Monday, January 21, 2008

Part 3: Let the music play!

I had a few necessary tasks to do on this work holiday. The worst was to "make some space" in our outhouse, which we use as a composting toilet. The trouble in the winter is, every deposit freezes solid and takes up a lot more space than if it had just composted and evaporated down like it does in summer. So I hand picked (with a bag over my gloved hand) two 5 gallon buckets of stuff and carried them to the compost bin. Nuff said.

After I washed dishes and completely reorganized my kitchen shelves, it was time to jam. When I went to my banjo lesson on Saturday I bought Tony Trischka's Banjo Song Book, because it looked like it had a wide variety of stuff to learn. I didn't look at the copyright date 1977 when I bought it, but when I saw a photo of a very young Bela Fleck, still in his teenage years, described very prophetically as "the crest of the wave of the future (of banjo)", I realized this was a dated, but timeless book. I have learned perhaps more from it than I have learned music, on any instrument, from any other source. I have realized that I want to play melodic banjo, not straight Scruggs or clawhammer. I have even learned the differences between these styles! I am ordering a copy of Trischka's "Melodic Banjo" book tonight.

Tonight's meal was a delectable bean soup, made with the bone from our New Year's ham. The kids even asked for seconds.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Deb, and you were somewhat...aprehensive about three days at home. Sounds like you had a fun, relaxing time. Good for you!
Cindy

Anonymous said...

Howsabout another audio/video clip? We've been good all winter!

Anonymous said...

Bean soup...yummmmmm.......

robin andrea said...

You make me want to hear some melodic banjo music. Any recommendations?

Anonymous said...

Bean soup sounds yummy! Sounds like you are having a great time with your banjo!

Deb said...

Cindy- It was pretty relaxing, although there were moments...

Pablo- I'll have to make an appointment with my cinematographer, and work something up.

Denise- It was yummy, and amazingly it had very little in the way of "side effects". ;)

Robin Andrea- Bill Keith is the one credited with "inventing" the style, but I'll admit I haven't heard any of his stuff. Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck (of course...there is nothing this guy cannot do on banjo!) and Alison Brown come to mind; they've all done some cool fusion stuff.

Momadness- It is a good comfort food. And, it is so fun to discover a new (to me) kind of music to practice. It really helps, in all areas of life, to have musical goals to focus on.

MojoMan said...

Maybe it's me, but discussion of by-hand outhouse cleaning and yummy bean soup in the same post just seems wrong!

That said, I follow your descriptions of your lifestyle with considerable amazement and awe.

Deb said...

Mojoman- I was wondering if anyone would dare "touch" the outhouse description.

Sometimes I wonder about myself.