by Kevin T McEneaney
for Matt Finley
The cornet descends from the herdsman’s horn,
from about twenty thousand years ago,
usually notched from an old, dead goat’s horn.
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The cornet is quite difficult to play
and requires an expert musician
whose lips can capture exact, correct pitch
and produce equality in the sound.
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In the Renaissance, they were made of wood,
preferably from dense grain of a pear tree.
Bach wrote eleven cantatas for it.
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No other instrument is able to
blend so easily with the human voice.
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Today, the cornet is played in jazz bands
by rare experts who have great lip power….
