Posts
Well, if nothing else, I am consistent. I hardly ever write on this blog. I even forgot about it. But, now, as you can see, I am back, so catch me while you can because I May disappear into the cloud at any moment. Before I disappear I should let my faithful readers know what I’ve been up to. Not much. Anne and I are very vaccinated and boostered. Neither of us have had any signs of the Covid virus, or even the flu. Let’s hope things stay this way.
This is a blog about music so I will write something about music. When the pandemic was in full swing I did take some Zoom fiddle lessons from my coach, Haley, but the tendinitis in my right shoulder made it uncomfortable to practice, so I stopped the lessons. I liked taking lessons from Haley. She is a good teacher and a fun person. She is also working on her doctorate at Eastman. I also got a new hammered dulcimer made by Russell Cook at Masterworks. With no lessons, though, it is a bit more of a challenge to play things. Our friend, Jan Klapetzky has partially solved that problem by suggesting that we do a Christmas jam on December 19th, which we will do. I am practicing away on a bunch of Christmas songs.
I am also following Fiddlehed on YouTube. He has some good pointers and I can follow at my own pace so that if my shoulder bothers me I can just stop. As part of practice it is suggested that I try some of the exercises on another instrument. I am using the mandolin for that and I think it is a good idea. The lessons start with a sort of tab in which D0 represents open D string, D1 represents E and so on. I am finding it easier using this method than reading the music notation. I really want to learn to play by ear, but I may need a few more lifetimes to get there.
