So in 2001, the 'dot-com' company I worked started shedding workers as the investor money ran out - by August I was laid off. Fortunately, the non dot-com branch that was spun off a couple of years before needed someone to manage the product that I had been working on since 1991, so I was only out of work for a few weeks. From the mid '90s until the layoff, I spent a lot of my off hours learning new technologies and working on software projects; this paid off in the sense that my skills were 'current', but I was not doing much music playing or listening.
However, my work-life upheavals led to a new focus on music: my "career' became more and more a "day job". Initially, I just spent off hours practicing more, especially mandolin. However, when MBOTMA announced the first annual Guitar Flat Picking and Duet Contest in late 2002, I started working on guitar more. (I had been flat-picking a few tunes for a number of years; however, playing the mandolin helped me get up to speed). Lynn and I also dusted off a couple of duets we knew and we entered both contests. Although we had done one or two performances a year for church and family, the contest was one of our first "performances" outside of friends and family. Working up a couple of duets for the contest led to more purposeful learning and we did one set of 'opening' for the Brown Shoe Boys (consisting of church friends of ours) in a coffee house. (The Brown Shoe Boys have since morphed into the folk-rock group "Rhinestone Diplomats")
I also started going to more live performances - Norman Blake & Peter Ostroushko at the Fitzgerald Theater, many concerts at the Cedar Cultural Center and gigs our friends did at coffee shops. Some highlights include Foghorn String Band, Uncle Earl, Frigg, Bruce Molsky, Tannehill Weavers and the Battlefield Band.
Lynn and I performed at the MBOTMA Winter Bluegrass Weekend as well as MBOTMA fund raisers at Dulono's pizza. We've had fun performing at Bill Cagley's Roots Showcase at the Coffee Grounds and even hosted it one Thursday evening. We've gotten to know more and more local musicians and have gone to see folk like the Mill City Grinders, the Ditch Lilies, Ivory Bridge, Switched at Birth, the Recliners, and Blue Wolf.
Another aspect of live performance has been for dances at the Tapestry Folk Dance Center as members of Danebodium. (This is where I keep my mandolin chops up and Lynn gets to play rhythm piano). I'm not really much of a dancer, put its fun to play music folk dance to.
For the last year or so, Lynn and I have scheduled regular bob-i-lynn rehearsals (on Monday nights, if you must know). This has really sharpened our sound and helped make us much better prepared as performers. We are also performing at bigger or at least more 'prestigious' events. This past year we performed at our first MBOTMA festival: the home grown kickoff. We also performed at the Stone Arch Festival and our best paying gig so far at the LCO Casino. This coming January marks our first 'solo' appearance at Dulono's, which makes us feel like a 'real' MBOTMA band.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Varities of Musical Experience live performance, cont'd)
On the last post for 'musical experience', I got to the 'classical period' of listening to and performing 'live'. Although I never got to the point of giving 'recitals', I played for some art openings and I remember playing for a opening by Bruce Nygren at the the Stevens Gallery in the mid '70s. I was playing some suites by Villa Lobos and managed to hit them really well. I got positive comments then (especially from Bruce's mother), and I know when I ran into him years later he still talked about it. I remember seeing John Williams and Julian Bream in concert but missed Segovia when he was probably last in town. I went to faculty and student recitals and one of the best students now teaches in Wisconsin and has produced duet guitar recordings (sadly, I don't recall his name). My brother-in-law Marly was also taking guitar lessons and we worked on a few duets and may have played them at church. Another student at the U at the time was college classmate John Ellinger, who is on the Carleton Music Faculty and who was my son Alex's guitar teacher at Carleton.
In the late 70's I realized I wasn't going to gain a living from classical guitar and started working full time. Turned thirty, bought a house, had kids : I was still playing guitar but wasn't performing. With young children you don't get out much - I'm not sure of the timing but I do remember going to see Elton John at the St. Paul Civic Center (precursor to the Xcel Center) and also a concert by Claudia Schmidt with Greg Brown opening (before he gained fame as a singer-song writer).
In 1984 I started my computer studies at the U of M and in 1985 our second son Tommy was born. In 1986 or so, the church Lynn and the kids had started going to (Lynnhurst Congregational) started up a variety show called the Lynnhurst Home Companion. Lynn and I joined some other folk musicians to become the Lynnhurst Hot Dish String Band. This was basically a once-a-year band, but we were the house band for the show and often did 3 or 4 numbers. Lynn and I also started to do a duet song at most of these shows. This got me looking out for songs to perform and listening to bluegrass albums. In the early 90's Lynn and I joined the MN Bluegrass & Oldtime Association and we started going to some of the MBOTMA festivals. We made most of the August festivals (dragging the kids until they we're old enough to stay home) and heard lot's of local and national bands.
For a couple years we attended a bluegrass jam class put on by Brian Wicklund and Kevin Barnes who were in the Stoney Lonesome Band (at the time, the best know MN bluegrass band). The attendees were organized as 'bands' and at the conclusion of the class, the bands performed on stage at Dulono's pizza.
