February 10, 2005

Memorial

One of my librarian friends who reads OoN sends along this anecdote as a follow-up to yesterday’s Ash Wednesday reference to the Grand Canyon:

“I walked above the Grand Canyon carrying my saxophone one day. When I felt sufficiently isolated to take it out and practice, I stopped and put it together. I was a newcomer to the game. Neither my sounds nor the facility of my fingers were adequate, but I practiced for an hour, facing into the Canyon.

“From that experience, I learned that such a big hole swallows sound very nicely, leaving little for the ears. Even so, the vista was a wonderful thing to have before me while playing sax.

“Because I was just learning, I played very slowly, and the song was, of course, Body and Soul. When I finished and started to disassemble my instrument, I discovered standing behind me a couple of middle-aged women. I greeted them, and one of them asked in a thick German accent, ‘Is this a memorial service?’”

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