Nature's Instrument.

I’ve had various favourite musical instruments down the years. I remember as a boy being particularly fond of the oboe and the French horn. Later I transferred my allegiance to the cello. I like the fiddle in Irish music, and my two favourite Chinese instruments are the erhu and the yangqin.

But today I was driving back from the hospital playing Cathie Ryan’s album The Music of What Happens in the car, and I realised that there’s really no contest. I have no reservation in saying that the best of all musical instruments is the female voice. So many nuances are there, and when the nuance matches the mood and the musical arrangement, the female voice leading it all can be truly transformative.