End of an Era

[Dave S]

On Saturday 29 December 2007, paul.maddox.mail-list at synth.net wrote:
> Well, ok at least for me ;-
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&&item=330200646861
> I shall miss it, emmensley.

Well, congratulations at least on a particularly awesome and clear Ebay 
listing.  Nothing left a mystery as far as I can tell, so I hope you'll find 
a decent buyer and have a smooth sale.

This is my most recent Ebay purchase - a sort of Christmas present to myself, 
and the re-beginning of an era for me, I think:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290191268120

It only came the day before I went home, so I've only been playing it for a 
couple of days (though with 10+ years experience playing brass instruments 
previously) and I'd have to say it's possibly the best thing I have ever 
bought... ever!  32 quid well spent!!!

It's amazing coming back to an instrument you haven't picked up since you were 
a teenager, but with a completely different set of ears and an appreciation 
for music that you never used to have.

I was barely into music when I was in my teens (at least, I listened to it but 
hadn't found anything much that made the hairs stand up on the back of my 
neck), so it was all good being a relatively good player, but my interest in 
playing the thing (at the time a cornet, which I still have, though I'm 
really not physically cut out to be a cornet player) was virtually zero.

Practise, exams, boring pieces of music that I didn't enjoy... bloody hell, 
it's no wonder so many people quit that enforced drudgery as soon as they can 
manage it without their parents killing them!  (Mine were still pretty pissed 
off with me about it!)

Whereas this beautiful battered old euphonium feels like I have just picked up 
a brand new instrument (I borrowed one once before for about 3 months, before 
borrowing a tuba for a year or two) and seem to have learned to play it 
pretty well in like 3 hours of twiddling.  I'm also much better at jamming 
than I ever used to be, so can just enjoy myself playing whatever I feel 
like.

Rediscovering a long lost skill but with a new slant on it is a pretty nice 
feeling, I can tell ya!  Plus it's awesome fun, and a very big sexy sound!

I can't wait to take it to a few festivals and bash out some tunes around the 
campfire - together we are gonna win friends and influence people!  :-)

So, that's my encouragement to everyone for the new year: find some instrument 
you used to play as a kid and never really enjoyed, and get a cheap knackered 
one off Ebay to have immense fun playing as an adult.

I'm in love with a big piece of old brass piping... LOL!  :-D

(Though the cat isn't very fond of it - he's still a bit scared of the strange 
noise!)

Cheers,

~Dave