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close encounter of the musical kind
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close encounter of the musical kind |
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Subject: close encounter of the musical kind From: GUEST,crazy little woman Date: 25 Jun 06 - 10:37 PM There was an article in the paper where a spokesperson for the travel industry said that many working Americans don't use all their vacation days, and I said to my beloved, "And you're one of them! Let's schedule some small trips. I want to go back to Indian Cave State Park." So just took a trip to this park, which is 3000 acres of beautiful woods and fields in SE Nebraska. Birds we saw: a bald eagle, a heron, pheasant, vulture, wild turkey, Baltimore orioles, bluebirds, indigo bunting, gold finches, prothonotary (sp) warblers, cedar waxwing, orchard oriole, flicker, red-winged blackbird red-headed woodpeckers. And we weren't really birding very hard. Heard but didn't see: wood thrush, veery, chuck-will's-widow. To the established category of LBJ's (little brown jobs) I wish to add WHS's. Wouldn't Hold Still's. The only drawback was the group in the camp next to ours. Talk about loud! Fortunately, they didn't play canned music, but everything they communicated, they seemed to communicate at the tops of their voices. We soon knew the names of all the kids. We knew that they had 26 bottles of drinking water along. We knew that one mother (whom we dubbed "The Manager") was a neatness freak. And though we wished they would tone it down, it wasn't worth the effort to break camp. We were gone a lot, anyway. One morning at 9:30 I decided that everybody was safely up and doing, so I got out my wooden flute, propped up my book of Irish airs,* and practiced a bit. I played for about 20 minutes and decided I was pretty bad. I packed it up, and we got in the car to go birding some more. What do you know, a woman and her son came up to our car door, and she said, "We want to thank you for playing the flute. It was beautiful. We don't get to hear music like that." Later, when I was walking down the camp road, the three boys (ages about 12-14) made my acquaintance and told me again that they liked the flute playing. How many years has it been, I wonder, since a boy that age but not in my family actually spoke to me? I was surprised and touched. I wonder what would have happened if I had been any good? Might have started a revolution! Well, if you have ever crossed the plains and listened to the radio, you know that many people have the choice of rock, kuntry, or religious programming. That's it; take your pick. If you don't like it, the hell with you. But all across the country there are people whose hearts are aching for melody. ----------- Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland, by Tomas O'Canainn. You can get it through Amazon. |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: Azizi Date: 25 Jun 06 - 10:53 PM Great story. Thanks for alerting us to it. |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: Leadfingers Date: 26 Jun 06 - 11:03 AM As someone who regularly gets out doing Missionary Work for 'Good' music , I know exactly how you feel ! Its especially nice when you are asked Where THAT music can be heard !! |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: Tootler Date: 26 Jun 06 - 12:55 PM Crazy Little Woman, You are probably better than you think. Keep playing! |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: GUEST,crazy little woman Date: 26 Jun 06 - 01:24 PM Thanks for the encouraging words. During my next practice session, it occurred to me that I should try playing while keeping the back of my mouth open (raised soft palate) as if yawning or cooling off a mouthful of hot food. We shall see how this develops. What I need to do is play more often, I'm sure. |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: Kaleea Date: 26 Jun 06 - 01:56 PM I often take an instrument with me when I go to various places. Because I play several instruments which the average person has not seen or heard, people often stop, listen, and ask questions, and thank me for playing & talking to them. [is that a harpsichord? it's an autoharp. is that a sitar? this is a mountain dulcimer.] You don't have to be a retired music teacher to do this, either! Crazy Little Woman & Leadfingers have set a good example for us. Most of we 'Catters could take the Gospel of the Mudcat to the masses, whether it's tooting our Flute while camping, sitting at the beach with a Uke, or taking a Guitar to the park for some pickin' & grinnin'. |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: Azizi Date: 26 Jun 06 - 03:11 PM After seeing the information about the book underneath your post, I thought that experience was from that book... But reading the other comments on this thread, I understand that you were sharing your own experience. Sometimes it takes me a while to 'get' things. So let me again say Great story! and Great experience! Thanks for sharing it. |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: greg stephens Date: 26 Jun 06 - 05:29 PM I was in a house in Cork which doubles as a recording studio a while back, and Tomas was recording the tunes for the cassette accompanying the book. It was wonderful to read your account of how far those tunes had travelled, and what a nice time they caused when they got there. |
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Subject: RE: close encounter of the musical kind From: GUEST,crazy little woman Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:18 AM Thanks, Greg, that's interesting to hear. Kaleea, I couldn't agree more. One of my favorite tunes is in that book, "The Month of January." When I played it for my friend the harpist, she said, "It makes chills run down my spine." And I didn't even have to ask her how she meant it. |
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