In 1987 I moved from the restaurant industry into software development and during the 90s I spent a lot of time doing 'career' development as well as scouting, soccer etc with the boys. I continued to perform at the church shows and the Hot Dish String Band performed at a few art shows and other events. I continued to hear live groups at bluegrass festivals and concerts. I remember seeing Alison Krauss at the Guthrie (before O' Brother made her too big for a 1500 seat venue) with Stoney Lonesome opening.
I don't remember all the bands we saw at the MBOTMA festivals: I remember hearing Nickel Creek when they were still teenagers and their Dad was the bass player. Jim and Jesse, Laurie Lewis, Loose Ties, Tim O'Brien were some of the other bluegrass groups we heard. Since MBOTMA also includes 'old time', Lynn and I started to hear and appreciate old time music from groups like Big Hoedown, the Renegades and the Konnarock Critters.
For Lynn and me, the 'high point' for performing in the '90s was in 1997 where we did enough shows with the Hot Dish String Band that one member of the group made a Tee Shirt for the 'Hot Dish Tour of 1997 with all the dates and places we performed'.
By the end of the 90's our computer careers were caught up in the dot-com boom with some increases in salary that help us finance Alex's college education. However, the dot-com crash affected our day-jobs and also help launched a focus on music as a more serious enterprise: topics for the next post.
In the late 70's I realized I wasn't going to gain a living from classical guitar and started working full time. Turned thirty, bought a house, had kids : I was still playing guitar but wasn't performing. With young children you don't get out much - I'm not sure of the timing but I do remember going to see Elton John at the St. Paul Civic Center (precursor to the Xcel Center) and also a concert by Claudia Schmidt with Greg Brown opening (before he gained fame as a singer-song writer).
In 1984 I started my computer studies at the U of M and in 1985 our second son Tommy was born. In 1986 or so, the church Lynn and the kids had started going to (Lynnhurst Congregational) started up a variety show called the Lynnhurst Home Companion. Lynn and I joined some other folk musicians to become the Lynnhurst Hot Dish String Band. This was basically a once-a-year band, but we were the house band for the show and often did 3 or 4 numbers. Lynn and I also started to do a duet song at most of these shows. This got me looking out for songs to perform and listening to bluegrass albums. In the early 90's Lynn and I joined the MN Bluegrass & Oldtime Association and we started going to some of the MBOTMA festivals. We made most of the August festivals (dragging the kids until they we're old enough to stay home) and heard lot's of local and national bands.
For a couple years we attended a bluegrass jam class put on by Brian Wicklund and Kevin Barnes who were in the Stoney Lonesome Band (at the time, the best know MN bluegrass band). The attendees were organized as 'bands' and at the conclusion of the class, the bands performed on stage at Dulono's pizza.
In 1987 I moved from the restaurant industry into software development and during the 90s I spent a lot of time doing 'career' development as well as scouting, soccer etc with the boys. I continued to perform at the church shows and the Hot Dish String Band performed at a few art shows and other events. I continued to hear live groups at bluegrass festivals and concerts. I remember seeing Alison Krauss at the Guthrie (before O' Brother made her too big for a 1500 seat venue) with Stoney Lonesome opening.
I don't remember all the bands we saw at the MBOTMA festivals: I remember hearing Nickel Creek when they were still teenagers and their Dad was the bass player. Jim and Jesse, Laurie Lewis, Loose Ties, Tim O'Brien were some of the other bluegrass groups we heard. Since MBOTMA also includes 'old time', Lynn and I started to hear and appreciate old time music from groups like Big Hoedown, the Renegades and the Konnarock Critters.
For Lynn and me, the 'high point' for performing in the '90s was in 1997 where we did enough shows with the Hot Dish String Band that one member of the group made a Tee Shirt for the 'Hot Dish Tour of 1997 with all the dates and places we performed'.
By the end of the 90's our computer careers were caught up in the dot-com boom with some increases in salary that help us finance Alex's college education. However, the dot-com crash affected our day-jobs and also help launched a focus on music as a more serious enterprise: topics for the next post.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Geezer Guitar officially achieves geezerdom
Today marks the 60th anniversary of my birth on 11.14.1947 so as Lynn put it in an email, I have achieved official geezerdom. Not doing much today, regular work-day and then choir at night. Had cake yesterday for work (a coworker's birthday is the 12th so we split the difference). My son Tommy just called from San Francisco to wish me a 'happy', so got caught up with him. More cake tomorrow at Cappa Java and then we're having some folks over next Sunday for a more-or-less official celebration that was planned at a neighbor's 60th party a few weeks ago.
Lynn and I will do a music set or two and hopefully there's some jamming, but I imagine I'll be doing a bit of mixing as well. Last Saturday I cleared out the back room (my office and instrument storage place). Mostly, I cleared out junk Lynn had put there a few months back when she hosted book club. I also took down a folding table and arranged some chairs as a 'jamming' space so I now have an official pickin' parlor.
