What we did today was, a bunch of us all got together and worked on each other's songs with no focus on an immediate gig or who was in what instrumental roles.
We were freely switching instruments, and generally playing songs by three different people who have never played in the same band before. At one point I was sitting on the floor cross-legged in front of a keyboard, feeling like Schroeder, playing left-handed keyboard while singing harmony vocals and shaking an egg shaker, feeling like I was contributing something. It was fun.
My brother-in-law and sister have moved back to town, so we can practice music together. Laying aside dreams of being stars and having huge gigs really seems to help us get places with putting together some songs with everybody helping out.
