Blog-ites, welcome.
Hi there.
For many years past, I have had an attraction towards wind instruments. As if by some psychomancy and gramarye, I have felt the music sprites calling to me, beckoning me into picking one of them up and giving them a try. However, I had never gotten around to it; it is as if I needed a catalyst to spark the reaction—and luckily for me, this happened last month.
I went to a friend’s house who had started playing the clarinet a few weeks prior. I was excited to get to hear a song, up-close and personal, to really see what it sounded like. I hadn’t heard one played on it’s own since high school. When I got to her house, I was able to sit down, and listen, without any distractions: love at first sound.
After the first song, I asked to have a go at it. I couldn’t even sit back and listen to more songs at that instant: I just wanted to take the clarinet and try it. I got to play—more like producing raucous squeaks—for a few minutes, and then I handed the clarinet back to my friend. I told her ”I wouldn’t be surprised if I bought a clarinet tomorrow”.
And can you guess what I did the next day?
Well, from the title of the post and your utmost enthusiasm, the answer seems quite obvious.
I wanted to give you a chance of guessing!
Why, thank you.
…
And so yes, the next day I posted on Facebook, saying I was looking for a wind instrument (clarinet, saxophone, etc.). My brother’s friend messaged me the same day, telling me he had a clarinet to sell. I responded an ecstatic yes, and he brought me the clarinet two days later.
He showed me some of the basics when he swung by to drop off the clarinet. Not long after, I dedicated a few 1-2 hour sessions to my new baby, practicing note fingering and learning to blow without squeaking to the best of my capabilities.
I wonder how your neighbors feel about your new baby.
So far, no complaints. Fingers crossed.
You’d better cross them good with all those squeaks you are talking about.
Moving on.
Since then, I have been playing 2-3 times a week, which I know is a pennyworth in the grand scheme of things, but every time I get it in my hands and start playing, time perception seems to warp and shift, as if those occult spirits and kobolds—whom I mentioned in the first paragraph—were thanking me for finally taking note of their plea.
I am happy to have bought a clarinet, and I’d like to learn to play properly before reaching senectitude. I already went to take one class two weeks ago to assure my embouchure and tonguing was alright.
And so to aid in that endeavor presently, I’m off to play a little bit after this post!
What is your favorite instrument? Have you ever tried it before?
Music-note: tuh-tuh-tuhhhh—squeeeak (what I will have a tendency to do for some time to come).
Jonathan Naylor 