Lynn and I will do a music set or two and hopefully there's some jamming, but I imagine I'll be doing a bit of mixing as well. Last Saturday I cleared out the back room (my office and instrument storage place). Mostly, I cleared out junk Lynn had put there a few months back when she hosted book club. I also took down a folding table and arranged some chairs as a 'jamming' space so I now have an official pickin' parlor.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Varities of Musical Experience (more, cont'd)
I've been posting on my experiences as a singer, instrumentalist and listener (to recorded music). I haven't touch on attending and participating in 'live performances' which in many ways is the whole point of it all. Of course before the late 19th century, the only way to hear music was 'live', but most of us now have spent many more hours listening to recorded music than live.
Other than church or school productions, I don't recall going to many live events as a kid; although, I'm sure I heard my Dad play in a community orchestra once or twice. In high school, I started played in the band and sang in the boys glee club. I know I sang the lead for a choral arrangement of 'Goodbye Liza Jane', but I don't recall how close it is to the old timey version. By the time I was a junior I was performing with my friend Dan as a duo (The It'll Never Duo, a take-off on another folk group we know about: the Uppa-Trio). I remember learning and singing the Hills of Shiloh for our first 'performance' and that it was way-way too long. We added Rick Wolfe on bass and became the Hidden Valley Trio and then the Frontiersman. We did Kingston Trio/Peter,Paul&Mary type of material.
Around 1964 another friend who was into Bob Dylan took me to the 'Scholar' Coffee house in Dinkytown where Dylan got his start. I don't remember much about that at all now. Although we had dances in high school, I don't think that live bands ever played.
In 1965, I started college at Carleton in Northfield, MN (finished there 4 years later, too). This expanded my opportunities to hear live music tremendously. The college sponsored concerts - I remember seeing Doc Watson and other folk musicians as well as Koerner, Ray and Glover. (Their performances were legendary for the amount of alcohol consumed on stage). I also went to classical concerts, including Lynn's Junior and Senior piano recitals. Although I was taking piano lessons and playing guitar and singing and jamming; I didn't do much performing per se; however, I did have have a starring role in the Shakopee Community Theater's production of the Fantaskticks. This was put on the summer between my freshman and sophmore year and I played the Matt (the Boy) and my Dad played Hucklebee (the Boy's father). Among the songs I remember are Try to Remember and Soon It's Gonna Rain, but I'm sure they'll all come back. I had been in a couple of non-musical high school plays, but this was my last appearance on a theatrical stage.
In the summer of 1967 (summer of love, you know), I was working a factory job in Shakopee, but spent a most of my free time at the Scholar Coffee House. This was where Dylan got his start, but by 1967 it had moved from Dinkytown to the West Bank (it's now a parking lot next to Theater in the Round). I listened to performances by Dave Ray, Leo Kottke and Lazy Bill Lucas.
I would also bring my guitars (Sunday afternoons?) and I remember doing some sort of open stage. I was pretty self-conscious about my voice at the time and thought it sound 'adolescent' or some such. (I guess I wanted to sound like a world-weary blues singer at the time).
After college, Lynn and I taught high school for one year in Broadus, Montana. Lynn was the band director so our live music was limited to her concerts and probably other school events. I remember doing a folk song at a school event.
The next year we moved back to Minnesota and lived in Minneapolis in a house with former Carleton people. One of them was my junior year roomate. A lot of us were working at the Black Forest Inn (the house was a block away). Mike Frehling a Carleton classmate (and then a housemat) played guitar, and he and I learned enough common repertoire to play at a few nursing homes. There were also jams with folks who worked at or were customers at the Black Forest, but I didn't do much performing. As mentioned, in the mid 70's I started focusing on classical guitar: Lynn was playing in a Viol Consort (Viola da Gamba) at the time and she I worked out some pieces with Viola da Gamba and guitar. The event we got paid for was Aldo Moroni's Wedding in Long Lake.
Other than church or school productions, I don't recall going to many live events as a kid; although, I'm sure I heard my Dad play in a community orchestra once or twice. In high school, I started played in the band and sang in the boys glee club. I know I sang the lead for a choral arrangement of 'Goodbye Liza Jane', but I don't recall how close it is to the old timey version. By the time I was a junior I was performing with my friend Dan as a duo (The It'll Never Duo, a take-off on another folk group we know about: the Uppa-Trio). I remember learning and singing the Hills of Shiloh for our first 'performance' and that it was way-way too long. We added Rick Wolfe on bass and became the Hidden Valley Trio and then the Frontiersman. We did Kingston Trio/Peter,Paul&Mary type of material.
Around 1964 another friend who was into Bob Dylan took me to the 'Scholar' Coffee house in Dinkytown where Dylan got his start. I don't remember much about that at all now. Although we had dances in high school, I don't think that live bands ever played.
