wainsworth
09-22-2003, 02:15 PM
I have just started the beginners course in my home town here in Canada. I was more or less obliged to rent a rather light and flimsy Yamaha student Alto sax. I suppose I could have insisted on using my 1926 Conn but I thought that experiencing a more modern sax might be a worthwhile experience. The first couple of week are going to be a bit boring because I have been practicing for a couple of months while most of the other students are rank beginners [and I have experience on the clarinet]. Anyway it was fun to be among the elderly, enthusiastic beginners. The senior band [should I wish to attain a place in it] is huge. I guess no one wants to leave. Sax is popular in this vicinity it seems, so there is a huge row of them cluttering up middle row. The conductor has to keep telling them to quiet down. We saxes in the first session are being taught by a woman younger than my daughter but she seems very capable. Anyway at 70 yrs old it is a nice adventure for me and I am looking forward to having fun. For the benefit of people outside of North America, the Horizon programme was started in the USA for people over the age of fifty who have never played a musical instrument or who wish to resume after playing in high school years ago. In our locallity one rents the instrument for the first three month course and then have the option to buy it or buy elswhere. It is a growing institution in Canada and of course is big in the USA. Is there a similar system in other countries?