These Are My JOTtings...

These Are the Instruments I Play

Music has been such a strong part of my life, that I cannot imagine Life without music.

My first and most consistent instrument has been my voice. I have sung for most of my life, starting with the song, "Jesus Loves Me," when I was but a toddler of two or three years of age.

The piano has been my companion, since the tender age of six, when my teacher gave me the compliment, "You are a good sight-reader." This remains the strongest part of my piano playing ability unto this day.

During the summer before beginning high school in the ninth grade, the new band director in town took it upon himself to teach me the baritone horn before he ever gave the first down-beat to the band as a whole. Then, when the football season started he asked me, if I would mind switching to the tuba. I said I didn't mind, and I marched the Sousaphone, that first football season, loving it so much, that I played it all the way through high school and throughout college as well. The tuba continued with me after college into a local community band.

Charles Daellenbach, who is the tubist for the Canadian Brass, remains my instrumental hero to this day. My favorite piece of music, that he performs is "The Flight of the Tuba-Bee," which is a rerendering of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of The Bumblebee," featuring the tuba in the solo part.

My high school band director is a trumpet player, even to this day. He impressed me greatly when he played "Bugler's Holiday," another of my favorite songs, when I first met him. I am not proficient on the trumpet, but I can play a little bit.

A few years ago my family and I went to see the Annie Moses Band in concert close to our hometown. They inspired me so much, that I purchase a guitar, and a couple of violins in short order. It has been a challenge to learn to play the violin, but I have hope, that I can learn this new instrument at this later time in life and play in a recital or in a concert with some level of skill.

I still have hope I will learn to play the harmonica and the recorder, well, one day, since I don't think I have ever met an instrument I didn't like.

Musical 2017 to you all! :D

I'm a member of the Rising Stars Program for 2016-2017