Third Time's the Charm...

Around my 14th birthday, or was it Christmas? I got a guitar for my Dad as a gift. It was a Yamaha 6 String and I learned a few chords and played it for a few months before setting it aside to grow my fingernails long. Yup, I was That Girl, all about the makeup and nails and hair and cloths. At some point it got traded in for something or another, I don't even remember what happened to it, to be honest. All I know is that I was not ready to take up the instrument. Both my brother and sister were playing at this time, and they both continue to this day.

Fast forward to my 20's when I was sharing an apartment with my guitar playing sister. We discovered Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions and the concept of a Music Circle. I was enchanted and in love with the whole scene. I love music circles! So I decided to get myself a 12 String Guitar because I had always loved the sound. I loved that 12 string, I played it all the time. But after a year of daily practice, I could only kind of play a couple of songs. Over time I picked up less and less, and I ended up trading it in for a used flute.

My 50th birthday is coming up in a little over 6 months, and I looked at my husband and said that I think I might take up the guitar. He's gotten used to my growing instrument collection since I first took up the Autoharp in 2009. Soon after this proclamation a friend posted she was giving away a guitar to a good home. It's a classical no-name...there is no name anywhere on it. She bought it for her son off the internet, and I'm working with it to learn the guitar. It's a place to start, and I love how the universe provided me a way to learn guitar without having shell out money for one before I knew if I'd keep playing or not. So as I start over from scatch on the guitar, I am looking around for my 50th birthday present. My sister plays a Martin, but I know all that matters is how it sounds and feels in my arms. Here's a little food for thought:

Music is Life

On Wednesday I was turned onto folk musician and duclimer player Claudia Schmidt, and I enjoyed viewing the YouTube videos of her performing. Of course I checked out her website, her wonderful and long history as a folk and jazz musician, and her long list of CD's to choose from. I had never heard of her before, and I was thrilled to find this dragon's treasure of folk/jazz goodness.

Just out of curiosity, I checked out her calendar. Sometimes you come across something really cool only to find the band or musician moved on a few years ago and has never been heard from again. Not so with Claudia! In fact, I saw that should would be playing locally on Thursday night! I immediately contacted my sister and invited her out to dinner and Claudia's show at the 318 Cafe in Excelsior. Talk about serendipity!!

We got there an hour before the show so we could get settled and get something to eat. The food was very good, with all kinds of yummy options on the small menu. I officially love Guac with tortilla chips, as an example. And they even had a couple of my favorite Surly Beers to choose from! I chose Bender for the evening, and it was definitely a good choice.

When Claudia got on stage in front of a crowd of about 50 of us, the mood in the room turned to joy. She really puts on a great show, and I've signed up for her update list. She mentioned that she has a new album coming out this Spring that she recorded with Sally Rogers, the first album they've done together in 22 years. I picked up their "While We Live" and I have yet to find time to listen to it. Maybe Saturday when I'm cleaning the house will be good.

Something fun to look forward to while doing drudge work anyway. It will be a good way to start the weekend, I think.

Musings about Music

It seems like a day doesn't go by when I don't find myself contemplating music. Yesterday I put a post up about FolkThyme internet radio. I love having it playing while I write my blog posts, it reminds me how diverse and how meaningful folk music can be. But in this post I want to talk about my love for my autoharp, and about my history with it. When I was in grade school we had both a piano and an autoharp in the music room. This was back in the 70's and I lived in a nice suburb of upper middle class families.

I remember I had the opportunity to take the autoharp home and play it. I laid it out on the living room floor next to the piano, and pushed buttons and strummed away on it. I strummed and strummed with the pick until it leapt out of my fingers and right down the hole in the autoharp. From what I can remember I was pretty upset about this, tried to shake the pick loose, but it just didn't work. So I strummed and strummed some more with my fingernail until my little 9 year old fingers hands were sore from holding the buttons. As I recollect I only had it for the weekend. The other thing I remember was June Carter Cash playing the autoharp on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, holding it upright. When I asked my music teacher about playing that way at school, she told me that the correct way to play the autoharp was with it lying flat.

Remember when I said that I put it on the floor next the piano? Well, my first instrument was the piano, I think I was six when I first started taking lessons. It was fun at first, but later I was made to continue because I had to learn to commit to something. Some kind of life lesson my parents wanted me to know. I finally quit when I was about nine or ten. Then it was time to sign up for band, and I wanted to play the flute, but all little girls wanted to play flute so I was steared toward the clarinet. So for four years I played in band, but it was a small band and the Senior High band members were all also the schools marching band. This I did not want to do. But music was a part of me now, so I joined the choir.

Singing became my main musical outlet, and in my teens my sister and I each got guitars. I struggled with it with my soft girly fingertips. I loved my guitar for at least one whole summer, but I never took lessons, though my sister did. But I kept singing and my guitar collected dust, I wanted pretty long nails, which seemed more important to me. Later in college I flirted with the piano again as an elective class. I really liked it. A lot. But pianos are kind of big and expensive and hard to get up the stairs to an apartment. Then at some point I took up the twelve string guitar because I always loved the sound. I spent a good year with it, but only barely learned 3 songs though I practiced a lot. Again I didn't take lessons.

The next musical transition was trading my twelve string for a flute. Because, you see, I wanted the flute not the clarinet all those years before. This time I did take lessons. It was really fun, and I wonder where my flute music went to. The flute is in a closet somewhere. You would think that I would learn something by now, get a smattering of music theory or something. Well, I can read music for the most part, but there are all kinds of complexities out there that are way above my head. I've got some pennywhistles lying around here somewhere which I have an audio tape and book.

Finally the Autoharp comes back into my life. I saw my friend Becca Leathers playing one with her band Riverfolk. Now, it had been some time since I'd seen live music. It's funny how time passes when you are dealing with trying to be an adult. It was so wonderful, and they are so good, that I fell immediately in love with their music and enchanted with the idea of taking up the Autoharp. That was June of 2009, and I'm still playing my Autoharp. Thanks in part to taking some lessons so I'd learn how to play it properly.

And here I have to say that I feel spoiled, priviledged, and honored to have the opportunity to take lessons from Karen Mueller: 1986 International Autoharp Champion & 2006 Autoharp Hall of Fame. While living in Lawrence, Kansas, Karen took first place in the Kansas State Dulcimer Championships in 1984 and 1985, and was a finalist at the 1985 National Dulcimer Contest in Winfield. She lives here in the twin cities and teaches at Homestead Pickin' Parlor. She travels all over doing workshops as well. And she gave me a mountain dulcimer lesson on her instruments so I could try before I buy. As I said in a previous post, I have signed up for The Dulcimer School due to financial considerations. But I'll take lessons from her again, when I get stuck and need some extra help with either the Autoharp or the Mountain Dulcimer. I'm on my own with the Kantele, but for the book and what I can find on the internet.

A long post, but I just needed to work through the steps in my journey through instruments as I stand on the verge of taking up yet another one. And I forgot to mention the doumbek that I took up for a while. Still have one, they're too fun not to have at a music party.