There are a lot more musical instruments in this world than I thought there were when I was a kid.
Similar to most other children (from what I gather), I didn't select the music instrument I would play; my dad did. My dad played violin as a child and by some accounts even used violin to woo my mom and begin a long loving marriage; so of course I would play violin. (This was back when I didn't question things, and did what I was told). I do also remember in 4rd grade going into the band teacher's office and "selecting" an instrument to play should I join the band. Violin wasn't available (no orchestras yet at our elementary school, or high school system for that matter) so I was a free agent; I had put a few instruments that were interesting on a sheet of paper, and Mr. Blasius let me try out the different instruments. First up: flute. Let me try to trill with the flute, hold the instrument up to the side, but ultimately reject it. Next up, trumpet, let me blow into it, and I personally didn't think there was anything wrong, but he came up with some reason why it wasn't a good match for me. Then my 3rd choice, ah, this is the instrument we've been waiting for! (and likely the one that others weren't that interested in, so he wanted to push me into choosing) The Clarinet! You get a put in an odd-shaped reed every time you play, connect the pieces of the clarinet, and sometimes deal with the spit valve. Great! (I didn't really understand how gross it was to have so many instruments with spit involved and people emptying their spit valves onto the ground during band practice. It strikes me as pretty unhygienic nowadays, especially post-Covid) Again, this was back when I didn't argue, so I officially became a member of the clarinet section, up until 8th grade.
I don't necessarily regret playing clarinet in the band and subsequently violin in the orchestra; they're unique in their own way and both in pretty high demand in all forms of bands and orchestras; every orchestra needs 2 sections of violins, and clarinets don't make too distinct of a sound so they just blend into the background; I was perfectly content during my band-playing days to do exactly that: blend into the background, act like I knew what I was doing, and make sure I didn't stick out like a sore thumb. I do wonder, though, about other instruments: I do know in higher levels of music education (and something called music performance) that students learn all the different instruments in their section, like violins learning viola, cello, even bass). I never even learned piano, where the old joke is, "my mom thought there was really only one big decision in my life as a kid: piano or violin." Tonight MJ and I went to an orchestra performance where the cello soloist was very expressive and really got into the spirit of cello: you could say he played the $%^& out of it. Cello: large instrument and tough to haul around, but no need to tuck it under my chin all the time while playing, and I liked the deep baritone sounds it could make.
I guess my main point is this: variety is the spice of life, and for a kid variety is the driver of innovation, the generator of creativity, the opening of different doors. I kind of wished I had tried to prop open as many doors as I could as a kid, because later in life every day is kind of just a peanut butter-and-banana breakfast (Elvis's breakfast special), and going to the same job. Jeopardy also has a recurring category of different instruments from different cultures, not just the staple orchestra ones like percussion, brass, woodwinds, and beyond even the "exotic" ones the orchestra wheels out sometimes like the harp or the triangle or keyboard, we're talking lute (a pear-shaped guitar), sitar (plucked string instrument from India/Pakistan), castanets, vibraphone, zither (another stringed instrument), flugelhorn, kazoo (buzzing instrument that looks like an inhaler), ocarina (made famous by the hit video game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), and the one from Australia that has the best name to say: The Didgeridoo, the longest wind instrument I ever saw. And those are just the instruments made for music; the vuvuzelas at the 2010 World Cup were just noisemakers but still qualified as an "instrument." So many instruments to have tried out! Luckily unlike sports, where my age 35 body has already peaked at almost everything, I can start musical instruments at any time and still get better at it (with the possible exception of lung capacity which will decrease for some of the woodwind instruments). I still have hope to one day be a world class clavichord player!
No comments:
Post a Comment