I have played several instruments. I started with pianolesson when I was 12. I quit after a year because i got a boyfriend. I still regret it today. But I was enough to teach myself organ and keyboard at a later age.

When I was 15 I played horn for a while, later tuba and barriton. I even played a big trom for a while. It was so big that people could hardly see me. This was as advantage. There was a holder for a glass of beer on top and since people felt sorry for the little woman carrying a big drum I was never short of drinks.

For some years I played nothing except some orgel an keyboard at home.

When we lived in Germany there was a band from the Dutch Airforce there (my husband is airforce and was leader of this band). The German wall between east and west Germany fell and for  that reason the Dutch Airforce base was about to closed and so was the band was terminated in advance since a lot of members were already  going back to the Netherlands. All instruments were sold among the members at the band. My husband bought a tenor saxophone for 50 Dutch guilders (aprox 25 dollar) and brought it home. I could not resist; i had to try if I could produce a tone. And I could! One of the former band members gave me some basic lessons.

Me and my husband joined a German Blaskapelle in a village nearby. They had a map with about 150 songs! Every week I went to practice and recorded what we practiced so i could practise at home. Reading notes and counting rhythms was not my strongest point at that time but i could hear if it fitted while practicing. This was a good method, I learned very quickly. At home i also played along with CD's without notes. I now can play almost everything by heart and play improvisations as well.

At this time I play alt, tenor and baritone saxophone is several bands. My husband plays trumpet, drums, baritone and bas and we are in all bands together (he is better than me because he started when he was 8). I love it. I like most playing without notes and improvise which I can do on some of the bands. When I play music I forget all worries I might have. If had to make the choice between loosing my eyesight or my hearing I would choose loosing my eyesight, that is how much I love music.

Because I love music so much I started online business. In a few years we will move to Turkey. There are no amateur bands there except for traditional music. So my dream is to open a music cafe with live music. So that my husband and I can play along when we feel like it.

At this moment I am a member of 2 bands and guest musician in some but they do not all practice every week. But average I have 2 evenings I have music practice. And because I am a member of multiple bands we have some gig almost every weekend. This I will mis in Turkey. So I MUST HAVE my music cafe!

Some of my bands have a website: (Dutch)

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