When I was a kid, we had these music classes every now and then in school. In this class, my teacher, known as Cikgu Josephine would introduce us to musical instruments such as the tambourine, the triangle, the melodian and so many more.
However, one of the many does stand out, which is the recorder.
If you are not sure how it looks like, well check out the image above. I’m sure many of you have fond memories of this instrument, which somehow becomes obsolete once you start growing up.
Now, I remember the lessons given to play this device when I was in primary school, and so do I remember how my friends and I used to use that simple ‘wipe to clean’ trick to ensure it is safe for use.
Some of us of course would go the extra mile by actually washing these instruments before using, or keeping it for the next class, but of course, there would always be the irresponsible ones.
When that happens, you’d have this foul odour coming up from the recorder, and it gets even ‘masam-ier’ if the person drank milk before blowing into the recorder.
The ‘antics’ of the recorder never fails to stop just in school.
While you do borrow the instrument in school, some of us do buy the recorder for home practices.
That’s when sound pollution begins because the minute your younger sister or brother, or even your next door neighbor’s kid starts getting hold of these ‘flute like’ instruments, it would be constant ‘out of tune annoyance’ – and there’s no stopping them from blowing all their saliva into the instrument!
But then, those were the days, and the memories.
I’m not sure if the recorder is still played in school nowadays, but for hygienic purposes, I think the guitar is a better option, although it is more expensive. I would have loved to learn how to strike the guitar like Kurt Cobbain, really…