In 1965, I started college at Carleton in Northfield, MN (finished there 4 years later, too). This expanded my opportunities to hear live music tremendously. The college sponsored concerts - I remember seeing Doc Watson and other folk musicians as well as Koerner, Ray and Glover. (Their performances were legendary for the amount of alcohol consumed on stage). I also went to classical concerts, including Lynn's Junior and Senior piano recitals. Although I was taking piano lessons and playing guitar and singing and jamming; I didn't do much performing per se; however, I did have have a starring role in the Shakopee Community Theater's production of the Fantaskticks. This was put on the summer between my freshman and sophmore year and I played the Matt (the Boy) and my Dad played Hucklebee (the Boy's father). Among the songs I remember are Try to Remember and Soon It's Gonna Rain, but I'm sure they'll all come back. I had been in a couple of non-musical high school plays, but this was my last appearance on a theatrical stage.
In the summer of 1967 (summer of love, you know), I was working a factory job in Shakopee, but spent a most of my free time at the Scholar Coffee House. This was where Dylan got his start, but by 1967 it had moved from Dinkytown to the West Bank (it's now a parking lot next to Theater in the Round). I listened to performances by Dave Ray, Leo Kottke and Lazy Bill Lucas.
I would also bring my guitars (Sunday afternoons?) and I remember doing some sort of open stage. I was pretty self-conscious about my voice at the time and thought it sound 'adolescent' or some such. (I guess I wanted to sound like a world-weary blues singer at the time).
After college, Lynn and I taught high school for one year in Broadus, Montana. Lynn was the band director so our live music was limited to her concerts and probably other school events. I remember doing a folk song at a school event.
The next year we moved back to Minnesota and lived in Minneapolis in a house with former Carleton people. One of them was my junior year roomate. A lot of us were working at the Black Forest Inn (the house was a block away). Mike Frehling a Carleton classmate (and then a housemat) played guitar, and he and I learned enough common repertoire to play at a few nursing homes. There were also jams with folks who worked at or were customers at the Black Forest, but I didn't do much performing. As mentioned, in the mid 70's I started focusing on classical guitar: Lynn was playing in a Viol Consort (Viola da Gamba) at the time and she I worked out some pieces with Viola da Gamba and guitar. The event we got paid for was Aldo Moroni's Wedding in Long Lake.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Varities of Musical Experience (more)
In the previous two posts on this topic I've discussed my experiences as a singer and as a music consumer. For this post I'll focus on instruments I've learned to play (or attempted to play).
When I was in second grade, we moved to the town of Le Center in southern Minnesota - my Dad was taking a job as social worker (but I'd hardly be aware of that). We lived there until I was in fifth grade and although I know I am viewing through rose-colored glasses it was a great place to be a kid. I remember one of my friends playing the Ukulele ( I ran into him a few times after we grew up - he was at St. Olaf when I was at Carleton - he was a rock musician, but haven't seen him for many years). When I started third grade, I started on piano, taking lessons from a Nun at the catholic school in town (remember, we were methodists). They had piano's to practice on, so I'd go there to practice after school. We did get a piano eventually and my playing suffered as I didn't really practice as much. After Le Center, we moved to Mankato and then Shakopee in 1958. (My Dad continued in Social Work - he was the Scott County Welfare Director in Shakopee - these days it would be called 'Human Services'). I continued taking piano lessons through eighth grade. Although I was never a consistent student, I did learn to read music (both bass and treble clefs) and I continued to play in high school. I was the accompanist for the girls chorus (one of my favorite pictures in the high school yearbook is me surrounded by a couple of dozen girls) as well as the 1st service organist for church. I don't remember much about lessons in Mankato, but my teacher in Shakopee was Eunice Schaeffer, who was also the secretary or the Draft Board (more on that some data on Cudgels of the Curmudgeon). I took formal piano lessons again at Carleton from William Nelson. He was also Lynn's teacher - she majored in music and gave a junior and senior recital. I got a lot better, but never 'performed' except in piano class. I learned some Bach, Brahms, Chopin and Debussy but rarely play now. (Lynn is getting the piano tuned soon, so maybe I'll go through a couple pieces.)
In Mankato, I started violin lessons, but there was no string program in Shakopee, so in 6th or 7th grade I started on trombone. My dad was a violinist in college (and played in a community orhestra later) and my mom played trombone in high school. I stayed with it and played in band all through high school, but never 'owned' an instrument or played in college. The year after I was graduated from College, Lynn and I taught High School in Montana. Lynn was the Band director and we started a student/faculty jazz band or something and I ended up playing a school trombone. I remember thinking I was a better player (at age 22) than in high school - partially because I had had more musical training. I haven't really played since, although I can still make a tolerable sound.
My first 'folk' instrument was harmonica - I started learning it when I was about 12 - I remember playing 'moon river' and playing at Boy Scout Campfires. I got semi-serious and picked up a chromatic harmonica: for a couple of church services learned and played some Bach duets: I played chromatic harmonica with my Dad on violin. Although I still own a set of harmonicas and even a chromatic, I don't play much any more.
