Lately in the evenings Travalon and I have been sitting on
our screened-in porch, and he reads while I mess around on my various
instruments. Yesterday I got really ambitious and played almost all of them,
even Bubba Sue the mountain dulcimer. The evening before Travalon played along
on his bass as I played the chords for “I Walk the Line” on the ukulele, since
it was in the key of A so he just had to play the open strings A, D, and E at
the appropriate times. My goal is to learn one song on each instrument so it
won’t feel like a complete waste to own so many, although right now I can’t
really do much with the rebec because it takes special gut strings, and the E
string broke, so I have to find out where to get a replacement. Of course the
instruments I can play the most songs on are still the violin and the mandolin.
A coworker told me the other day that he knew someone who sold one of those old
bowl-backed mandolins like mine for $1200. I have no idea if I could get $1200
for mine, and anyway, if I add up all the gig money I have made playing her,
over the years it probably came out to more than $1200 (that would only be $75
per year, which is like three average gigs), so I have come out ahead by
playing Mandy in public rather than selling her. Not that I would sell her anyway
– she is a family heirloom, and one of my very dearest possessions. I love all
my instruments, but if I had a favorite, she would probably be it. She is such
a joy to play.
I probably won’t be blogging for the next few days, since my
aunt and uncle from Colorado are coming to visit, as well as Ma and Pa Hat, so
Travalon and I will be very busy entertaining them. We are going to explore the
Madtown craft beer scene.
Famous Hat
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