I get a real kick out of trying.

I was tidying up my room this weekend and I happened to take notice of my flute leaning up against my bookshelf, untouched for at least 2 months I think. I also saw my piccolo on the shelf, that thing has been untouched for at least 9 months, but that’s partially because the thing is a nasty sounding bit of metal…I need a better instrument if I’m doing any piccolo parts.

But anyways it got me thinking about how sad it is that I’m not playing anymore.

Honestly I wasn’t that great of a player. Now whenever I say that people disagree with me. And yes, if I played for you there is a 90% chance that you would be impressed. But that is because there is a 90% you are not a serious musician. I was, and hopefully still am a good amateur.

I did improve tremendously in the 3 years that I was at college. By my senior year playing felt so good and so right. And I was doing it a lot.

There was a problem in that playing gave me pretty bad back issues, but time has erased the pain and all that I recall is the pleasure derived from playing.

So seeing my flute there, untouched, it’s sad. And it’s worse when I think on it and know that if I picked it up again today that I’ll have lost so much of my ability from disuse.

I want to take lessons again. Actually the ‘again’ is a misnomer. I never didn’t want to take lessons but for practical reasons I stopped after college.

So I started by looking up a Community Music program offered at my alma mater. $18 for a half hour.

Yikes….I’ve already convinced myself to pay $12 for an hour of ballet a week. I’d say flute is fundamentally more important to me but other things put ballet first.

The most ideal thing I can come up with would be having an hour lesson every other week. This works because you really need an hour lesson to accomplish much of anything. Plus I’d have more time to get practice hours in. Lastly I think I’ll start inquiring with my old teacher first, which would be amazing except that it would mean a drive.

It would be so amazing to be playing again.


“I do not consider myself as having mastered the flute, but I get a real kick out of trying.”
~James Galway (aka flute GOD)