Published The Advocate, November 20, 2004.

MY OLD vinyl record collection included Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, which I mention at the outset to establish my Baby Boomer bona rockin’ fides.

I once went to a concert featuring The Who and The Small Faces on the same bill. True, I also went to a Glen Campbell concert but that was marital blackmail, which does not count.

Now, I am more likely to attend a Beethoven concert than one by the Rolling Stones, although they are both around the same vintage.

Gradually and without doing it deliberately, I have reached a stage in life where, given the choice between playing the drums for Deep Purple or the cymbals for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, I would choose the TSO.

This, from a man whose first interest in classical music was Mickey Mouse conducting the buckets and mops in "Fantasia" and Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

Last night I went to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra concert at the Burnie Civic Centre featuring the music of Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The instruments were ranked according to the age of the players: the violins in the hands of the youngsters; the slightly older ones had the violas; onto the cellos; until finally the grown-ups got the basses.

Not everyone notices this the first time.

My father had a violin although I never heard him play it. The instrument was kept hidden in a case on the uppermost ledge of the built-in robes, pushed right to the back.

Perhaps it was possessed by the devil.

Nicolo Paganini, who died in 1840, played a violin with such virtuosic intensity that ladies swooned and their husbands suspected he was in league with the devil.

Mozart made the husbands swoon too.

I would love to be able to play the cello for its sheer melodic beauty. One of my favourite CDs features the cellist Jacqueline du Pre, who drowned at the height of her powers in the slack, drooling tide of multiple sclerosis. Such a pity.

Unfortunately, I have no musical talent and cannot play any instrument. I can’t sing either but neither can Bob Dylan and it hasn’t held him back.

The TSO more than makes up for my lack of musical ability. No electric guitars, no acoustic feedback, it was wonderful last night to listen to glorious music, heard as intended by the composers.

Tasmania is lucky to have such a fine symphony orchestra but it needs subscribers, and here comes the ad.

I doubt if any Australian symphony orchestra runs at a profit but the TSO has been having a hard time of it lately due to a low subscriber base and the high cost of touring.

Next year it will be staging two concerts in Burnie. Various subscription packages are available to entice bums onto seats – but wait, there’s more – and there is also a free CD and ticket giveaways.

Do subscribe and come swoon with me.