When I was 15, I started playing guitar and this was probably the first instrument that I had a passion for. My first guitar was a Stella and I used to play until my fingers bled. I was mostly self-taught although at some point in high school I took a few lessons. My friend Dan took up the Banjo (Pete Seeger style) around the same time. This was in the early sixties and I we played at a hootenanny at the high school a few months after we learned how to play. A bit later, our friend Rick learned bass and we were a trio (ala Kingston trio sort of). High point of our career was playing at a super market parking lot and getting paid $90.
On family camping trips, I also discovered that playing guitar worked as a 'chick' magnet. Never really dated in high school, but the bit of 'success' I had came from playing guitar. For high school graduation, my parents gave me a Gibson J45, which was my first good guitar. (I still regret using it as a trade in for my current Martin D-28 - it would be sweet to have both guitars).
Since I have played guitar for almost 45 years, there is way too much detail for this post; however, here are some bullet points:
About 5 or 6 years ago at Danebod folk camp, I was playing mandolin in a rehearsal with about 5 clarinets and called out 'is there a tenor banjo in the house'; sure enough, Jill had one in her tent and I played it for the week for certain dances (usually polkas). The next time that Lynn was in LA visiting her mother, she surprised me with a tenor banjo that she had bought from the Claremont Folk Music Store and Museum (started by Ben Harper's grandparents and now owned by him). I originally played it tuned in 'viola' tuning, which is a 5th lower than the mandolin. However, I ended up playing it mostly with the Danebod and TC Urban Folk School Folk bands and found it easier to use it in Irish Tenor Banjo Tuning (an octave lower than a mandolin). This means that the fingering is the same and I don't have to think so hard ;-)
The most recent instrument I've learned is the concertina. The Twin City Urban Folk School has 'beginning band' and I found a 30 button Anglo concertina on line for $200 and started 'learning' that. For a few months I spent more time playing concertina that anything else. Currently; however, it is in the same category as the tenor banjo: I play it in the folk band, mostly for waltzes. At the Bluff Country Gathering there were a couple people with concertinas, so I may take it to Lanesboro next year. One fellow from South Dakota was really good, playing along on fast Missouri reels with some of the top fiddlers there. He was playing the same type as I was, although of much higher quality. Of course, a 'serious' instrument is at least $1500, and top ones go for 3K-6K.
Right now, my main focus is working with guitar and mandolin as part of the bob-i-lynn band. We have a number of guitar-guitar pieces where I play lead, but more and more with Lynn on fiddle and I focus on accompaniment and bass runs. Every once and a while, we add a number where the 12-string seems to fit. For Danebodium, I try to keep my mandolin chops up and we do add new tunes all the time. I still spend a number of hours a week flat-picking and slowly add new tunes to that repertoire. It looks like the concertina and tenor banjo will continue to be 'occasional' instruments, but I do bring them to folk band dances and to our farmers market gigs with Rhubarbarian.
As long as I have a day job, I don't see any hours coming for learning another instrument, although, I do continue to have instrument lust:
- professional concertina - Morse from Button Box is probably what I'd get
- Irish button accordian (we go to as many John Williams/Dean Magraw concerts as we can).
- tenor guitar: there's a resophonic tenor that just sold at Elderly Music that looked sweet.
- a resophonic 6-string
- a round hole mandolin (would love a gibson f4, but at 6K, I'll probably settle for an Eastman replica).
- trombone ? - Musician's friend has one that looks playable for < 1K.
In less than a week, I turn 60 - if the stock market doesn't totally tank I should be able to retire in 4 or 5 years, so stay tuned.
When I was in second grade, we moved to the town of Le Center in southern Minnesota - my Dad was taking a job as social worker (but I'd hardly be aware of that). We lived there until I was in fifth grade and although I know I am viewing through rose-colored glasses it was a great place to be a kid. I remember one of my friends playing the Ukulele ( I ran into him a few times after we grew up - he was at St. Olaf when I was at Carleton - he was a rock musician, but haven't seen him for many years). When I started third grade, I started on piano, taking lessons from a Nun at the catholic school in town (remember, we were methodists). They had piano's to practice on, so I'd go there to practice after school. We did get a piano eventually and my playing suffered as I didn't really practice as much. After Le Center, we moved to Mankato and then Shakopee in 1958. (My Dad continued in Social Work - he was the Scott County Welfare Director in Shakopee - these days it would be called 'Human Services'). I continued taking piano lessons through eighth grade. Although I was never a consistent student, I did learn to read music (both bass and treble clefs) and I continued to play in high school. I was the accompanist for the girls chorus (one of my favorite pictures in the high school yearbook is me surrounded by a couple of dozen girls) as well as the 1st service organist for church. I don't remember much about lessons in Mankato, but my teacher in Shakopee was Eunice Schaeffer, who was also the secretary or the Draft Board (more on that some data on Cudgels of the Curmudgeon). I took formal piano lessons again at Carleton from William Nelson. He was also Lynn's teacher - she majored in music and gave a junior and senior recital. I got a lot better, but never 'performed' except in piano class. I learned some Bach, Brahms, Chopin and Debussy but rarely play now. (Lynn is getting the piano tuned soon, so maybe I'll go through a couple pieces.)
