Music Without Words *insert horrorified expression*

As an instrumentalist, I have met quite a  number of people that I would like to throw a chair, no, maybe a house, at their faces, because of some of the things they say. The beauty of symphonies, sonatas and concertos is because they are purely instrumental. To this day, I can sit down for hours just listening to instrumental music, and I have found that most of my fellow instrumentalists enjoy instrumental music as much as I do. 

People's reactions when they find out you like instrumental music can be rather, um, interesting. I Once had someone look me dead in the eye, with quite a substantial amount of grief on his face, and exclaim, "how can you listen to music without words?!"

I also had a few others imply that music cannot be music if there is no singer. Non-musicians are not the only ones that appear, err, uninformed. 

I was once in a band that had quite some potential. When the leader approached me to further grow the band, he was of the idea that before we get singers on board, we should work on chemistry as instrumentalists, which was a splendid idea. The band consisted of some quite gifted instrumentalists, and I thought, "hey, this could be different". Since there are quite a number of conventional band set-ups, I figured this could be our selling point. Also, I find that instrumental bands have better paying and more frequent opportunities, as there is a certain class of people that enjoy such. But alas, music "cannot" be music without words.

Recently at band rehearsals, a deadly confrontation was about to happen. Of all the artists we play for, one of them happens to be one of my favorites. This is because he has a very good ear, is a percussionist as well, and has a high level of musicianship (he just needs to go to a special school on how to court women). Rehearsal time is divided between the artists, where each has their turn to do a set of songs and to agree with the instrumentalists how it should be done. When it was his turn, he had a wonderful idea for an instrumental arrangement. Literally a minute into the arrangements, other artists, particularly one rather obnoxious hip-hopper, thought that the instrumentalists are just fooling around. They started complaining and saying that the next artist should go on because "time was passing". Slaps forehead.

Since every artist in the program has equal opportunity, I have decided to come up with my own 15 minute instrumental, and I dare anyone to try and interrupt me.

Pooh!