PURSUIT OF HIS BOYHOOD DREAM COMES FULL CIRCLE FOR CSUN CLARINETIST : KIDS EXPERIENCE THE WONDER OF WOODWINDS.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The kid was 11 years old when the woodwind ensemble from the music department of the local college walked into his fifth-grade classroom 10 years ago. He was all eyes watching these young college musicians play beautiful music on their instruments, especially that one over there. ``What's it called?'' Steve Martinez whispered whis·per n. 1. Soft speech produced without full voice. 2. Something uttered very softly. 3. A secretly or surreptitiously expressed belief, rumor, or hint: whispers of scandal. to his teacher. ``The clarinet clarinet, musical wind instrument of cylindrical bore employing a single reed. The clarinet family comprises all single-reed instruments, including the saxophone. The predecessor of the modern clarinet was the simpler chalumeau, which J. C. ,'' she answered. ``The clarinet,'' the kid said to himself, sitting there mesmerized by the beautiful sounds coming out of this long piece of shiny, blackened black·en v. black·ened, black·en·ing, black·ens v.tr. 1. To make black. 2. To sully or defame: a scandal that blackened the mayor's name. 3. wood. ``Would anyone like to come up and try one of our instruments?'' the young woman leading the ensemble asked after they had finished playing. The kid shot his hand into the air and walked right over to the clarinet player. He blew and he blew on the long piece of wood, but nothing came out but what sounded like the cry of a wounded animal. The clarinet player smiled and told the kid it took a lot of practice and patience to play beautiful music. Then he put the clarinet to his lips and showed him the payoff to all the hard work. The kid couldn't wait to get home that day, couldn't wait to ask his parents if he could learn to play the clarinet too. ``You mean the cornet cornet, brass wind musical instrument, created in France about 1830 by adding valves to the post horn. It is usually in B flat and is the same size as the B flat trumpet, but has a more conical bore. , don't you, honey?'' the kid's mother said. ``No, the clarinet, Mom,'' he said, correcting her. So, that weekend, the kid and his parents went to the local music store, where the kid's father laid some money on the counter so his son could learn to play the clarinet. Monday morning, the kid was standing in the school office, asking if anyone knew how you went about signing up for the band. Twice a week, sometimes three times, the kid and his new friends who shared the same dream met in the band room to murder the instruments of their choice. Every day, rain or shine, the kid spent two hours before dinner blowing into that long piece of wood until his parents begged for mercy. After dinner, he and his clarinet went outside into the dark to sit in the front seat of the family car. The kid would turn on the overhead light so he could see the notes on the sheet of paper in his lap. Then he'd blow and blow on that piece of wood until his parents called out that it was time for bed. Bright and early, the kid was up the next morning to start the regimen regimen /reg·i·men/ (rej´i-men) a strictly regulated scheme of diet, exercise, or other activity designed to achieve certain ends. reg·i·men n. 1. all over again - week after week, month after month. Until one day he blew on that long piece of wood, and beautiful music started coming out. And now it's 10 years later, and Steve Martinez is a member of CSUN's woodwind trio, making the rounds of three elementary schools elementary school: see school. in the northwest reaches of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. last week. He sits in the trio in front of those classes, holding his clarinet and looking out into a sea of young, eager faces watching him play his beautiful music. ``Does anyone want to come up and try to play the clarinet?'' he asks when he is finished playing. Half a dozen hands shoot into the air. Steve Martinez smiles as he watches the kids rush toward him. He recognizes every one of them. They're all him 10 years ago. Good things seldom happen by accident. They take work. What went on this week for third- and fourth-grade students at Danube, Callahan and Chatsworth Park elementary schools took a lot of it. It took Stan Arnold, an attorney, looking around his northwest corner of the Valley and wondering where all the music was in the schools. Realizing that the kids were getting shortchanged on one of the most beautiful pleasures in life and it wasn't fair. It took the Valley Cultural Center agreeing with him - backing some young, extremely talented musicians from CSUN's department of music to come talk music to these kids, play for them. It took Councilman Hal Bernson Hal Bernson served as Los Angeles City Councilman for the 12th district. He was chair of the Transportation Committee. Prior to being on the City Council, he served in the Navy. Preceded by Robert M. to step in and make sure the money was there so they could move on to phase two - paying for the buses to bring the kids over to CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge on Monday morning for a full-blown, special concert in the auditorium auditorium Portion of a theater or hall where an audience sits, as distinct from the stage. The auditorium originated in the theaters of ancient Greece, as a semicircular seating area cut into a hillside. at the music building. But most of all, it took Steve Martinez on clarinet, Kathy Feldman on flute and Tony Wardzinski on bassoon bassoon (băs  n`), double-reed woodwind instrument that plays in the bass and tenor registers. Its 8-ft (2.4-m) conical tube is bent double, the instrument thus being about 4 ft (1. . Ten years ago, they were sitting in elementary school classrooms just like these kids. Then some college students stopped by with their instruments, and a whole new world came alive. Today, they're returning the favor. |
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