In Mankato, I started violin lessons, but there was no string program in Shakopee, so in 6th or 7th grade I started on trombone. My dad was a violinist in college (and played in a community orhestra later) and my mom played trombone in high school. I stayed with it and played in band all through high school, but never 'owned' an instrument or played in college. The year after I was graduated from College, Lynn and I taught High School in Montana. Lynn was the Band director and we started a student/faculty jazz band or something and I ended up playing a school trombone. I remember thinking I was a better player (at age 22) than in high school - partially because I had had more musical training. I haven't really played since, although I can still make a tolerable sound.
My first 'folk' instrument was harmonica - I started learning it when I was about 12 - I remember playing 'moon river' and playing at Boy Scout Campfires. I got semi-serious and picked up a chromatic harmonica: for a couple of church services learned and played some Bach duets: I played chromatic harmonica with my Dad on violin. Although I still own a set of harmonicas and even a chromatic, I don't play much any more.
When I was 15, I started playing guitar and this was probably the first instrument that I had a passion for. My first guitar was a Stella and I used to play until my fingers bled. I was mostly self-taught although at some point in high school I took a few lessons. My friend Dan took up the Banjo (Pete Seeger style) around the same time. This was in the early sixties and I we played at a hootenanny at the high school a few months after we learned how to play. A bit later, our friend Rick learned bass and we were a trio (ala Kingston trio sort of). High point of our career was playing at a super market parking lot and getting paid $90.
On family camping trips, I also discovered that playing guitar worked as a 'chick' magnet. Never really dated in high school, but the bit of 'success' I had came from playing guitar. For high school graduation, my parents gave me a Gibson J45, which was my first good guitar. (I still regret using it as a trade in for my current Martin D-28 - it would be sweet to have both guitars).
Since I have played guitar for almost 45 years, there is way too much detail for this post; however, here are some bullet points:
- started mostly finger-picking (with picks), but used a flat pick
- mostly folk style, but started playing classical pieces on steel string (performed Jesu Joy of Man's Desirine on steel string for my sisters wedding.
- bought 1969 Martin D-28 in 1970 - still my primary guitar - last of the Brazilians
- took classical lessons in the 1970s and had visions of getting a BFA - still own a Yamaha and Kohno classical guitar (rarely, but occasionally played.
- bought 1973 12 string Martin D-12-20 from the homestead a few years ago - had spend the summer of 1967 hearing Leo Kottke and Dave Ray at the scholar coffee house and 30-some years later finally gave in to 12 string lust. Have developed an old-timey technique for it and use it on a half-dozen songs.
- started competing in the flat-picking contests at the state fair in 2003
About 5 or 6 years ago at Danebod folk camp, I was playing mandolin in a rehearsal with about 5 clarinets and called out 'is there a tenor banjo in the house'; sure enough, Jill had one in her tent and I played it for the week for certain dances (usually polkas). The next time that Lynn was in LA visiting her mother, she surprised me with a tenor banjo that she had bought from the Claremont Folk Music Store and Museum (started by Ben Harper's grandparents and now owned by him). I originally played it tuned in 'viola' tuning, which is a 5th lower than the mandolin. However, I ended up playing it mostly with the Danebod and TC Urban Folk School Folk bands and found it easier to use it in Irish Tenor Banjo Tuning (an octave lower than a mandolin). This means that the fingering is the same and I don't have to think so hard ;-)
The most recent instrument I've learned is the concertina. The Twin City Urban Folk School has 'beginning band' and I found a 30 button Anglo concertina on line for $200 and started 'learning' that. For a few months I spent more time playing concertina that anything else. Currently; however, it is in the same category as the tenor banjo: I play it in the folk band, mostly for waltzes. At the Bluff Country Gathering there were a couple people with concertinas, so I may take it to Lanesboro next year. One fellow from South Dakota was really good, playing along on fast Missouri reels with some of the top fiddlers there. He was playing the same type as I was, although of much higher quality. Of course, a 'serious' instrument is at least $1500, and top ones go for 3K-6K.
Right now, my main focus is working with guitar and mandolin as part of the bob-i-lynn band. We have a number of guitar-guitar pieces where I play lead, but more and more with Lynn on fiddle and I focus on accompaniment and bass runs. Every once and a while, we add a number where the 12-string seems to fit. For Danebodium, I try to keep my mandolin chops up and we do add new tunes all the time. I still spend a number of hours a week flat-picking and slowly add new tunes to that repertoire. It looks like the concertina and tenor banjo will continue to be 'occasional' instruments, but I do bring them to folk band dances and to our farmers market gigs with Rhubarbarian.
