Clarinet

I woke up on Monday morning feeling pretty good and then tried to walk downstairs. Ouch, my calves were screaming! Very sore and still sore as I write this Tuesday morning. I will have a gentle jog out later today and I have to ride my bike into Poole so by the end of the day I hopefully will be moving a lot easier.

Now then, to the title of the post. Without boring you with the minutiae of history of my former musical career, I will endeavour to explain.

Health and fitness and sport are all number ones in my life, but you have to get a break from it at some point, otherwise it all becomes a bit too much. Stress is without a doubt a prominent force in modern day life and cannot be over-estimated the impact it has on anyone's health. So to balance that out I have recently started getting back into my music. I fiddle around with the piano, guitar and saxophone, but I have just been through some of the classic performance repertoire of the clarinet, and barring very weak jaw and lip muscles, it felt pretty good and the fingers can still move around the keys with some purpose. it must be 15 years since I performed some of those pieces.

I then started reminiscing about concerts done and exams and then thoughts turned to my LRSM exam at the Royal College of Music in London in '97. I think it was 97, might have been 96. I will have to dig out some stuff in the loft to find out. That said, I think I threw out the report. Here's briefly what happened. I was in great shape( clarinet-wise! - I loved my Guinness back then, and Marlboro!). Went down to London feeling confident. 3 pieces were Poulenc Sonata, Schumann Fantasy Pieces, and Rossini's Them and Variations. I thought a varied programme. How wrong was I? Groans from one of the three adjudicators when I announced my programme did not set the mood in a positive light.( And he was a bloody oboist!) . I stuck it to them and really pulled off a great performance, even the accompanist who I had met just an hour before was impressed. Just like it to be me, I had damaged my top lip 2 days before at a local music competition, which I had won and was to perform at the evening recital. Now, they had one of these old rusty music stands and it was jammed and just as I was up on stage to perform I tried to adjust it, it wouldn't budge. I pulled up extra hard, it came loose and whoosh! straight up into my mouth. Bloody everywhere, and needless to say I couldn't perform. I rushed off with air purple, and trying to get sorted for the upcoming exam. It had not properly healed and as a result air was escaping a little from my embouchure. I did try to explain this to the adjudicators beforehand but they weren't interested.

2 weeks later and my results came through the post. Fail!

I read the comments, had they listened to a different clarinettist? I was completely gobsmacked. I do think I ripped it up and binned it( the report, not the clarinet). My classical playing career was pretty much over there and then and I know that I just lost interest in it. I don't think I performed another recital after that. I carried on doing loads of gigs and then my music career continued for the next 10 years or so. But me and the clarinet parted company even though I was stilled required to play it on a lot of gigs.

Now to the point of the post title! I want to get back into playing the clarinet, and to prove to myself that I can still perform at a high level. I need another challenge alongside my triathlon and cycling. This will do nicely. So watch out for the Lycra-clad, wetsuit wearing bloke on a bike with run shoes on, noodling away with clarinet in hand! You never know it might just be the marketing angle that I have been looking for!