by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2015/08/06 13:47 +00:00, original URI: http://www.siao2.com/2015/08/06/8770668856267196971.aspx
This blog post is gonna ramble on a bit as I am writing it on my phone and only vaguely know what I want to say. So please bear with me....
When my was quite young I decided that I needed to take an instrument so I could remain musically interesting, especially since my ears were better than my voice about recognizing being out of tune, and I was years away from realizing that alcohol could dim that enough for karaoke.
I wanted to play something cool and expressive so I learned the mouth harp aka the harmonica. But I also wanted an extracurricular so I aimed towards the band rather than the orchestra (I could explain why but you might already know), which aimed me towards the saxophone 🎷
the angelic cover is just so ironic.... Â Â
The Warren Beatty/Julie Christie remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan from 1978 Heaven Can Wait inspired me, especially the way the soprano saxophone could so notably [mis]play Ciribiribin (offset by The training music is Handel's sonata no 12 op 1, in F major, HWV 370 allegro for the training montage). But no one at the store wanted to sell me a soprano sax (the band didn't want it either) and the tenor/bass were both considered too big for my young frame.
Hello alto saxophone, which for the record could also handle Ciribiribin, though I had to figure it out on my own in the before time, the long long ago of the pre Internet era. It was totally worth it, by the way. This scene where James Mason suggests to Warren Beatty that he play a little music to convince Jack Warden who he really is was my muse; I memorized it til I played it better this way than the right way.... 😈
When I suddenly left home, I had little more than six blues harmonicas (G, A, Bâ™, C, D, Eâ™, and F) and the know how to play them Little Walter style (if only I had a microphone 🎤).
Later on I picked up a soprano sax, and even a tenor one. I was never in a great band and as a musician my principal skills were best used as documenting the work of others and sometimes inspiring others through judicious use of Ciribiribin on the mouth harp or the soprano saxophone. I can probably still play it wrong if I ever have to convince anyone of my true identity....