Duet

Last week, Cailan and I were looking at pictures of musical instruments. We saw a clarinet, and I told him that I have a clarinet, and that sometime I would get it out and play it for him.

Over the weekend, we picked up some fresh reeds and last night I brought the clarinet case down from the closet shelf where it has been silently languishing since we moved in August. I showed Cailan how to open up the case, put some cork grease on, put the clarinet together, and put the reed on. I played a few notes (which surprisingly didn't sound that bad, considering how long it's been) and then he wanted to try.

It turns out that a clarinet is much more difficult for a 3-year-old to get any sound out of than a piano, guitar, or drum. Biting back the thought "But this is a brand new reed" I held the clarinet up to his mouth and he tried to play it like a kazoo, by humming a tune into it. Didn't work so well. We also tried letting him press some of the keys while I played, and he was able to get a few different notes out.

Then I got the idea that we could have a duet. I took the music book from his Music Together class out to the sun porch and played some tunes on the clarinet while Cailan played the drums. Mostly we were playing in two completely separate musical worlds, but every now and then we'd get a few measures where our beats lined up together, and that was pretty fun.

Cailan had a great time. After we put the clarinet away and were putting his pajamas on, he kept asking if we could do that again on Tuesday night. Yeah, buddy, I think we can.

*****

Coming soon: tales from a triple tandem trail trek!