Benny

Do you have one of those friends that is with you through thick and thin. Who loves you when you're young and when you are older and crankier? Who encourages you, but isn't afraid to disagree with you? Well, I do.

I would like you to meet someone very special in my life:

This is Benny. Benny the B-flat Clarinet.

Benny and I have known each other a very long time. We met when I was 14 years old, but Benny is much older and wiser than me. Sometimes I'm not quite sure why he has stuck by my side for so very many years. Then I remember how much I adored him, and fawned over him, and it begins to make sense. He had to have a lot of patience. God only knows what heights he achieved before he met me, only to be wrapped in Christmas gift wrap and land in the hands of a dorky high school freshman. Was it frustrating, I wonder, to retrace his musical steps with me, replaying the same old Weber Concertinos and Baermann Studies? Perhaps he hated it, but he never let on to me. He played beautifully and true, encouraging me all the way. I have a lot to learn from Benny!

Benny is very generous. He very nearly single handedly paid for my college degree. And for that, I will always love him and take care of him. Other musicians upgraded their horns and moved on, but to my 1977 Buffet R-13 I was true and ever faithful. In college, we experienced so much together: we braved many, many hours of practicing, several degree recitals, a brand new mouthpiece, countless concerts, my first professional gig (and several others to follow), a recruiting tour, new love, and a couple of cracks.

Then I decided to let Benny take a retirement. I don't know how much he liked it. I don't even know how much I liked it, but it was quite necessary. And things have never quite been the same between us. Perhaps he resents the fact that I asked him to walk through intermediate clarinet-land again with me, then retired him just as we were beginning to soar.

And I guess I'm a little afraid of Benny. I'm afraid he will embarrass me by squawking and squeaking. I'm afraid I will try my hardest, but Benny won't sing beautiful and true anymore. But perhaps more than anything, I'm afraid that as much as I practice and play, I simply won't find that same love for Benny that I had as an ambitious young musician. You know, the musician that exists before real life happens? Yeah, that ambitious musician!

Last year Benny and I joined an orchestra together. How exhilarating after a four-year hiatus! I even adopted a brother for Benny: Artie the A-Clarinet! We took lessons together, played wonderful orchestral repertoire, sat in a ballet pit, and even played in Mahlerfest. Then we had the summer off, and frankly, I'm not too excited to see Benny right now. I love him. I always will. But I sure would love it if he would leave me alone. I'm having trouble getting pepped up for this new orchestra season(which starts Monday, people!), and Benny knows it. He's been pestering me to practice ( I currently have a 15-minute chop, guys!), and I pretend not to hear him. Sometimes the constant nag to practice gets so old. Benny is so persistent.

So, that's how it stands between Benny and me. I'm sincerely hoping that this season's Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3, Brahms Piano Cto. No.1, Verdi Requiem, Prokofiev Piano Cto. No. 2, and Nutcracker (among other pieces) can inspire some excitement in me!!! I think Benny is hoping so, too!

Oh, and for a peek at our upcoming Longmont Symphony season, featuring an excited (I hope) Danielle and her favorite licorice stick, Benny, please visit:

www.longmontsymphony.org