Coincidences

Word of the Day = Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges.  It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood.  It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity.

Interesting Bassoon Facts:  The bassoon is known for its wide range, distinctive tone, and warm sound.  A musician who plays the bassoon is referred to as a bassoonist.  The word bassoon is derived from the French word basson and the Italian word bassone.

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate (Isabel Dalhousie Mystery, Book 2) ~ by Alexander McCall Smith, 2005, mystery (Scotland), 272 pages, 9/10

I told you recently that this book wasn't "pulling me in."  So I set it aside, finished another book, then picked up this one again.  I know you are wondering what finally grabbed me:

"Jamie was a musician, a bassoonist who supplemented his earnings as a member of a chamber orchestra with the proceeds of teaching.  His pupils were mostly teenagers" (p. 17).

It was that bassoon!  The fascinating thing for me is that I actually played the bassoon in concert band, orchestra, and the Chattanooga Youth Symphony during my junior high and senior high school years.  I also taught another student to play the bassoon, when we were both in high school.  After all, I'd been playing for a few years by then.  Unlike the professional musician in the book, however, I didn't get paid.

That's me holding my bassoon and wearing our high school uniform.  So I could definitely relate to the book's character and "hear" the sounds I was reading about in this book.  I simply had to reach page 17, the second page in the second chapter, to really get into this book.  A big part of the book has to do with coincidences, and what a coincidence that bassoonist was for me.  Read the book's description here, where I first wrote about it.  The second coincidence (and third) are about Isabel Dalhousie, the main character of the series:

"Isabel had studied philosophy and had a part-time job as general editor of the Review of Applied Ethics" (p. 7).

Notice that she's a philosopher, who is now an editor.  She does a lot of philosophizing throughout the book.  I majored in Philosophy and Religion for my first degree (along with English Language and Literature, making it a double major), and I later edited two in-house publications.  As a lover of language and literature, I read a lot and I blog a lot — it's editing, too, you know.  So there you have it; I relate to two of the main characters in all kinds of ways.  Well, three:  bassoon, philosophy, and being an editor.