Panel 2: Aha! Another tie-in with the letters. We've had the discussion before about using the mouthpiece vs. practicing all-out, but if anyone wants to revisit it, go ahead. (I thought there was some kind of muting device you can put in the bell...)
Panel 3: Huh? Is this a flashback or flash forward?
Panel 4: Yeah, Phil always was down! It's times like this when I wish they'd have sound files instead of that lame-ass animation. We could hear Phil's stylings, 4-Evah and Eva's cacophony and Becky's singing (so we could judge for ourselves) and in non-musical strips, ambient noise like wind whistling through the leaves or...I dunno, the wind whistling through Liz's head.
Panel 5: Ha, ha. For a second, I thought these two were going to go Kelpfroth; they certainly look like them. And since we're taking a humor break, it appears that Jim is going to linger for a long time. Probably until the end of the strip.