Groan!

This is probably an old one you have heard before but it's funny.

   My Uncle the conductor was guest conductor for a mediocre
   orchestra last week.  He had been having problems with their
   basses; they were the least professional of the musicians.
   It was the last performance of the season, Beethoven's 9th
   Symphony, which required extra effort from the basses at the
   end.  Earlier that evening, my Uncle found the basses celebrating
   one of their birthdays by passing a bottle around.  He was
   about to cue the basses when he knocked over his music stand
   and scattered the sheet music.  As he stood in front of his
   orchestra, his worst fear was realized; it was the bottom of
   the 9th, no score and the basses were loaded.

"Robert Fletcher" <[log in to unmask]>