The maestro of the Thayer Conservatory Orchestra went to Junior’s school along with a brass quartet for the 3rd and 4th graders, and he decided he wants to play a brass instrument. He had talked about the trombone, which is an excellent instrument, don’t get me wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m not running out to buy a trombone for an 8 year old with the attention span of dog food. Plus his arms aren’t long enough; that’s what’s saving me.
He changed to trumpet, which he’s also too young for, but I have to say that I’m in a kind of deja vu about the whole thing. In a freaky repeat of my own childhood, I was a year older than him when they brought my class into the music room and had all kinds of instruments out to demo for us, and then we could choose which one we might want to learn to play. And I chose…the trumpet. I’m sure my parents were thrilled with my choice, but the choice was all mine, as was the responsibility for practicing every day for the two years I played. I even played a solo in the annual talent show – Close to You by the Carpenters.
Luckily, there wasn’t any cost to them because I used the school’s trumpet. Have you actually priced band instruments? I went to a going out of business sale that had saxaphones at half price for a thousand bucks.
SO, he’s actually going to start taking piano lessons, and when he’s a little older, if he want to try trumpet he can. My point about all this is that if anyone behind the project financing to have the quartet visit the schools wants to know if it was a good idea, you’ve got at least one little boy who is now signed up for music lessons as a result of the visit.
