In which David has a Clarinet Flashback

The back-story: I played the clarinet for many years, got pretty good, did some interesting things. Didn't teach much because I wasn't a good teacher. About 10 years ago I gave up playing completely. Never looked back.

Cut to the present: we have three houseguests, marine biologists from Mexico, here to study worms. One day they visited Venice Beach.

This is a picture of Guillermo. He purchased this Del Rio Mini-Sax at the beach. A black tube with eight large holes, sax mouthpiece and reed. (Technical nit pick: it's cylindrical so it's really a Clarinet not a Saxophone.)

I played and sounded just awful. Ask anyone who was there. I wonder if it could ever sound good..

Of course Guillermo wanted to play. Suddenly I was giving him an introductory clarinet lesson. I explained how the sound was produced, how to attach the reed with the ligature, the embouchure. In ten minutes he improved a thousand percent.

For decades playing the clarinet was a HUGE part of my life and a lot of people knew me only as a clarinet player. Once I decided to stop, quitting was easy. People still ask "Do you still play?" I don't miss it at all - and playing this little travesty of a clarinet made me not miss it even more.

Good luck, Guillermo. Like my Father told me, half an hour practice a day!

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