An Autobiographical Moment...
Whenever I'm exceptionally bored I go to weblogs.com and pick random weblogs to check out. Sometimes I follow a chain of links that can lead to very bizarre and interesting places. Recently, during one of those excursions I came across a sign (for me anyway) that blogging is becoming mainstream: a weblog by a bassoonist. There's not really a lot of bassoon-centric content on this site but there's enough that those who have been there will know.
This brought me back many years to my own stint as a bassoonist. For most of my high school career I was a bass clarinet/baritone sax player (depending on whether you're talking about symphonic band or jazz band). Knowing that my family could not afford to send me away to college, I applied to a few of the local institutions. Chicago Musical College (Roosevelt University) was the school I was most interested in but they told me that I couldn't major in bass clarinet - I would have to go back to regular clarinet. I didn't really want to do that. They did mention that they were short of bassoonists, though, and I could major in that. They also mentioned that there was a scholarship available for a bassoon major. So, with 6 months to go until the audition, I started learning the bassoon.
Apparently I did OK because I got the scholarship. For the next 3 years I was a bassoon major in college. I didn't get to finish, though, because my dad had a stroke in my junior year and I had to quit school and get a real job. I sold my Puchner bassoon for a down payment on a car (so I could drive to work) and left the music world behind. But I still have a fondness for the Hindemith bassoon sonata and a dread of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro...
5:56:10 PM 
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