[philmont] Packing in Music

Hi All-

        A question came up lately, and I'd like some Philmont experience
on it. As a musician, one of the first things I did to prepare for
Philmont was to check out "the music scene", as it were. I have at
least two versions of a lyric/chordbook for Philmont songs, I've
corresponded with a dozen or so people who've taken guitars (usually
Martin Backpackers, which I've owned and used on non-BSA trails for some
time now) and other instruments along, and relate very positive
experiences.

        I found out last weekend that one of our crew members, one of
three Scouts from a neighboring troop, and the youngest on our crew, is
a fine guitarist, with four years of lessons. Yet he's been told,
somewhere along the way, that musical instruments are verboten at
Philmont (and, for that matter, our Troop's yearly trek to Gettysburg,
although our Scoutmaster has actively enouraged the appropriate bit of
campfire music).

        Is this something real? I double-checked the Philmont site just
recently, and some other online resources, and couldn't find anything
suggesting that instrument music was banned. Obviously, you might have
some management issues with kids and loud music, but that's pretty much
rended moot by the fact it has to be carried... backpack instruments
aren't loud, no matter what you do. And of course, that extra 2.3lbs for
the guitar is probably not the best plan for an 80lbs kid, but it's no
biggie for me... I've taken mine along for all our training hikes.

        What are your experiences, and is there some official work on
this? Thanks!

-- 
Dave Haynie 
Troop Advancement Coordinator <advancement@daretowntroop60.com>
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