Klarinet Archive - Posting 000055.txt from 2004/04

From: "Rupert Kahn" <Rupert.Kahn@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Children's writing about Music [was Potter ]
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 16:59:13 -0400

Mathew Lloyd kicked off this thread by saying that there are loads of
childrens writers better than J K Rowling. This, to me is uncontroversial.
JK is OK but I've been reading out loud to my children for about 15 years
now and so I know a lot of what's been written for children recently.

To keep this vaguely relevent to this list I thought I'd reccomend Jamila
Gavin to anyone who wants to know how good childrens writing can get. She
doesn't do much for single reeds, but music is very important to her books.
"The Coram Boy" features a character who is Handel's assistant and a major
event in the book is a performance of the Messiah. The three books of the
"Surya" trilogy are epic. It starts with the communal violence of the
birth of India and Pakistan and the central characters are a boy and girl
who cross continents and oceans to reunite their divided family. Music is
an essential part of the lives of many of the characters. For example a
music festival in London is a key event in the second book.

These are tough, moving, beutifully written books. I can't recommend
them highly enough.

And trying to be on topic; does anyone know any fiction (for adults or
children) about clarinet players and playing to keep me going until Dan's
book is listed by Amazon? (Or can I order direct?) Has anyone read
Bellison's novel?

The best fiction about a single reed player, that I know, is Josef Svrecky's
short story "The Bass Saxophone" about a young jazz musician in Nazi
occupied Czechoslovakia. The best novel I know about playing music is
Richard Sennett's "An Evening of Brahms" which is partly autobiographical,
but I think it succeeds by making the music more important than the people.
Sennett was a cellist so not much about the clarinet there I'm afraid. He
was forced to give up through ill health and became a sociologist (Professor
at the LSE), but managed to produce three novels along the way.

I would welcome any recommendations of good fiction about music for adults
or children.

Rupert Kahn
Derbyshire
UK

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org