How a $50 clarinet and busking in the street reignited my passion for music

I started playing music when I was 7. Mum and Dad found an old organ on the side of the road, brought it home and couldn’t get me off it. They figured they should probably give me music lessons.

At high school, I learnt the clarinet as well. And played solidly for 5 years, performing and being judged to be classically perfect.

At the end of high school, I was accepted into music school, but I chose to quit music altogether because I had terrible stage fright — my hands and legs would shake with terror.

I never played again. 20 years passed.

And then I met my partner, Craig.

When I told him I used to play, he curiously asked if still could. When I replied hesitantly “maybe”. He bought me a $50 secondhand clarinet and encouraged me to give it a shot.

Three years on, here we are, playing music together all over the world in our band Latootz — a quirky little combo of clarinet, ukulele, harp and Craig’s husky voice.

From the early days of playing only for each other, learning songs via audio text when we lived apart and then together at friend’s parties; to busking on the streets in Australia and Europe to cover fuel money for our van adventures; to performing at paid gigs in Thailand, where we now live.

For a highly sensitive, introvert, It’s been a long and sometimes very challenging road to feeling confident enough to be on stage in front of people…

Most days my hands and legs still shake.

But i do it anyway because I realise that I’ve been given two pretty special gifts — the gift of music (once again) and the gift of being able to create it with the person I love.