Trumpeting

I bought Jane her own trumpet the other day. She has played the trumpet in school this year and last and has decided that she wants to continue with it and stay in the "junior" school band. Of course I explained to Jane that trumpets are expensive and she must commit to playing it long term. She did, but I know how fickle she can be about hobbies, having seen her quit many others.
Jane was required to play in a school band last year (Every student in this school must learn some band instrument for at least one school year). As I remember the band director recommended trumpet for Jane and she also liked the instrument. My child is even lazier than I am, so she does not practice enough, but she does have good tone when she plays and some degree of talent for music.
My brother and I both learned and played musical instruments in school and I think they are an excellent hobby for kids. Research shows that those who play instruments make better grades in school and have fewer problems as well. In my case I played the clarinet and for a short while , the saxophone. (I was asked by the band director to do that). My brother was a trumpet player and very talented with that instrument and many others. But he had the same laizze faire attitude as Jane and quit after high school.
My playing was bearable (particularly if the listener wore ear plugs). I had no special talent for the clarinet and think I was a mediocre player. But several universities offered to admit me to music school when I graduated. I declined and also quit the instrument after high school, being more interested in sports than band.
The music kids listen to today is not very complex and many feel is simplistic and at a low level, so I believe that Jane will benefit from her play (she took piano lessons when smaller but after 3 years quit that also) in her school work and in her appreciation and understanding of music. I hope she will be better able to judge the quality of music than do many people today who are oblivious to any music other than what they hear their friends and acquaintances listen to.
From the "How Stupid Are Those Cell Phone Addicts" department is the story of yet another person enamored with cell phones so such that reality becomes the phone and everything else is forgotten. One of those, Jacqueline Dotson, was seriously injured in an accident near Winchester, Ky., in February that police say happened when she lost control of her SUV and ran several other cars off the road before overcorrecting, which caused the SUV to roll over a guardrail and land upside down. A rescue crew labored an hour and a half with the "jaws of life" to extricate her from the vehicle, but one of her arms was already free, severed in the accident and lying on the road, still grasping a cell phone.
Oh well, Jacqueline is probably not too concerned with losing her arm.... as long as her cell phone is intact.