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• 1 2019-12-10T05:27:22-05:00 The Instruments 10 gallery 2019-12-16T18:16:10-05:00 Many of the performers at HONK! choose to modify the look of their instruments. This can come as a shock to people who play instruments or have a sense of how much instruments cost; it is not a decision to be taken lightly or a choice that should be understood as frivolous. These modifications are often designed to enhance the bands' colors, patterns, or identity. For example, the instruments for School of HONK! feature polka dots, branding the band onto the instrument regardless of what the performer is wearing. 
  
  For some instrumentalists, the modifications are place, time, and message specific. The final two photos of the slide show were taken at the Sunday night protest outside the Suffolk County Jail. There, the instruments took on a new look compared to earlier in the day at the Harvard Square showcase. Many musicians added lights to their instruments so they could be seen at night and from the jail windows. A performer from The Clamor and Lace Noise Brigade changed the written message decorating her sousaphone. Earlier in the day, it read "This Sousaphone Kills Fascists"; for the protest, she honored Atatiana Jefferson and protested her killing by a Fort Worth police officer the night before. This musician is no longer using her sousaphone’s bell for a joking protest, but is instead consciously taking part in a larger movement for prison and police reform by invoking the #sayhername hashtag. Whereas at HONK! the performers’ costumes and embellishments were meant to garner attention, here they function as the content of protest. So, the instruments are changed to enhance and inform the experience of both performer and spectator. The performer asserts belonging to a group, as well as personal style and values. The audience member experiences a cohesive performance that raises the level of information received about each performer and band.