The last few days have been harder than the initial shock of losing the twins.  Reality has replaced shock and my heart aches. A few folks who I’ve talked to or emailed with have expressed that when they went through a similar circumstance, there was an empty feeling inside. I know that feeling. I’m still very sad. And there are times that the feeling is a bit overwhelming. I’ve coped by turning to music.

Music has long been a part of my life. I started on flute back in 7th grade, in 1985. I played through 10th grade in band, played on my own for 11th-12th (SC Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics doesn’t have a band program, for obvious reasons), then played as part of the Citadel Regimental Band & Pipes for my 4 years of college. Probably the year I expanded the most was in 10th grade, though, as I was called upon to play not only flute and piccolo, but also added trumpet, french horn, and melophone to my repertoire. I ended up playing 4th trumpet in the jazz band. It was a great time and I had the opportunity to play for dignataries like former US Senator Fritz Hollings and the re-enactor cast of Glory. The former we played for at a dinner for Korean War veterans. The latter we played for because they were participating in the burial ceremonies at the Beaufort National Cemetery for the Massachusetts 54th and 55th Infantry on Memorial Day, 1989. We played at a evening function for the cast prior to the burial service.

Playing trumpet gave me a tremendous appreciation for jazz and while I don’t play trumpet any longer (still have one, but it is not in active use), I love to play jazz. I play on my primary instrument, flute, and while I know there’s not a lot of jazz flutists out there, that doesn’t stop me. Between playing hymns and taking hacks at old jazz licks, I’ve been able to fight off the melancholy. However, there are times, like when I’m working on the computer, that I can’t break out the flute and just play. So I decided to grab two albums by Arturo Sandoval, the great jazz trumpet player (a picture of him is to the right).  There are quite a few YouTube clips of him playing, like one of Night in Tunisia where he’s playing beside the late, great, Dizzy Gillespie. The two albums I grabbed were:

Definitely worth the small price for these two CDs. They’ve already lifted my spirits today.