Centrist Dad

Without music, my life is stuck in the wrong key

Watching the Hallé orchestra this week left Will Gore an emotional wreck, and wondering about his life choices

Saturday 19 March 2022 11:34 GMT
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<p>I have often thought how much comfort there must be in being able to make music, to play an instrument for nobody’s pleasure but your own</p>

I have often thought how much comfort there must be in being able to make music, to play an instrument for nobody’s pleasure but your own

Regrets? I’ve had a few – but none more longstanding than my failure to learn a musical instrument.

I tried briefly, having piano lessons for a year or so when I was seven. I remember learning a basic ditty called “Let Us Chase the Squirrel”, the endless repetitions of which annoyed me as much as anyone else in the house. A squirrel could probably have played it better.

In my early teens, I fancied myself to be in love with a girl about whom I knew almost nothing except that she had a beautiful face and played the violin. If only I had stuck at the piano, I felt sure that a harmonic connection might have been possible – putting aside the fact that I never spoke to her and only met her briefly twice. Still, I blamed my lack of musicality.

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