The Music Men

Last night, Daniel was agitating for me to retrieve, from the plastic-drum-full-of-instruments among the toys in the basement, some musical instrument - ideally a trombone, I think. Within a minute or two, Ian very spontaneously responded, leading me downstairs, with Daniel in tow, so that we could all make music together.

The next thing I knew, Ian was handing out harmonicas and one rather wacky castanet - some puppet-like figure that wags its mouth open and shut as you make rhythm. Ian initially handed me a harmonica, but Daniel wanted it, so, over Ian's protests, I let him have a harmonica, and I took the castanets. Within a few seconds, the two boys were blowing frantically into their harmonicas, making pretty-much the same chords over and over again, as I beat a constant rhythm with my castanet.

Ian asked me if we could play something "Australian". At that point, it hit me that the only truly Australian song that I know is "Waltzing Mathilda," so we paraded through the basement, playing (with me also singing) "Waltzing Mathilda."

(It later hit me that I know tons of "Australian songs", thanks to the complete cultural domination of the Wiggles in our house, but I had forgotten this at the time.

At one point, Ian was concerned that my castanet wasn't loud enough, with all the fierce harmonica-purring in the air. He was trying to get Daniel to play the harmonicas more softly to accommodate my wimpy percussions, but I reassured him that I could play the castanets louder, so that's what I did.

(December 15, 2008)