The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

This idea about “the bands we join” in life is a constant theme throughout the novel. Music explains this idea: “Everyone joins a band in this life. You are born into your first one. […] As life goes on, you will join other bands, some through friendship, some through romance, some through neighborhoods, school, an army” (19). No matter what band a person joins, it’s likely that it will inevitably dissolve eventually.

Frankie joins many bands throughout his life—most revolve around music in some way, but his most notable band, the one he shares with Aurora, does not. However, Music explains their band, or relationship, in musical terms: the pace of their union moves from allegro to adagio to a minuet. By explaining their relationship in these terms, Music illustrates how the structure of every band—whether musical or not—flows like a piece of music.

The idea that everyone joins a band in life comes from Music, the narrator, whose observes that all of life has a musicality to it. While a band can be defined simply as a group of people with common interests, Music’s understanding takes this idea farther to say that every band a person joins creates a harmony or dissonance, depending on the people involved.