52 Firsts: Yep. We Tromboned.

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Yep. We Tromboned.

I never knew I would come to relish the trombone.

Perhaps not for its musicality as much as its ability to make me cry with laughter.

A horn instrument, to the immature practitioner, is rife with enough inappropriate sounding toots and tutts to destabilize even the most serious student.

On Sunday, Annika and I were these said students. And under the tutelage of Mr. Steve, professional trombonist and my new best friend, we laughed and cried and sweated our way through our very first trombone lesson. The goal, to play Mozart before the afternoon was over.

(Sit tall, deep breath, focus but relax! and..... go!)

Now somewhat hung over from the night before, some of us more than others (ahhhhhhemmmm), struggled to take their lesson as seriously as one is required in order to tackle this endeavour.

And to quote: "Sasha is doing well and Annika is having a really good time". Thanks Steve ;)

That said, impressively patient with our many (MANY) false starts and off key attempts, there was no slowing Steve-o down! In the best possible way, he meant business!

We learned the art of double and triple tongueing... How cheeky! The importance and "how to" of clearing out the spit valve... How gross! Although I am told it's "...only condensation...". Whatever. Still gross. But what we do for what we love.

(Emptying the spit valve)

We learned that the trombone is the instrument that has gone the longest unaltered in form and design. Why mess with a good thing, right!?! And then we learned to play... Sort of.

Now for you to see what you think. But remember, all this, in 1.5 hours of instruction. From 0 to AWESOME! Seriously, check it out. The grand finale! You won't be disappointed!!!

VIDEO: http://youtube.com/embed/Y7Hv5ReMssA

Thanks Steve for hauling 4 trombones out of the crawl space (and getting locked in there in the process and having to call your mom to get you out while we sat in the yard taking in the sun, not noticing you'd been gone for an extended, I mean, extended period of time) and having the courage to take on 2 giggling girls!