A Lesson Well Learned ( 2 )

[gamba]

.....the whole world now lies before me !

A bus to Trafalgar Sq.& the National & National Portrait Galeries. Talking to the ' old boys ' in uniform who hang around all day, looking so bored & yet, to my delight & surprise were suddenly so pleased to have me join them. I learned a great deal from talking to them & their knowledge surprised & impressed me. A lesson to be learned there. Mentally, I had shamefully belittled them, regarding their functions to be little more than pointing you towards the toilets & lost property office. I was wrong. However, nothing could endear me to the vast mass of bibical scenes, with their obese cherubs, all kinds of bloodthirsty habits & other offputting images. There was however a scene by Hans Memling, a tryptych, which contained the most beautiful faces I can envisage upon the human form.
Here was delight beyond description in being able to spend days discovering the many aspects of , for example, the French Impressionists & others, especially with the help & advice of my kindly uniformed friends.

Who needs school !!!

I was receiving knowledge with such abundance & delight & which has remained with me ever since, whilst dreary classroom work has long been forgotten.

For music I would make my way to the Strand where there was an arcade within which one could frequently hear the sound of Bach - Yes ! Bach ! Sometimes one, frequently two, scruffy looking young men would be providing a sort of ' Brandenburg ' on their violins. The incredibly deafening resonance in the tiled & glass-fronted arcade turned their two violins into twenty ! I hadn't realised before that Bach could be quite so physical - PAINFULLY SO !!!

Watching them reminded me that I would only ever satisfy my love of music by learning to play an instrument - my unquestionable choice being the oboe. So, I bravely set off one morning to the top end of Regent St., & Boosey & Hawkes. They showed me oboes. I had already been informed that an orchestral quality clarinet would cost cost about £ 30 & as an oboe is of a similar shape & size I anticipated a similar price for an oboe - NO WAY ! They stuck another ' 0 'on the end of the price for a clarinet.( £300 ). I was bewildered. However they did go on to explain that the oboe has a conical bore, an achievement only obtainable by a fast disappearing group of elderly French craftsmen - alas, I was too young to know better.

Must stop now, eyes not working too well - great to be back with you all again,

gamba

[salymap]

Thanks gamba, funny I mentioned Hans Memling somewhere recently here. I too discovered the galleries at an early age. I particularly liked the Portrait Gallery,where Iused to say 'hello' to G&S and admire Dame Ethel Smyth seated at the piano, still wearing her hat. ES is our local celebrity, when we were in Kent countryside she was born in a house in Sidcup High Street,long demolished for a shop.
Do you know her books? She was friends with Brahms and knew many musicians.

I also remember the violinists who played Bach at the entrance to Charing Cross Station.

Lovely to have you back on Board

salymap

[antongould]

Thanks gamba, funny I mentioned Hans Memling somewhere recently here. I too discovered the galleries at an early age. I particularly liked the Portrait Gallery,where Iused to say 'hello' to G&S and admire Dame Ethel Smyth seated at the piano, still wearing her hat. ES is our local celebrity, when we were in Kent countryside she was born in a house in Sidcup High Street,long demolished for a shop.
Do you know her books? She was friends with Brahms and knew many musicians.

I also remember the violinists who played Bach at the entrance to Charing Cross Station.

Lovely to have you back on Board

salymap

Don't be fooled gamba! ES spent most of her life in jail, although she did, we believe, have a toothbrush!!

[salymap]

.....the whole world now lies before me !

A bus to Trafalgar Sq.& the National & National Portrait Galeries. Talking to the ' old boys ' in uniform who hang around all day, looking so bored & yet, to my delight & surprise were suddenly so pleased to have me join them. I learned a great deal from talking to them & their knowledge surprised & impressed me. A lesson to be learned there. Mentally, I had shamefully belittled them, regarding their functions to be little more than pointing you towards the toilets & lost property office. I was wrong. However, nothing could endear me to the vast mass of bibical scenes, with their obese cherubs, all kinds of bloodthirsty habits & other offputting images. There was however a scene by Hans Memling, a tryptych, which contained the most beautiful faces I can envisage upon the human form.
Here was delight beyond description in being able to spend days discovering the many aspects of , for example, the French Impressionists & others, especially with the help & advice of my kindly uniformed friends.

Who needs school !!!

I was receiving knowledge with such abundance & delight & which has remained with me ever since, whilst dreary classroom work has long been forgotten.

For music I would make my way to the Strand where there was an arcade within which one could frequently hear the sound of Bach - Yes ! Bach ! Sometimes one, frequently two, scruffy looking young men would be providing a sort of ' Brandenburg ' on their violins. The incredibly deafening resonance in the tiled & glass-fronted arcade turned their two violins into twenty ! I hadn't realised before that Bach could be quite so physical - PAINFULLY SO !!!

Watching them reminded me that I would only ever satisfy my love of music by learning to play an instrument - my unquestionable choice being the oboe. So, I bravely set off one morning to the top end of Regent St., & Boosey & Hawkes. They showed me oboes. I had already been informed that an orchestral quality clarinet would cost cost about £ 30 & as an oboe is of a similar shape & size I anticipated a similar price for an oboe - NO WAY ! They stuck another ' 0 'on the end of the price for a clarinet.( £300 ). I was bewildered. However they did go on to explain that the oboe has a conical bore, an achievement only obtainable by a fast disappearing group of elderly French craftsmen - alas, I was too young to know better.

Must stop now, eyes not working too well - great to be back with you all again,

gamba

'Morning gamba, I forgot that mentioning the painting of Smyth in the NPG would bring antongould out to
makehis usual 'jokes'.

Please don't be side-tracked and continue with your out of school memories when you are ready.

bestio...