[Alphonse Picou was invited to rehearse and then play with the Boo Boo Fortunea ragtime band, his first experience of doing so, as a young teenager]. That was on the Thursday night, the rehearsal, and on the saturday night following they had an engagement to play a ball (at that time the dances were called balls) on Liberty Street. So I went there and got there at about eight. The hall was jam-packed. I was not really satisfied about their not having any [sheet] music but I thought I would try anyway. I went and took a few drinks and the first thing you know I was playing more than them!

Every number we played the people just clapped their hands. We had to play them two or three times and that's the way I started with a band.

That particular style of playing without music was very new to me. I think it was impossible to me! It seemed a sort of style of playing without notes.

I remember when we got a new piece of music we would get the music and play the tunes with the music, then, after that we didn't need that music no more. We'd go "out of the way" with it. That was ragtime.