Play Date

Today my mountain dulcimer Mary Ann and I are hopping in my PT Cruiser to go play with my big brother. He plays the guitar, so we are going to have a jam practice together. My sweet Mary Ann turned one year old on April 19th, and I forgot to note it here in the blog. Actually, I forgot to note it in my life, but that's another story. I've had a very busy couple of weeks at work, and so all the home stuff was put on the back burner.

Now I'm ready to put more energy into things like my upcoming music party, hence the play date. We tried coordinating remotely, but my diatonic little lady needs face to face time with other instruments apparently. That's cool, as I love playing with others. This is the third year for my Spring Music Party, and I'm pretty excited about it. The RSVP's have been coming in, and there will be some very fine musicians and singers in attendance. Having musicians in the family is really awesome, and I'm going to take advantage of this perk more often. The family that plays together, stays together. I might just have to put that on a T-Shirt.

Good Night & Joy Be With You All

"Good night and joy be with you all"

Those are the words you need to learn for the sing-a-long part of my closer - "The Parting Glass". It will be the last song of the night of my music party, and I hope to make it a tradition. Every musician must have at least one closer, sometimes it's a rousing and exciting song. Sometimes it's a little more quiet to end the night on. And frankly, the saying "good night and joy be with you all" is a bit nicer that "get the fuck out of here', which is also a closer.

The song has become synomonous with Irish Pubs, so much so it has become the title to a book on the subject. I think I shall put that on my wish list, especially since someday we hope to decorate our basement like a pub. I'm looking forward to music parties held down there!

Once upon a time I had a friend named Fred, where every song was a closer. Hard to follow, but fun to hear, he has been a longtime favorite of mine with his twelve string guitar. The last time he played at one of my parties was 15 years ago. Much too long, and never since I began having regular music parties. I miss him and his twelve string, and the "Red Dancing Shoes" we would all sing along to in harmony. I hope he makes it to this party, I sure would love to hear him play.

That's what I love the most about music parties, I love singing in harmony, and it's always different. Unrehearsed, filled with joy for the music and the people around you, you just sing your heart the best you can next to your neighbor. The churches got that part right, and even provide handy hymnals to sing from. My music parties are a bit more informal, but I want to let everyone join in on the music. Live acoustic music is something that I crave on a regular basis. Unfortunately, that is something rather hard to find sometimes. Except that I know there is a wonderful jam Tuesday nights at Merlin's Rest, and I indent to attend that this coming Tuesday, since I will not have to go to work the next day.

Yes, I am taking the entire week off leading up to the music party. It's my annual fall stay-cation, because this is my favorite time of year. Raking leaves and practicing my Mountain Dulcimer in preperation for the party are my active tasks for the week. Less active are reading and snuggling with cats. Much snuggling has already been done today, with reading to come and fixing a tasty dinner for my honey and me.

But I digress...the song is a wonderful classic, and I found a terrific accapella version of it by the Wailin Jennys on YouTube. I'd never heard of them before, and I'm really excited to find a new group of ladies singing and playing music from the heart. Bonus is that they're from Minneapolis North, also known as Winnepeg Canada! Woot! They're practically family already.