NEW SORT OF BEST FRIEND

Fourth grade they issued us little plastic recorders called tonettes and taught us the basics. It was fun and somebody must have been watching.

Fifth grade I got hauled into the gym with a bunch of classmates. They started me on the mouthpiece for a flute, I got a sound and they didn't go any further. Somehow my folks came up with the $150.00 dollars for that sucker and a semi talented musician was born. I was pretty good for a small town band, I enjoyed it but I never really had any illusions that I had the drive to take it past high school. Still I enjoy music. Thanks to band practice I can read music. At least the notes above middle C. IE the flute range.

Well it's a long time since high school and my pucker isn't what it used to be. I invested in a recorder (soprano) years ago. Too bad the arthritis in my hands makes it hard hang on to the darn thing the way you should and my short fingers make playing a tenor recorder next to impossible. Even spanning an alto is difficult. Then I remembered my kid sister's Melodica. I got a tonette. She got a cute little mini keyboard. LOL. I'd fooled around with it years ago. Even got the dog to "sing" along.

So what the hey, I went on to Amazon, went shopping and found this baby. Three octaves F3 to F6. The selling point for me is that it comes with a flexible tube along with the mouthpiece so you can play it like a little piano. I got kick out of one reviewer who said he took it on hikes for jamming around the campfire. "Yeah it looks a little weird but have you ever tried to pack a piano on your back?"

Funny thing is, my old fifth grade flute book is the best beginning resource I have. Hell the damn thing is a wind instrument after all. Now for those keys below middle C. I know WHAT they are. I just have to find something on line that shows me what they LOOK like on sheet music. With a little finagling I might be able to kick things up an octave and have some fun. I put in half an hour. I forgot how tired your mouth can get.

Here's the funny thing. Midge seems to like it until I get to that top half octave. She was either singing along or trying to tell me to knock it off. I'm not sure which. :-)