As long as I have a day job, I don't see any hours coming for learning another instrument, although, I do continue to have instrument lust:
- professional concertina - Morse from Button Box is probably what I'd get
- Irish button accordian (we go to as many John Williams/Dean Magraw concerts as we can).
- tenor guitar: there's a resophonic tenor that just sold at Elderly Music that looked sweet.
- a resophonic 6-string
- a round hole mandolin (would love a gibson f4, but at 6K, I'll probably settle for an Eastman replica).
- trombone ? - Musician's friend has one that looks playable for < 1K.
In less than a week, I turn 60 - if the stock market doesn't totally tank I should be able to retire in 4 or 5 years, so stay tuned.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Varieties of Musical Experience (cont'd)
Although I have done a lot of playing and performing, I've also been a 'consumer' of music for as long as I can remember. When I was 4 or 5 I would spend hours on a rocking horse listening to records. My memories are vague but I know I would listen to some of the same songs over and over again. I'm don't recall any specific type of music that we had in the house growing up, but I know we watched the 'hit parade' and other musical shows on television.
I remember doing a lot of ice skating to popular songs of the 50's and eighth grade sock hops with simliar music (I think all the records were old). The pop stations at the time were KDWB and WDGY (AM of course); not sure that I had a favorite band or group, but I was up on top 40's stuff through grade school and junior high.
Although it was a 'pop song', The Battle of New Orleans made a big impression; I was in boy scouts when it came out (1959) and we had a parody or two we sang around the campfire (-- something about "the 'sqiutos kept a coming").
The movie West Side Story came out when I was first starting high school and we may have had a soundtrack album. When the folk boom hit (again when I was a freshman in high school or so), I bought and listened to Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, etc.
The Beatles hit when I was a junior in high school - I remember dancing to 'I want to hold your hand' and would up getting many of the albums (I still have these LPs). Didn't listen to much Dylan until college, but have a few of his LPs that I bought then.
In college I had a Stereo (just a turntable with Speakers) and a Motorola radio. I started out as math major and used to do math listening to music. Since computer programming is a lot like math, I still listen while I work.
I got a few Doc Watson and Tom Paxton records and learned some of their songs. Continued to listen to (and buy) Beatles and other LPs of that ilk. During at least one summer, I spent time listening to Leo Kottke and Dave Ray at the Scholar Coffee house and bought a few of their albums.
Out of college, Lynn and I taught high school in Montana for a year and moved back to Minnesota in 1970. By 1973/74 I was taking Music Classes and classical guitar lessons at the U of MN. Although I still did some jamming, my 'consumption' of folk music declined - I have a number of classical guitar LPs from that period: we also joined the Musical Heritage Society & have a number of Baroque and Renaissance Albums. (Lynn was in grad school in music and was playing the viola d' gamba). One of our first paying gigs as a wedding in Long Lake: of course we weren't playing fiddle and mandolin music - it was Viola da Gamba and Classical Guitar.
I was still listening to 'pop' music - Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, James Taylor and even a couple of Joni Mitchell albums. I was then a bartender and eventually manager of the Black Forest Inn and I made many tapes to serve as background music. Even bought a Benny Goodman album, but never did become much of a jazz fan.
Alex was born in 1978 and although I continued to listen and accumulate albums, I don't recall ever connecting with any '80s groups (Maybe Bruce Springsteen if he's considered 80's - bought a few albums by him). In the mid '80s I started playing 'folk' guitar and singing with our Church once-a-year folk-gospel-bluegrass band. This got me looking out for music to perform and I started to listen to 'modern' bluegrass singers like Alison Krauss and Tim O'Brien. By this time I had a CD player so most of my purchases were now CDs. Although I don't 'keep up' with popular music, I do own 10,000 maniac, Sara McLaughlin and Bonnie Raitt albums bought int the 90's and 2000's.
Lynn and I became active in the Minnesota Bluegrass and Oldtime Music Association in the early1990's and started going to MBOTMA festivals. I started buying a greater percentage of CD's at festivals. Although my initial focus was bluegrass, I started getting into 'old time' music through people like Bruce Molsky as well as Foghorn, Uncle Earl and other groups.
In the early 2001's I started to play guitar more and started learning new songs. I also repaired my old AR turntable (circa 1970) and in addition to listening to LPs I owned, started using EBay to get more. I was learning songs by Norman Blake and ended up getting all of his LPs (I own a number of CDs as well). In addition, I started to get LPs of 78 collections as well as some 70's and 80's bluegrass and oldtime string bands. Since I like Celtic music, many of the LPs are from bands like the Bothy and Battlefield bands.
Last year I got an 80gb ipod and I have transferred all of my CD's and some of the LPs to MP3s. Currently, I have almost 9000 tracks(haven't done the itune store download thing though, I like a hardcopy backup ;-). Although I listen to a little internet radio, my soundtrack at work or on walks is usually from this on random play. (I have over 480 hours of music, so if I listen 4 hours a day it should be 120 days before I get a repeat ). I also make playlists of songs to learn or to consider learning.
