WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) \u2014 On the frozen edge of the world, staying in practice as a professional musician takes ingenuity, grit and a plastic instrument for schoolchildren that\u2019s guaranteed not to freeze to your fingers or face.<\/p>\n
Natalie Paine is a French horn player in New Zealand<\/a> \u2019s navy who since October has been among 21 military members stationed in Antarctica<\/a>. There, her melodies drift across the frozen Ross Sea from perhaps the most remote practice room on Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful and very inspiring,\u201d Paine told the Associated Press. \u201cI\u2019ll sit there by the window and I will do my routine and play music in my time off, which is not very often.\u201d<\/p>\n An unlikely journey to the ice<\/p>\n The story of how she arrived in Antarctica is an unlikely one. Paine grew up in the hot, dry climate of Adelaide, Australia, where she dreamed of visiting the frozen continent as a scientist.<\/p>\n She studied music at university instead, putting Antarctica out of her mind. Years later however, as a musician in New Zealand\u2019s navy, Paine learned members of the country\u2019s military were stationed in Antarctica to support the work of scientists.<\/p>\n When she asked, her instructor said any military member could win one of the coveted assignments.<\/p>\n \u201cMy eyes lit up and I was like, what? Even a musician?\u201d Paine said. \u201cHe\u2019s like, heck yeah, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n The most remote practice room on Earth<\/p>\n Her dream was revived but enacting it wasn\u2019t simple. It took four years of unsuccessful applications before Paine landed a posting as a communications operator.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a consuming job, worked in six-day stretches that leave little time for music. Paine monitors radio, phone, email and other communications traffic at New Zealand\u2019s mission at Scott Base, sometimes speaking to people on the ice who haven\u2019t heard other voices for weeks.<\/p>\n