You often play an instrument to help you relax and think clearly

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The wind outside howled as it made it’s way up and around the shape of the car parked at the top of the hill. Ahead nothing but the white of clouds could be seen. These clouds had not obscured for long. Just 15 minutes ago you could see the valley below. A u shaped glacial trough with fields and human settlements at the bottom and many trees on the slopes of the mountains. While the left side windows stayed dry those on the right were getting covered in white specks. They were in fact rain drops. Humidity from the clouds was collecting and forming in to water droplets.

The transmission mast behind was a shadow of it’s former self. Although it was still in use today it was far less interesting. For a start line of sight communications had moved from being from land station to land station across dozens of countries to distribute the signal to satellite broadcasting where line of sight was still important but satellites and distribution took place over hundreds of kilometres. Geo-stationary satellites were used.

A few metres away there was a map. This map was designed so that those standing at the centre could look out at the view and see which shape represented which peak. It showed how each related to each one. It’s at this moment, as the collections of peaks and related stories emerged to create a sound that was only now becoming noticable.

“You often play an instrument to help you relax and think clearly don’t you?”
“Yep” and he continued on playing.
“Do you always bring a violin with you when you’re climbing the mountains?
“Well, when I was younger I’d carry a cello up the mountains but recently I found that it has become too heavy so I’m sticking to the smaller violin instead”.
“What gave you the idea?”
“Alpenhorns! When I was hiking as a child I would often hear the alpenhorns being played somewhere in the valley and as I enjoyed the sound of music in the mountains I decided to bring my cello. Imagine the view from the top of the mountains and the sound the instrument makes. It’s crazy and eccentric enough to be amusing.”