Ukulele Costume Party or Quebecois Jam?

 

Today I worked on campus, and in the afternoon Hardingfele and I took a walk. Here are some more photos of fall foliage on campus.

We also saw this crazy vehicle:

When I sent Tiffy a photo of the most spectacular maples on campus, she sent me a photo of the maple outside of her condo.

And Jilly Moose sent me photos of a ghost she made. She didn't say how or why she made it.

Tonight there was a ukulele strum where you were supposed to wear a Halloween costume, and there was a prize for the best one. It started at six, so I would have had to think of a costume before work, wear it to work, and maybe sneak out of work early to get there. This morning I was too exhausted to think of a costume, and Travalon said he'd rather go to the Quebecois jam at the liberal brewery. In the afternoon Famie my Irish teacher texted the red-headed flute player and me to ask if we were going to the Quebecois jam, so that pretty much decided it for me right there. I don't really know anyone at the ukulele strums, and they have not shown much interest in me the times I have gone, since they all know each other from their weekly strums during the middle of the workday. So would they know or care if I didn't come? No.

Travalon and I went to the liberal brewery, and Famie, a student of hers who often comes to Alt Brew Irish sessions, and the red-headed flute player were sitting at a table, all without instruments. I had brought my fiddle, and we all talked while Travalon and I had pizza and the others said they thought the brewery didn't have food. The others kept encouraging me to join the session, so finally I did. Boy, if I thought playing by ear at top speed was difficult, it's twice as hard to sightread at top speed! And it doesn't help that the dots on the page don't totally match what the others, who know the tunes in a slightly different variation, are playing. In fact, during one tune they switched to another one after a couple of reps, and I didn't have the music to look at for the second tune, but I actually found it easier to learn it without the music. Maybe I just am a creature who learns better by ear than by sight-reading. Plus the written music has misleading things like in one tune where the A part clearly had the key signature of A major, but the B part had the key signature of D major because it was actually A Mixolydian and there just weren't any G naturals to worry about in the A part. That might have mattered more if I were playing chords on the mandolin and thought I should be playing D major chords instead of A major and then G major, although I'd hear that was wrong. For some reason the fact that I can do all these things seemed to blow the others' mind. I am far from the greatest musician who ever lived, or was even playing at this jam, but I do have a combination of knowledge and instinct about music that seems to freak people out a bit. Maybe I should have been more serious in my younger days about becoming a better musician - who knows how far I could have gone?

Famous Hat