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As well as a lifetime of listening to music, I am lucky enough to have been able to learn to play a few musical instruments too…

My musical education began at primary school where we listened to ‘Singing Together’ on the radio sitting cross-legged on the floor of the ‘middle room’ in the school, and sang along with the termly songbooks provided. I still have a few dog-eared copies. From ‘Singing Together’ we progressed to ‘Music Workshop’, again on the radio, but this time we got to play a few simple melodies and rhythms on glockenspiel, triangles and shakers.

When I was ten, my birthday present was an upright piano, piano stool, music case and piano lessons. My mum explained that when she was little she had wanted to learn to play the piano and her parents had not had the money, so as soon as I showed an interest in learning she was determined I would have the advantage she had missed. Typically for those times, we all assumed that she was far too old and busy to actually learn to play the piano herself….

So each week I went a few hundred yards down Harvey Lane in Dickleburgh to Miss Kerridge who gave piano lessons. I worked my way through Grades 1 to 4 before giving up lessons on the pretext of needing to concentrate on my exams – more like I’d discovered better ways to spend my time than daily piano exercises playing music I wasn’t interested in…

However, those lessons stood me in good stead as I learned to read music, sight read and understand the basic mechanics of scales, keys and chords. I still played the piano at home, just for my own entertainment, but I binned those scale practice books in favour of volumes of ‘Songs of the 70s’ and such.

When I went to college of course I couldn’t take my piano with me, and I missed the relaxation of playing, so when a friend told me he had a guitar for sale, I decided to swap instruments. I remember buying ‘Ermintrude’ (a basic acoustic guitar) from Steve Dommett – think I paid about £10 – and then plaguing anyone I knew who played guitar to teach me a few chords. There was a weekly folk club which I went along to and watched – and even copied the words and chords to a song written by one of my college mates – but I never performed in public.

Ermintrude came with me when I moved into my first flat, and was still there when I met Chris – he picked up my right-hand-strung guitar, turned it upside down (he’s left-handed) and played it better than I ever could! Yet at the time he didn’t even own a guitar. We put that right on a trip to Norfolk when we spotted a guitar for £18 in an antique shop – and he’s not looked back since. Well, he did start playing as a teenager in the 1960s when everyone wanted to be in a band. Which of course he was.

One another visit to my parents Chris casually remarked that the piano looked like a good instrument, whereupon my mum informed me that it belonged to me, she’d quite like to get it out of her front room and I could take it away any time I liked….so Chris immediately borrowed a van with a tail lift (intended for wheelchairs) and drove it up to Norfolk, where we carried the extremely heavy instrument (Dad wasn’t allowed to touch it due to his blood pressure!) and took it all the way to our flat in Borehamwood – I played it as we drove down the A1.

By the time we moved to the Isle of Wight, the piano had seen better days and was almost unplayable – it wouldn’t stay in tune. But our neighbours (who had annoyed Chris with their loud music – but that’s another story…) said they’d like the piano for their son, so we happily took it next door – so much easier than taking it all the way to the Island. However, once moved, I really wanted another piano – and we found just what we wanted….in Norfolk!! That piano also had to be replaced after the toilet leaked one night and almost brought down the dining room ceiling – most of the water ended up in the piano.

Meanwhile, Ermintrude and I happily entertained our children until Joe fell and broke Ermintrude’s neck. Chris repaired her but she was never the same. One Mothers’ Day all three children appeared in our bedroom trying in vain to hide a bulky package behind them.

‘This is your Mothers’ Day present’, they announced, placing it carefully on the bed: a brand new, beautiful acoustic guitar, which allowed Ermintrude to be respectfully pensioned off.

I still have that guitar and was quite happy with just that, as Chris built up his collection of Fenders and tried to persuade me to ‘go electric’. After all, I only wanted to play at home, for myself.

For years I’d also fought shy of singing in public, especially as the family told me I was useless…but my enjoyment of theatrical pursuits led me to become involved in musicals and as  I was encouraged to sing on stage, so Chris encouraged me to sing alongside him at Open Mic Nights held by Ventnor Guitar Club of which he is a member. I sang – but never played.

Then came 2020 and Covid: the Guitar Club decided to hold weekly open mics on Zoom: each participant could perform a song in turn – lovely idea which enabled this really friendly group to continue sharing its love of music during lockdown. And Chris used the situation to persuade me to play guitar alongside him – after all, it was in the privacy of our own home and to a friendly supportive audience. So I did, and my confidence grew to the point where a few times I actually performed solo when Chris wasn’t at home.

This made it easy to continue to play guitar and sing with Chris at the open mics once they started up again, and we have now formed our own duo called Elsinore. But this meant I needed a guitar I could plug into the PA system at the open mic – so Chris insisted we bought an electro-acoustic guitar for me. But I still didn’t go fully electric…until last Christmas when Ronan arrived home for the festive season carrying a guitar case. I knew he had acquired a Fender Stratocaster from a friend who thought it was broken, and Ronan, with Chris’s advice, was bringing it back to life. So I wasn’t surprised when he opened the case and produced a beautiful blond Stratocaster. I was surprised however when he handed it to me and told me he had renovated it for me! And I love playing it!

In the meantime, another instrument almost became a victim of Covid…

In 2020 the Island Savoyards were rehearsing Kipps The Musical (the show on which Half a Sixpence is based) and the main character plays the banjo. The Musical Director announced one evening that he wanted a banjolele orchestra in the finale – the idea was to have several actors miming playing but he wanted about eight volunteers to learn to play a simple turn on the banjolele. My dear friend Libby pointed to me: ‘Maureen plays the guitar!’ – so when I got home I told Chris that it looked like I was playing banjolele on stage.

So we had to go to Denmark Street in London of course! Never mind that the Savoyards were getting some fairly cheap instruments – he wanted me to have a ‘proper’ banjolele. I barely knew what one looked like, but when in the first shop I saw some modern instruments in bright pink and green, I knew enough to say no…

In the next shop, hanging on the wall was a beautiful 1920’s banjolele. The only problem was, when it was handed to me I had no idea how to play it, and was quite disconcerted when instead of notes running upwards when you strum, they seemed to be all over the place. I didn’t question whether it was tuned – I liked the look and sound and we bought it, complete with 1920’s original leather case. Down the road we stopped for coffee and I took the opportunity of googling ‘banjolele tuning’. When I discovered it was tuned GCEA it explained why it had sounded so wrong to my untutored ears!

We duly practised the piece to be played as part of the show – only for lockdown to be called three weeks before opening night! Although I never got to play banjolele in the show, I did continue to play at home.

One open mic Chris introduced me to Karin who had recently joined the Guitar Club and we discovered we both play banjolele – and now we are the Banjolele Babes!

Throughout my life, playing music has been as relaxing and enjoyable as listening to it – and I don’t think I could live without either. I’m just delighted that our love of making music has passed to our children, and now our grandchildren – at three, Etta loves strumming her little guitar and singing – and taking a bow!