I played the oboe in middle school. I wasn't particularly good at it. Maybe I didn't do much worse than most kids learning to play an instrument in band, but that's not saying much.
Nevertheless, driving me home after one of our school concerts, my mother showered me with effusive praise about how well I'd done.
"Are you sure you could hear me playing?" I asked.
Oh yes, she said. She could definitely hear me above all those other instruments. She felt very confident about it.
That's when I told her I hadn't played at all. A friend had accidentally wrecked my reed while we were waiting to go on. More accurately, I had been holding my oboe in such a way that anyone brushing past my seat would destroy said reed. Oops. Annoying, but not a major tragedy. I didn't have any solos. I could easily fake my way through the concert. No one would notice.
And no one did. I hadn't counted on fooling my mom quite so thoroughly, though.
She was horribly embarrassed when she learned the truth. I thought it was kind of amusing. And of course, I never let her live it down.
The funny thing is, she wasn't lying. With every fiber of her being, she believed she could pick my notes out of the crowd. And they sounded beautiful. Beautiful, dammit!
Fast forward almost three decades later. My parents are flying into town tonight and staying for a week, which means they'll catch one of our gigs. We're playing a Humane Society benefit at Casas Adobes Plaza on Saturday, March 6, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
I hope to treat my parents to a better performance than the one from seventh or eighth grade. Luckily, both my voice and keyboard have been working just fine. With just Ron the Drummer and me playing, sitting out the set would be a lot more conspicuous.
7 comments:
Love it! I have no doubt her heart heard your oboist notes. Thank goodness keyboards are void of reeds, huh? Tell your mom "hi" for me! (as if she'd remember!)
Beth Dolezal
What a beautiful post of a wonderful life snippet!
Plenty of fun and sweetness in this.
Ma and Pa will get to hear your voice and piano loud and clear on the 6th! Maybe you could hire a reedless oboeist (oboeer? Oboeian?) to play with the two of you?
:)
xo
Hi Beth,
I do remember you!
Sally Wenger
(Have to use MOS because there's another Sally who responds here.)
Hey, tomorrow's The Big Night!!
xo
The big day. We get there at 9 a.m. to play from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. I'll try not to fall asleep at the keys.
Beth: See? As if she'd forget. :)
Doesn't the band tune from a note blown by the oboe?
In my view, you're lucky. My mother would have told me it would have been nice except my hair was a mess and I should have worn that other outfit. Um...we're not close.
Shoot. I cannot for the life of me remember which instrument we tuned to. It wasn't the oboe, though. Clarinet?
The one bit of sadness for me was that, up to this moment, I'd held out a tiny piece of hope that I really was as awesome as my mother thought I was. But yeah. I'll take biased praise over relentless criticism any day. I'm very lucky.
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