condition. As they stumbled back to their instruments, the oboists plan struck. The conductor goes to turn the page and ends up flinging the music across the auditorium as everything was sewn together. At this point, the conductor breaks all semblance of professionalism, slams his baton down, curses loudly, turns to the audience to apologize and says, "I can't believe this! It's the bottom of the Ninth, the bases are loaded, the score is tied and there are two men out!"

Break time from the puns, but if someone stole my violin I'd go American History X on them. And it's not even *that* valuable, less than $1,000.

ShadowLAnCeR: When we all were awoken the following morning we found out that the tour busses had been broken into (the lower storage areas that were padlocked had been torn of) and six full size sousaphones (the big big type of tuba) had been stolen. To this date I have no idea why someone would do that, but they were never recovered.

Targeted hit by a local high school. Due to funding issues, my high school band contemplated this sort of thing on occasion.

Also would have stolen a few baritone saxophones.

McNignog: poot_rootbeer: Violin is not a band instrument!

There are Philadelphia Mummer Bands who use violins...

Also, $20,000 would mean they stole just one instrument, unless they were really cheap, 10th generation hand-me-downs. Orchestra quality instruments are not cheap.

/Mummers...playing member

Erm, as I said above my violin is worth maybe a grand, but it's certainly a good quality instrument with a nice sound, not one of the cheap crappy ones. Plus the article said it's a college group, "Canadian University College Chamber Orchestra". They're not rockin' super-expensive instruments, I'm guessing.