The Sound of Music is "Cha-Ching"

My oldest child has decided to take up the saxophone. Actually, he decided to take up the drums, but did not qualify for one of the percussion spots. After pricing drum sets, I am relieved. That relief was short lived however. The saxophone cost $1600 dollars. Sixteen. Hundred. Dollars. I nearly fell over from shock.

I played the flute for about 6 years. I never had my own instrument because my parents were not affluent. I remember gazing longingly at that beautiful and impossibly shiny flute and I remember the price tag to this day. It was $200 dollars. It might as well have been $2,000. Now, it is. No, not really, but close. $900. For a flute. As far as I know they still make flutes out of the same stuff that they did back then. There is no new space age diamond carbide flute amalgam that I know of. Apparently, I need to buy some stock in whatever the hell flutes are made out of, because it has appreciated like nobody's business.

So, no, we did not hand over $1600 dollars for a saxophone. We are renting to own. I doubt we will ever actually get to the owning part, but there is no interest so that's fine. However...if something happens to said instrument, we will be liable for the full replacement value.

He lost his lunch box on the third day of school.

Now it's true that a saxohpone is a little bit more um...conspicuous than a lunch box. But it's still not beyond the realm of possibility for it to become lost. You would not believe the things that kid has managed to lose over the years.

I'm a little nervous.

But darn, he looked cool with that saxophone. He was evaluated on each instrument. He did the best with the trumpet, trombone, bassoon, and euphonium. He was rated a 1 on each of those, meaning he demonstrated good aptitude. He was given a 2 on the saxophone, which means he could do well with some work. I applied a little creative persuasion to encourage him to choose the saxophone. I showed him some video of Branford Marsalis jammin and he was sold. I figured out pretty quickly that the key to dealing with pre-pubescents is appealing to their slavish devotion to all things cool. Score one for Mom.

I don't honestly know if he has any musical ability. He can sing very well. Both of my boys could carry a tune very young and my Diminutive One has quite a knack for singings songs pretty much note for note and sometimes word for word after hearing them only once. Husband is very musical, he plays the piano and the guitar. So I think he probably has some latent ability. Whether he will be excited enough about playing the saxophone to nurture and hone that ability is another matter entirely.

We ended up spending around $180 dollars yesterday. I foolishly expected to walk in and plunk down $40 for the first month's rental, not considering the cleaning accesories, the music stand, music book, reeds, replacement mouthpieces ($85 dollars alone) and all the other acoutrements. So it was a bit of a shock. Husband was dubious and honestly, given Pre-Pubescent One's tendency to give up on things when they get a little challenging, I understand. But I want him to have the chance. I want to raise well rounded children. Sports are important, but I also want them to appreciate music, art, drama, literature. Or, at the very least, I want to give them opportunity to find out that they aren't really interested in those things.

So, we'll see. Crossing my fingers I won't end up paying $1600 for a Saxophone that some dude sold out of the back of his El Camino down on Ponce.

BTW, I realize my blog has lacked a certain amount of substance lately. I never intended this blog to be a litany of events in my mundane life. But I've been very focused on completing the third part of my Funeral Piece as well as querying several publications with other pieces. I've not had a lot of creative energy left over, and I apologize.

I hope to have it finished this week, and will post it for those who have been waiting.