The Musician's Progress

[akujunkan]

Well, the weather has finally warmed up here in The Oaks, which means I’m once again able to play my flute. (Woe, say the neighbors.) Japanese buildings have neither central heating nor insulation, which means that they are frigid and very dry during winter – obviously not idea conditions in which to play a wooden flute, so my baby spent the past six months buried under a mound of blankets.

I took it out earlier this week, and it's amazingly unscathed, with no cracks or warping. The wood had shrunk a little, but after a bit of playing it recovered nicely. And then disaster struck.

I hosted a sushi party at my house last Friday. The sushi was lovely, as was the company, and we were well on our way to getting very full (and rather toasted) when Annoying Boy dropped by. metal_dog5, among others, will remember Annoying Boy as the guy who won’t take no for an answer, and makes it his business to make it very difficult for me to hit on guys I actually like. He’s not a bad person, or he wasn’t – but more I stress that I am not interested in him, the more persistent he becomes, which I find annoying as opposed to flattering.

Amanda noticed some little tubes in velvet bags on my bedroom floor, and never being one to miss an opportunity to show off my beloved instruments, I broke them out. It would appear that Amanda has had some exposure to flutes, and she didn’t do too poorly getting sound out of them, even playing along to Maiyahi, which was a scream and a half.

We started out with the bamboo flutes I’d purchased in Beijing, then moved on to my darling Irish flute. Amanda was doing fairly well with it. Then Annoying Boy asked how much it cost. I told him.

“XXXX dollars!?” he exploded, trying to be cute. “Why would you pay that much for that?”

Because instruments are expensive, and this is a custom ordered, handmade instrument and most importantly, I wanted to.

“But XXXX dollars!? What were you thinking? Why would anyone pay that kind of money for that? ジル, I can’t believe you paid XXXX dollars for that thing!”

And so on, as Kurt Vonnegut would say.

This went on for a good fifteen minutes while I tried to have a conversation with Amanda and Sara about Irish flutes and the technical aspects of the instrument. Annoying Boy, meanwhile, kept going on ad nauseum about the price of the instrument, even grabbing me by the shoulders as I did my best to ignore him.

Then Amanda tried to hand the flute back to me, and the headjoint went flying off to crash into a disassembled music stand on the floor, dinging the body up in the process.

Amanda, bless her heart, was horrified, as was I until I’d made sure that the flute was still functional.

“Wow, bet you wish you hadn’t paid so much for it now!” chirped Annoying Boy, whom I would have cheerfully destroyed at that point, if jail time hadn’t loomed large on the horizon as a consequence.

I was pretty torqued at first, but the flute does seem to be okay aside from the dings, and Amanda was so upset that I realised I wasn’t angry at her – she hadn’t been handling the instrument carelessly at all, and the headjoint still fit poorly thanks to the weather. I packed it away for the night and hoped for the best.

It played fine yesterday, and I must have spent about four hours or so learning new tunes. It actually sounds better to me than it did last year, which may just be the accoustics in my apartment, but I like to think that it’s rejoicing after its long winter exile. The mouthpiece now tastes slightly of wasabi, which believe will give the tone bite.

That will be all.

Comments

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Annoying Boy sounds like a real d***head!! and not too bright either (HOW did he think mocking your expenditurebbb would impress you??) How about a restraining order?? :-)

Glad your musical baby is ok! Many happy interludes to come!

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

I think he was probably trying for playful or lighthearted, but his people-reading skills could use some work, because I found him to be neither at the time;)

One of the reasons I haven't been online so much (heh) is because I'm spending several hours a day playing music. I'd forgotten how much I missed doing that.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes I thought you seemed otherwise distracted! :-) That's so great, getting back to something that you like so much. Music is a long time ago for me (as an active pursuit) but I loved it and it had a lot to do with who I turned out to be. Recently I've been longing to get back to doing something creative again, like take up my sewing again.

[bloody-american.livejournal.com]

What an annoying prick. You should have destryed him, jail time be damned. I think with some people it's ok to tell them to go away and never return. Preferably with a boot to their derriere.

I'd love to hear you play, you know.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

I know, I know, but beer always makes me mellow and more tolerant on the outside;) I'll try to get some mp3s up for you in the next few days, once I find somewhere to host them!

[bloody-american.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I see then. Still, he sounds beyond annoying.

If you can't find somewhere to host them you could always YSI to me.

[metal-dog5.livejournal.com]

::jaw hits chest::

How you managed not to deck him for that, I'll never understand. Who the hell does he think he is? I mean aside from God's gift to womankind.

I'm so glad the flute is okay. You'll have to record some more tunes :)

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

No, not god's gift to womankind, but apparently god's gift to me. (Why, god, why?) I doubt he was trying to be offensive, but it was pretty damn crass all the same.

I'll get right on the recording then, shall I? ;)