I'm originally from central Indiana and grew up within a marching band bus ride of the Elkhart factories -- Gemeinhardt will always have a special place in my heart and I get mine out, dutifully, ever few months to make sure the fingers still remember their jobs. For you BoA people, I went to Carmel High School, you know you hated us
Oh I remember those nights in the Hoosier Dome. I think it was Ben Davis that we hated more... j/k. I was a North Side Marching Redskin in those days, and somehow we managed to place 8th all four years I marched.
My intro, I began playing music seemingly eons ago. Mom bought a piano when my brothers and I were little, and we'd bang away on the keyboard. She taught me a little bit, like "middle C" and some of the other notes. Sometime in grade school we had a music class, where we learned the basics of musical notation, note names, and learned to play recorders. After that, in fifth grade I think, we had actual band. My uncle had been playing saxophone for longer than I'd been alive, so I decided to play it also. He went around to a few stores, tried out a few horns, and picked one out that played well. (Vito made in Japan, circa 1986) IIRC it was ~$800 and we paid $20/month. I played that sax for eight years of concert bands and four years of marching band. After high school I put it away and just occasionally pulled it out to blow a few notes. I took it out the other day and was surprised to see all the scratches and wear that I didn't notice before.
A few years after school I decided I wanted to learn guitar. I bought a pawn shop electric, and while I was serious enough to take lessons, I wasn't serious enough to practice. My fingers just don't want to listen to my brain it seems. Over the years I've bought more guitars and inherited one from my dad, an old Gibson archtop. It is a fine guitar, and the only history I know of it is that my uncle bought it from a pawn shop, took a few lessons, and later traded it to my dad for a car(If I remember right)
My mom bought a used flute from the neighbor, which I played with for awhile. Who knows, there may be a day when I ask her for it and try to add it to the list of instruments I can play poorly.
My dad was a buyer and seller of things. A "flipper", if you will. I recall at one time he told me he had a trumpet, or a trombone. I never saw it, but I did see and I think I played the tenor sax he had at one time. I wish he hadn't sold it. When he died, we found two clarinets in his stuff. One is a Bundy, student model I presume, the other is a wooden Pan American. The Pan Am needs new pads, and I took the Bundy to a shop and asked them to make it playable, but when I got it back I think all they did was replace a few pads. I can play from the low E to the second A , so about two and a half octaves. It will be going to another shop. The Pan Am I have researched, and while I thought wooden clarinets were better than their plastic counterparts, this one isn't. (BTW, I've been trying to figure out its age, but the only thing I found puts it to being 80+ years old, and I don't think thats right.
So, having this almost working clarinet and beginner clarinet book, I've been learning and practicing. It's also got me thinking about my old sax that's parked away for now. I'm probably going to get some new music and practice some, try to get back into it. I'm here for... well to read mostly, maybe ask a few questions, and give a little input from my experience.
TL;DR Played alto sax for 8 years of concert band and 4 years of marching band, got into guitar, a little flute, now clarinet and sax again.
