Growing up, I played in the school band and orchestra. Nothing cool - no sax, drums or bass. No, I played bassoon - largely I suspect because the school had bought one and needed a tall kid to carry it. After this unpromising start, I grew to love playing, especially because, due to a shortage of competent bassoonists in the Manchester area, I got to play with loads of good orchestras who were desperate for some bass in the woodwind section.
The only issue with playing the damn thing (aside from the inconvenience of lugging the case around) was that it just wasn't hip & funky at all. No role models. No cool riffs. Plenty of comedy moments: Theme from Ivor the Engine - check. The mop in Sorcerer's Apprentice - check. and on and on....
The one notable exception to this, which I've just caught on Craig Charles' funk & soul show, is Smokey Robinson's Tears of a Clown - listen and grin.......
Thursday 22 November 2007
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After ritual humiliation with the recorder at a school concert when I was about 6, I quickly moved onto the more hip and trendy guitar. This led me to two of the best teachers I have ever had, and playing in a very poor girl band for a while - I think I still have the demo tape somewhere.
It also meant that during my highly suspect trainee groupie phase, I got to play on some very nice guitars.
I always pitied the kids with the violins. Impossible to play and generally very geeky. As I would wander into the guitar music room to plug into my Marshal amp, they always looked and sounded so forelorn in the room next door.
Aw. I had the recorder, and the piano, my mother being a music teacher, and failed to take to either. I did enjoy singing and still sing harmonies with my mum and sister. Perhaps we should launch a kind of childhood tribute band?
The recorder, I believe, as much as (if not more so than) the bassoon, is an instrument which you could try forever and fail to imbue with even an iota of coolness.
Word Association
tears of a clown - bassoon - GP
I hear 'Tears of a Clown' and I always think of you - funny really!
Didn't you play the recorder as well?
I had to play the clarinet because my mum refused to buy me a saxophone - she rightly doubted my commitment.
Still I was slightly better than my brother. I can still remember him murdering 'twinkle twinkle little star' on the violin. The cats yowled and yowled until he stopped!!!
ah yes - i also blasted my way through London's burning and all the rest on the recorder...I can't think of a single really cool recorder player. Surely it must be well regarded somewhere?
My mother writes very well-received music for the recorder (in four parts) - it sells*, so there must be an audience out there somewhere. I can picture them all in their sandals and socks ... and that's just the adults.
*I should point out that no one will be retiring on the proceeds
I remember at some strange Christian summer camp I went on in my teens (where the only thing I learnt was that orange flavoured 20/20 tastes as bad on the way up as the way down) the smaller kids were all given something called an okarina, I'm not sure of the spelling. It made a sound like a mix between a recorder and a shrill whistle, only not as melodic. Proof, if ever it was needed, that the devil moves in mysterious ways.
friends - i think what all this proves, without a shadow of a doubt, is think very carefully about introducing your child to an instrument. especially if it's the recorder.
Electric guitar... that's the way forward.......
The Bassoon made national UK radio last week. Radcliffe and Maconie on Radio 2 had a long discussion about the Bassoon in Rock 'n' Roll ('Puppet on a string' as well as 'tears of a clown') and career choices for Bassoonists. It was very funny!
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