Clarinets
Richard Redman - Principal
I learned to play the clarinet to a rather modest standard as a child and played 2nd clarinet in the school orchestra. I was rather overshadowed by the person playing 1st, who became one of the leading world players, Gervaise de Peyer! On leaving school during the war being unable to find a group to join and playing alone being rather boring, I stopped playing but kept my clarinets.
After fifty years I started playing again by attending the music department in Halifax and joined the Paddock Orchestra after a year at the age of sixty nine. Now I really look forward to, and enjoy, our Tuesday evening rehearsals and occasional concerts and also playing in other groups.
There is something special and fulfilling about mastering the technical difficulties of the music and playing in sympathy with the rest of the orchestra. I believe it is important to keep the brain challenged as one grows older. Playing an instrument certainly does this. It exercises the mind and in our case the lungs. It is also great to be associated with a group that includes a wide span of ages.