My son, delightful person that he is, nonetheless is, like his father, capable of flights of extreme madness and irrationality. Just on three years ago now, flush with success in terms of making musical sounds out of something he called a saxophone, he challenged me to learn another instrument. I accepted his challenge, foolish me, and proceeded to acquire a cor anglais, or English horn for those who don’t know what cor anglais means. Not only that, but I also acquired a bit later an oboe – both instruments had really been on my wish list for some considerable time.
Of course, I never was good at anything wind related, at least out of the front part of my digestive system, and as a result went through periods of extreme musical and physical torture as I tried to make sense of something which my brain just couldn’t comprehend.
I began to hate my son…
My current teacher has been very patient with me and believes that we are finally beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Double reed instruments are notoriously difficult on which to control the pitch, and it has taken me much effort to finally understand how to adjust the reed and get the right sort of reed in the first place so that now, at least 99% of the time, I can get the right pitch – meaning that it doesn’t sound flat any more and can now blend with other instruments without sounding like a cat on a hot tin roof, or similar animalistic similes.
My main problem remains the fifth finger on my right hand, which has always lacked the control and flexibility of my other fingers, so C# is an absolute pain and no matter how hard I try I just can’t get it right. I still think it’s a design flaw in the instrument, but after 250 years of oboes who am I to complain.
Both instruments are now sounding quite musical, which is a relief to all of us, and I now use both quite regularly when we play music in church together, which means that in terms of instruments we are now quite flexible in what and how we play.
I don’t hate my son any more…