My mom and dad decided that I should learn a musical instrument. I guess they believed learning an instrument was somehow an important part of growing up. I am not sure why they put such a premium on having lessons and me becoming an accomplished musician. No one in our family played a musical instrument, so I am not sure where this came from. It was decided that I would learn the clarinet. I was in band at school and the school provided a clarinet. Very soon after I started, my parents invested in a clarinet for me. It was pretty nice, had its own case, and the only additional thing we had to buy were reeds. #2 as I recall. They even got me private lessons. My clarinet teacher was a man named Joe Gruntz. Can you believe that is his actual name. He was a very small man and would come to our house each week and give me a lesson. As I remember he was paid $2 a lesson. This went on for years. I hated practicing. My dislike never really went away. It was something that I had to do. There is actually a good thing at the end of this story. When I went to Junior High School, I changed from a regular b-flat clarinet to bass clarinet. This bass clarinet was the property of the school. I loved that instrument. It had amazing range and I got pretty good at it. The peak of my clarinet career happened in the 9th grade when I was selected to be in the All-City Band. We were going to be conducted by Leonard Bernstein. He was already a legend and this was an amazing experience. We played Rhapsody in Blue. I didn’t have to play the clarinet solo in the beginning of that piece. Leonard Bernstein spoke to all of us about music and practicing and a lot of other things. I hung on every word. When I entered my sophomore year in high school, I did the unthinkable, I filled my schedule with everything except a band class. That was when my clarinet days came to an end. I know it was a great disappointment for my parents. It was kind of a crappy thing for me to do, but I didn’t see any future as a musician. I was playing golf and that trumped everything else. I definitely did not see myself in the marching band… maybe the pep band, but probably not with a bass clarinet. At the end of the day, I don’t think I had any long discussions with my parents about instruments after that. One thing I did take from the experience was the importance of hanging in there, sticking to it, working tirelessly on something… getting better at playing an instrument. Even though I didn’t like the practicing and the lessons… I learned a lot about persistence and never giving up… And I know these lessons served me well throughout my life.
