I’m Booky
Hi all. My muso friends call me Booky. My real name is Mark but please, Booky. Don’t ask why Booky because that is a whole other story to that. Little to do with music is that – more to do with an earlier penchant for risk taking in everything I did. My wife hates it – the name that is. Probably because she knows it’s true meaning of my former self. Now, a little about me and my youth that makes up the largest (better) part of me today.
Family and Childhood
Mostly, I adored my childhood years. I loved growing up in a household that was always filled with sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts and cousins galore. My cousins were like extra brothers and sisters. I always had a friend or family member to play with or to be occupied with and there was never ever a dull moment that I can remember. It’s funny how we remember only the good stuff.
Music in the Air and Leaves
We had great family time all the time – my mom was without a doubt the most amazing of cooks and my dad an amazing story teller. Our home was always full of music. When music wasn't playing on stereos, there would be singing..somewhere – in the shower, in the garden, in the shed. My mother has Austrian lineage and my father, American lineage. It was either classical or jazz music that filled our home - every Sunday particularly without fail. The sound of a fat double bass and/or a Miles Davis trumpet rang out as I ran through piles of dead or dying crumpled leaves in our garden ....still so vividly in memories to this day.
Music Lessons
All five of us kids were made to take up some sort of extra-curricula activity of some sorts. If it wasn't through sport, it was via music. I remember lessons of all kinds from the time I was really young - if not for me, my siblings. I recall being pushed into trying out piano lessons and then clarinet from around when I started primary grade school. Initially, I was quite excited with respect to learning piano and very reluctant about studying the clarinet. I failed at piano so rather naively assumed that clarinet, or any other instrument for that matter, would likewise not be my bag.
The Clarinet
My perceptions transformed rather quickly.
Fortunately, the moment I started learning and practising the clarinet I begun to reveal a seemingly natural talent for it. With piano, I encountered difficulty mastering the ivories of the piano – my fingers seemed ill attuned and coordinated to translate to it’s necessary nuances. It is a myth that long fingers equals good at piano. However, my mouth and fingers quite simply and naturally worked in unison together when it came to the clarinet, in a manner that my mom claimed sounded just like 'magic' or 'angel' music. I remember even then thinking/saying “Mom, you would say that, wouldn’t you!?!” I thought she may perhaps have commented simply because she chose to encourage me to stick with the instrument and for her personal listening delight while at it- as a convenient aside. However, even I began to realise I was in fact, pretty good.
I'm not actually precisely sure the moment it occurred, however and ultimately, I came to enjoy playing the clarinet just as much as my mother enjoyed listening to me play. We used to make dates artound the house, just the two of us – me to play and her to listen. My younger siblings would also often listen and likewise spoil the mood with a cry or fight. I didn't like it then, their fights and crying, but in hindsight I do, so very much. That was part of the symphony of my youth, looking back.
I think I further fancied being a good musician because it was one of the one ways I stood apart from my other siblings(bar my sister who remains an accomplished pianist). In a big family group, I had to take any type of opportunity I possibly could to stand out and make a personal brand for myself.
The Saxophone
Within a year or two of my commencing clarinet, I bought an alto saxophone.
Whilst I loved playing clarinet, I undeniably began soon after the purchase to idolize my very first genuine 'self acquired/self-owned' musical instrument - my alto sax. It was hard at first but I did eventually master the differing embouchure for the sax from the clarinet. Something which many players switching between the two will also find hard, amongst other subtle differences. But persistence pays as does wanting to be a constant improver or to be perfect and settling for nothing less.
Anyway, this first sax of mine really was my baby and I have passed it on to my son today, who has recently started to learn on it. If he damages it, I will kill him! I joke of course but he is learning to take care of it like it is his own limb. That sax still holds a special place in my heart. We went through a lot together. Something a fellow musician or parent might understand.
Music via my clarinet and the saxophone was a door to opportunity back then and I remember deciding to grab hold with all I could. I registered for private class after school and I became a part of almost every local area music group and ensemble that would take me. I think my perfectionism was apparent perhaps even from those early years. It would often cause jealousy and admiration – with band members and those that came to listen to us.
College
All of my tough grind was rewarded as soon as I was awarded a scholarship to a well recognized music conservatory where I went for 3 years right after senior high school. My mother and father couldn't be more proud of me, except I think they were a little apprehensive that I would not make a buck through my music and might be perpetually stuck in an employment limbo of sorts, mooching off them forever after. My experience at the conservatory led me to achieve a master's degree in music education and I found my calling as a music teacher for a local educational institution.
I have since obtained degrees in business and information science(as a hobby), however I still teach clarinet and saxophone to schoolkids of all ages, hoping to encourage them …as I once was and still are due to the sweetest sounding musical instruments I know.
It is my privilege to make use of my adoration for the clarinet and saxophone and my talents to guide other students to reach for and accomplish their goals as well. So follow your dreams folks, no matter what they are. For myself, it was the clarinet, then the sax. I'm so pleased that I grew up playing these instruments.
Conclusion and SteemIt
I’m pleased to be here on SteemIt. I hope that together we can encourage some really amazing artists to reach for their potentials and brightest dreams too and perhaps help support them monetarily along the way.
I wish you all the best, whatever walk of life you may hail from. I do hope we cross paths soon.
Fond regards
Booky
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