Many of the songs I know I've learned from current or revivalist musicians; lately I've been on a kick to track down original sources and/or learn music originally recorded on 78s. So I have CD sets from the Carter Family, Delmore Brothers and others as well as some CDs with 78 MP3s. (Lynn is glad that I have not gotten an actual 78 player and filled the house with old 78s).
I've transferred all of these to ITunes and the Ipod - during random play, I will often note a song that I like and move it to a 'to be considered' playlist.
I expect I'll keep listening...
I remember doing a lot of ice skating to popular songs of the 50's and eighth grade sock hops with simliar music (I think all the records were old). The pop stations at the time were KDWB and WDGY (AM of course); not sure that I had a favorite band or group, but I was up on top 40's stuff through grade school and junior high.
Although it was a 'pop song', The Battle of New Orleans made a big impression; I was in boy scouts when it came out (1959) and we had a parody or two we sang around the campfire (-- something about "the 'sqiutos kept a coming").
The movie West Side Story came out when I was first starting high school and we may have had a soundtrack album. When the folk boom hit (again when I was a freshman in high school or so), I bought and listened to Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, etc.
The Beatles hit when I was a junior in high school - I remember dancing to 'I want to hold your hand' and would up getting many of the albums (I still have these LPs). Didn't listen to much Dylan until college, but have a few of his LPs that I bought then.
In college I had a Stereo (just a turntable with Speakers) and a Motorola radio. I started out as math major and used to do math listening to music. Since computer programming is a lot like math, I still listen while I work.
I got a few Doc Watson and Tom Paxton records and learned some of their songs. Continued to listen to (and buy) Beatles and other LPs of that ilk. During at least one summer, I spent time listening to Leo Kottke and Dave Ray at the Scholar Coffee house and bought a few of their albums.
Out of college, Lynn and I taught high school in Montana for a year and moved back to Minnesota in 1970. By 1973/74 I was taking Music Classes and classical guitar lessons at the U of MN. Although I still did some jamming, my 'consumption' of folk music declined - I have a number of classical guitar LPs from that period: we also joined the Musical Heritage Society & have a number of Baroque and Renaissance Albums. (Lynn was in grad school in music and was playing the viola d' gamba). One of our first paying gigs as a wedding in Long Lake: of course we weren't playing fiddle and mandolin music - it was Viola da Gamba and Classical Guitar.
I was still listening to 'pop' music - Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, James Taylor and even a couple of Joni Mitchell albums. I was then a bartender and eventually manager of the Black Forest Inn and I made many tapes to serve as background music. Even bought a Benny Goodman album, but never did become much of a jazz fan.
Alex was born in 1978 and although I continued to listen and accumulate albums, I don't recall ever connecting with any '80s groups (Maybe Bruce Springsteen if he's considered 80's - bought a few albums by him). In the mid '80s I started playing 'folk' guitar and singing with our Church once-a-year folk-gospel-bluegrass band. This got me looking out for music to perform and I started to listen to 'modern' bluegrass singers like Alison Krauss and Tim O'Brien. By this time I had a CD player so most of my purchases were now CDs. Although I don't 'keep up' with popular music, I do own 10,000 maniac, Sara McLaughlin and Bonnie Raitt albums bought int the 90's and 2000's.
Lynn and I became active in the Minnesota Bluegrass and Oldtime Music Association in the early1990's and started going to MBOTMA festivals. I started buying a greater percentage of CD's at festivals. Although my initial focus was bluegrass, I started getting into 'old time' music through people like Bruce Molsky as well as Foghorn, Uncle Earl and other groups.
In the early 2001's I started to play guitar more and started learning new songs. I also repaired my old AR turntable (circa 1970) and in addition to listening to LPs I owned, started using EBay to get more. I was learning songs by Norman Blake and ended up getting all of his LPs (I own a number of CDs as well). In addition, I started to get LPs of 78 collections as well as some 70's and 80's bluegrass and oldtime string bands. Since I like Celtic music, many of the LPs are from bands like the Bothy and Battlefield bands.
Last year I got an 80gb ipod and I have transferred all of my CD's and some of the LPs to MP3s. Currently, I have almost 9000 tracks(haven't done the itune store download thing though, I like a hardcopy backup ;-). Although I listen to a little internet radio, my soundtrack at work or on walks is usually from this on random play. (I have over 480 hours of music, so if I listen 4 hours a day it should be 120 days before I get a repeat ). I also make playlists of songs to learn or to consider learning.
Many of the songs I know I've learned from current or revivalist musicians; lately I've been on a kick to track down original sources and/or learn music originally recorded on 78s. So I have CD sets from the Carter Family, Delmore Brothers and others as well as some CDs with 78 MP3s. (Lynn is glad that I have not gotten an actual 78 player and filled the house with old 78s).
I've transferred all of these to ITunes and the Ipod - during random play, I will often note a song that I like and move it to a 'to be considered' playlist.
I expect I'll keep listening...
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