How I learnt music
For anyone that knows me, I am probably the most unmusical person this side of the moon. Oh yes, I like listening to music but can I tell a semi-skinned from a semi-breve – no chance. So this little story is purely for amusement although it does have a message for anyone writing blogs and posting to the internet.
I was lucky, I went to a Public School, which in the UK is not a school open to the public, but a private school, fee paying – please don’t ask me why it’s called Public, the strangeness of the English language defeats me at times.
Around about 12 years of age, our form master announced that next term we were all going to have music lessons. “I want you all to bring a recorder to school on your first day back.”
So I told my father. “Dad, we need to have a recorder for the start of the new term.”
“OK son, leave it with me. It will be nice if you learn to play the piano and then we can all listen to your music. Well done son.”
I thought I might learn to play the guitar or similar. Start one of these pop groups that my mother refused to listen to, The Beatles, Hawkwind, T-Rex. Yes. I’m going to be a musician.
So … on our return, after the summer break, I arrived at school carrying a very heavy and very expensive Elizabethan reel to reel tape recorder. Every body else took out their tin whistles, flutes and descant recorders.
How embarrassing. I had to lug this great monster all the way back home and try to explain to Father that a recorder was a musical instrument – a pipe with holes in it.
So I was wrong, Dad was wrong, we should really have gone into a music shop and asked them what a recorder is.
But here is an important point - If only the teacher had held up a descant recorder at the end of term so that there was no misunderstanding.
“Here we are boys! This is a recorder, this is what you need, it’s a tube with lots of holes in it and when you blow into it, it makes an awful noise – dogs start fighting, cats run away, and grandma switches the hearing aid off. Lads, I can’t wait, we are going to have fun!”
I’ve always remembered this embarrassing episode, and recalling it has benefited me as I made more and more of my living from teaching and writing training courses. Just because you know what a word means, or what a particular object is, do not assume that everybody else does.
Take the time to make sure that your blog will be clear and understandable to the most people. Make sure that the information is accurate, current and to the point. As happened when I was at school, how easy would it have been to show the class what a recorder actually is. Today, it is so easy to include photos and drawings in our blogs. A picture paints a thousand words and gets everybody thinking the of the same thing. Don’t just tell, show as well.
And that’s it from your music maestro.
Take care, enjoy the weekend.
Bux
Recent Comments
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You make a lot of good points, Bux. Which is why me and my class would have a show and tell every Friday where we would bring in something that we like and wanna share with everybody. :)
Great story and blog as always and have a great week ahead!
Myra ♥️
Bux, I love music too. Now that I have gotten older, I no longer can hear music like I used to. I can feel the vibrations on my laptop and JBL speakers. Music really does help improve our moods. It also helps with work productivity. I listen to oldie music, the music that I know and sounds familiar to me. As a child and teenager I played the piano, drum, guitar, and clarinet. I had great hearing back then later wore one hearing aid. Now, hearing aids don't work for me anymore, but I do not need them where I am. I live in a senior assisted living building where everyone here is Deaf and knows American Sign Language (ASL). I know some British Sign Language (BSL) and Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN). Thanks for sharing this. I like the motto, show, don't tell., that's been Kyle's statement that is what I try to do in my website blogs. I need to learn how to use YouTube because its a great way to show things on video rather than words.
Thanks Brenda, you're a shining example that we can overcome our limitations.
YouTube is fairly straight forward. Some folk just film funnies or whatever and stick it on YT. If you want to be taken seriously, a little more planning and time investment is needed.
Enjoy the new week,
Bux
Yeah, I have my hands full now, as they are. I'm not keen on showing my face there or even signing up for the camera. UGH! Im am well-known in the Deaf community here in the United States due to having a Deaf family, and we grew up wanting our privacy. None of my siblings or my family are on YouTube. My niece and nephew are Millennials. Im a baby boomer generation. I do see a lot of retirees on YouTube, and most of them are travelers, RVing, and all those things retired people do. Like you do with electrical engineering, which I know nothing about.
When you are ready, ask. There are enough people doing YT here to help you. And no, I have never shown my face in over 250 videos
Bux
I love the recorder. When I took music theory in college, they gave us a choice of keyboard or recorder. Since I had been playing piano since I was 8, I decided to take the challenge and learn the recorder.
Yes, I sounded awful at first. But it was fun!!!
Michael
Bravo for being persistent. I like listening to the woodwind section when they have concerts in the cathedral.
Bux
LOL! I probably would have done the same thing! I am not very musically inclined, either. When people ask what I can play, I tell them "the radio."
It is very good to be clear about what we are talking or writing about!
Take care and keep up your wit and wisdom!
Karin
Thank you Karin. I love it - I can play the radio.
I only played truant from school once and felt the full power of my father's wrath. He even calculated what that days school fees had been and deducted something out of my pocket money over the next few weeks as a punishment. And then he paid for extra lessons for me to catch up what I had missed that one day. Thje punishment was in the fact that I had to walk three miles there and three miles back to the teachers house for a one hour lesson, every night for a week. I never did it again, I missed too much time playing with my friends.
Look after yourself.
Bux
Don’t just tell; show as well. I read that a couple of days ago while going through some training.
Absolutely, and right on the money.
I would have gotten a recorder as you have done! Lol
Abie
Thanks Abie. After my Father died back in 2008, we found the tape recorder in his loft.
Take care, enjoy Sunday.
Bux
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Great advice Bux. I know I was also clueless when my oldest child came home from school telling me they needed a recorder. Thankfully, the school gave the option of purchasing it directly from them, which was a help.
As you said, the English language is confusing, but a picture is worth a thousand words.
It is, it can be very confusing. There are double meanings and uses of so many words.