"I used to play the clarinet"

I used to play the clarinet. Actually, I played it for a number of years, and in the process received a general classical music education, and music theory thrown in for good measure. People are sometimes surprised when I display this (somewhat arbitrary) kmowledge, and I explain it by saying that I used to play the clarinet.

The strange thing is that the most common reply I get is "yes, so did I". I've come to the conclusion that EVERYONE used to play the clarinet, forced to learn by parents or schools. I'm not sure why schools choose clarinet to learn above anything else - it's not that easy to begin (flute or saxaphone are easier), you make horrible noises on it for about a year, then you do OK for a while, and you reach a plateau much earlier than you do on flute or sax, where you feel you're not making any progress for ages. Personally, I think that masses of bad-sounding clarinets (I do have fond memories of playing in my school's band) are one of the worst things to come out of almost compulsory musical instrument learning that schools seem to employ these days.

The clarinet has thus become the much maligned school band instrument. From the replies "yes, so did I", it's clear that schools aren't working hard enough to keep their students playing the clarinet after they leave. But I think the problem is forcing kids onto an instrument they don't like just because it's more accepted as a beginner's instrument than some of the harder ones.

I feel sorry for parents who have to sit through their children's renditions of the second movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, or anything clarinet by Weber (there's a lot) wishing they'd got their children to take up nicer sounding instruments, such as percussion perhaps, or the french horn (!). But I can't help thinking they've brought it on themselves, at least just a little.