Klarinet Archive - Posting 000011.txt from 2002/06

From: "Diane Karius" <dkarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re:quotes and such - a short (true) story
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2002 00:05:07 -0400

Such a lack of knowledge about instruments is hardly a new thing - a =
friend of mine (also faculty now) played clarinet when she was a kid. =
When she was in grade school and the time came to chose an instrument, her =
Mom instructed her to pick the clarinet - you know, that silver instrument =
that you hold out to the side... =20

My friend tried to convince her Mother that the instrument in question was =
in fact a flute, but was roundly punished for "sassing back to her =
Mother"...=20

When she brought the clarinet home, she was grounded for disobeying her =
mother and it took explanations from the band director at her school =
before her mother accepted that she had, in fact, acquired a clarinet as =
instructed. =20

Diane K.=20

<<< lande@-----.com 5/31 4:54p >>>
>>It turned out that she was the only person in
>>the group who knew what a clarinet was.

No surprise. Probably none would know the purpose of having
a bell on a typewriter, either. To most kids, the clarinet
is just another "sound" on the synthesizer. Lets face it.=20
We're just standing on the edge of the tar pit, wondering at
the sarrusophones, sackbuts and lutes and such, never
feeling the bank crumbling beneath our feet.

Actually, the story reminds me of how I used to take my
clarinet to the Varsity Grill (i.e. bar) near my campus
(circa 1970) and play along with the records. Guys would
come over and say "I used to play one of those. Can I try
it?" I would say "tell me what it is called." And they
would look at my wooden clarinet and almost always say "Its
a flute, right?" Only one guy ever knew it was a clarinet.

If I didn't have a clarinet along, I always had a blues
harmonica. Even more drunks wanted to show you their harp
licks than try a clarinet. So I palmed a second harp, a
minor key harp, which I would pass over. They would get the
funniest looks on their faces and they would complain that
there was something wrong with it, man. So I would take it
back and play a blues riff on the major key harp. Then they
wanted it back and by then their friends are laughing at
them. =20

What were we talking about? Must be getting old here.

cheers
jim

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