Thursday, January 6, 2011

Things that will only amuse me and Theo!


Hey I love it when chicks play the flute. Especially in a new position. Just sayn'

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Trooper.

Looks like she's playing some kind of recorder, not technically a "flute," as it's known today. Recorders are end-blown, like large penny-whistles, which, in fact, they basically are.

Sometime after Shakespeare through the 18th century, recorders used to called "English flutes," to distinguish them from "German flutes," the transverse or cross-blown flute. That changed in the late 19th century, when pre-Raphaelite advocates of ye olde musicke brought back the Medieval and Renaissance term, "recorder," which hadn't been used in a couple of hundred years.

In Italian, recorders are called flauti dolci; in French, flûtes doux; and, with characteristic romance, in German, Blockflöten.

Being (just barely) a family blog, I won't tell you the story of the very hot, 19-year-old recorder student I had in college, who could get an entire Renaissance-style soprano recorder down her throat and back without batting an eye. Honestly. I hate teases like that.

Sometime later, when I first moved to Boston, I worked for Friedrich von Huene, the recorder and historical woodwind maker here in Brookline, MA. One of the people who did my job after I left was a very smart and attractive young woman named Rosalind (if I've got the spelling right), who was also a student at the New England Conservatory, again, if I recall correctly

Turns out Rosalind was an old school buddy of our friend Beth from NOLA, and she and Beth drove up to Boston together when Rosalind came to school. If I've got the story right, Beth stopped by the von Huene shop with Rosalind, and I missed meeting Beth in person by an hour or two, as I was still doing subcontracting and dropped by the shop later in the day.

Even though it's been a long time, it remains a small world. And, out of respect, I will make absolutely no jokes about either Rosalind's or Beth's lack of interest in recorder-swallowing.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it was Rosalyn, I don't remember. I hope Beth stops by and clears this up!

Trooper York said...

I thought it was a recorder. I remember that was the insturment they made you play in freshman music class in high school. It was a requirement. You had to solo. I played Aqualung.

Trooper York said...

It really is a small world after all.

Trooper York said...

Shit now that song is gonna be in my head all freakin day.

chickelit said...

@Theo: Great comment! The Althouse blog lost a real treasure.

@Trooper: As you know, I love living in the past.

chickelit said...

@blogfather:

It was my father IRL who loved the Aqualung.