Plinky asked, Which of your hobbies have you been doing for the longest amount of time? When did you start?"
That would be music. I’ve been singing since I was a small child in the church choir. The way my mother’s family makes music, I could hardly avoid it (not that I wanted to). I learned to play the ukulele with the rest of my second-grade class, then held on to my instrument and kept playing it for some time. I began piano lessons in the fifth grade, I think, and continued for a couple of years and through three teachers (we moved, one quit, and I outgrew the last). The flute came with sixth grade and middle school band.
At some point my parents acquired an organ in addition to the piano and I taught myself to play that, which was interesting. In high school, I flirted with the oboe, bassoon, and piccolo, but didn’t really take to them very well. I gave them up altogether after reading something that claimed that double reed players suffered the loss of brain cells due to oxygen deprivation (I haven’t fact-checked that since so it could be utter nonsense). I acquired a wooden flute at a Renn Faire that has a much sweeter tone than the metal flute, but I’ve never pushed myself to really learn to play it.
Now I want to return to the ukulele, but I really need a new instrument. That poor little student uke that has been used as a “guitar” by children isn’t in perfect condition after all these years, and won’t stay in tune in addition to having some broken bits.
