All That Jazz

In Kuala Lumpur, my sister proudly told Daniel to play a few pieces on his saxophone. Daniel told her that I had bought him the saxophone when he was staying with me in Singapore. I asked Daniel how he ended up buying the saxophone. Pastor Samuel Xia had wanted to dispose of his saxophone as his daughter wanted to buy him one which was of better quality. He sold it to us at $1,200/-. Not knowing much about brass instruments, I just trusted the words of a godly man.

When Daniel first tried blowing his saxophone, even my three pet dogs could not stand the sound. They would always run away whenever he started to blow. I would smile because it showed that my three dogs were somewhat musical! One of my friend's dog would always bark whenever he started playing the piano. However when my sister and I played the piano, the dog would be quiet. My friend had the peculiar habit of striking a little too hard at the keys, somewhat akin to pounding chillies on a mortar container.

All these five years, Daniel had been learning to play the beautiful brass instrument on his own. He had also picked up playing the drum and is now even teaching some of the church members to play the drum! When I heard him play this time, he had improved tremendously. When Daniel played "Sweet Bye and Bye" with a somewhat jazzy style, it made me cry. I remember papa with his saxophone. The band at the funeral procession had played the same piece. In fact it took me a year to be able to listen to jazz music again after papa's demise.

Daniel would soon be starting proper saxophone classes. Eldest sis commented how lovely it would be if papa were still alive. Then he could teach Daniel the brass instrument. Daniel is musically inclined like everyone in our family. It is most important that Daniel would be able to play the saxophone in his church, for the glory of God.

Ah! The power of music!

Gan Chau