Music during Lockdown

I broke up from school at the end of last term and have not been back: I am having a foretaste of retirement without the travel.

This blog is called 'Keys and Reeds' because I play the organ and I took up the clarinet ten years ago. I don't play the clarinet any more, probably because I lost impetus when I was having cancer treatment in 2018. I did Grade 5 and I also did Grade 2 saxophone. When I took up the saxophone again in the summer of 2018 I developed severe tendonitis in my thumb, although that could have been due to too much photography: taking hundreds of photos of gravestones can do that.

I bought a digital organ in September last year and it is very useful. However, it has been sobering to realise that I am only just regaining the technique I had when I was in my late teens; of course my body is also much older so I have lost flexibility in my hands - although regular playing is proving to be beneficial. Also, once you reach 40 one's vision gets worse and it is not realised how much one looks around the organ console when one is playing, or how one reads ahead: it means that one has to do extra practice to compensate.

Still, I have today had a good hour on the organ (a good hour is better that a bad 2 hours) and I feel I am making progress on the pieces I want to video. One of these I have been learning on and off for 20 years; maybe 30.

I have also taken up the treble recorder which requires less wind pressure but has caused me to struggle with new fingering patterns.

I was quite fed up yesterday when I was tying to video one of my party pieces from my teens. Also, I had arranged to chat online to a colleague who did not turn up at the agreed time. I am also amazed that local bellringers have not been in touch.

I have plenty to occupy me as I believe we will not be going back to school this term. We shall see!

What is the point?

When people are admitted to this country, what is the point of lockdown? We are too soft as a country and they will get all sorts of financial aid and help.

My mother is paying for her own place in a care home: no freebies for her!

Mirror images

One annoying aspect of 21st century life is the habit folk have of filming themselevs in mirror image. Thus if they are playing a piano or organ, the high notes appear to be on the left when someone views the video. Yesterday I saw a cellist holding the bow in her left hand. Surely in the 21st century we can get this right!