A Funny Moment and a Tune for TCWalter Thompson, founder-director, Sound Painting and The Walter Thompson Orcheststra in which Thomas Chapin played

March 9, 2009
Happy 52nd Birthday to Thomas!

A very fond memory of Thomas was the time where we were gathering onstage, just before a concert with my orchestra, back in the late 80’s. Thomas had, for some reason unknown to me, come over and stood beside me and began playing.

The doors weren’t open and the audience had not come in yet. He was warming up next to me, or so I thought. It seemed a little unusual so, I turned to look at him and he was staring intently at me! Playing and smiling (somehow) at the same time.

I didn’t quite understand what the purpose of this was until I began to notice there was something a little different about the sound of his instrument. It was a bit different in a way I couldn’t quite put a finger on. I looked more closely at the horn he was playing, thinking it was his alto, and noticed it wasn’t. In fact, I didn’t know what horn it was! It wasn’t an alto or a tenor.

He saw I had caught on and stopped playing and then broke into laughter. He then told me he had just got this new horn – it was a F saxophone – somewhere between an alto and a soprano. He got a good laugh out of my confusion.

He played the new horn that evening, playing a great solo on it as he did on any other woodwind of his choosing. Such a great musician!

I just played a special birthday piece for Thomas – on a new bamboo flute I just got as a gift.