My poor little brain
I started as a musician when I was 8. I played The Baritone Horn (looks like a small tuba) when I was so small that I had to set it on the chair between my knees and sit on a phone book to reach the mouthpiece. I still have the little dent in my right pinky-finger from the valve ring. I quickly advanced through the various bands - partly on talent and partly on a desperate lack of low brass players. In fact, I was in advanced concert band and had been playing for three years before my teachers finally realized I wasn't tounging properly - I was just doing it wrong so well that it took that long to notice.
At 9 I started to sing. At first I resisted, because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to remember the words. (This is especially ironic because I can STILL remember the words to songs we did that year). Again I advanced quickly, and had the amusing task of having to hand back my 4-yr choir medal at 8th grade graduation because *I* knew I had only been in three. Choir director thought that couldn't be right because NO ONE solos and makes it into Madrigals in their first year, right?
At 11 I took up the trombone -mostly so I could play in Jazz Band. I was never very good at it, although I still remember that I was too short to reach 7th position (B natural) so I would toss the slide out and catch it on my toes in the correct position and then kick it back to myself. Only worked sitting down, but it worked.
At 14 I took up music theory, which required you to play the piano. Again, never got good at the multi-finger things but I could sight-read a single melody line. In marching band, I played valve trombone - which fingered like a baritone horn but with much less mass.
Years went by - Serious orthodontic work meant that I gave up brass instruments at 15, so I concentrated on vocals. Solo and concert work through college, then at renfaires. I taught myself the penny whistle, so to this day I play "upside-down", with my right hand on top. I learned bodhran from a videotape and some hands-on work with a friend. I taught myself bowed psaltery. I played in seisuns and jam sessions and learned to improvise countermelodies. I've taught the fundamentals of voice, bodhran, or whistle to more people I can count, and have given away more than a dozen old instruments to people starting out as additions to my musical karma. My videotape on basic bodhran techniques was last seen somewhere in Oklahoma.
Along the way I lost something. The ability to sight-read.
I think it's because besides voice and bodhran, my next instrument is pennywhistle. Penny whistle always has the same fingerings within the octave, but generally if you want to play in a different key, you pick up a different whistle. For faire purposes, I pretty much get by with a stock Susato whistle in D and one in C. (I probably have 3 sets in various stages of wear scattered around the house).
But when it comes to sight-reading on the pennywhistle, I'm screwed, because on one page this particular fingering is a G while on the next page that very same fingering combination produces an F natural. My brain just won't switch gears that fast, and I completely muddle myself up. Given time and a recording of the melody, I can work out a good harmony part that fits both the key and the somewhat limited chromatic capabilities of the pennywhistle.
But we are playing a historic dance event this evening and I think I'm going to be drumming a lot. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, as a solid beat for dancers is really important when it comes to events like this. But inside I'm really embarrassed because I've had the music for a week now and can't manage to stuff most of it into my brain. After more than 30 years as a musician I find myself holding the whistle, and counting lines up the staff out loud and picking my fingers up one at a time like a 5th grader. It's rather humiliating.
As Sarah Wilfong once said, 'There is something to be said for musical monogamy".
At 9 I started to sing. At first I resisted, because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to remember the words. (This is especially ironic because I can STILL remember the words to songs we did that year). Again I advanced quickly, and had the amusing task of having to hand back my 4-yr choir medal at 8th grade graduation because *I* knew I had only been in three. Choir director thought that couldn't be right because NO ONE solos and makes it into Madrigals in their first year, right?
At 11 I took up the trombone -mostly so I could play in Jazz Band. I was never very good at it, although I still remember that I was too short to reach 7th position (B natural) so I would toss the slide out and catch it on my toes in the correct position and then kick it back to myself. Only worked sitting down, but it worked.
At 14 I took up music theory, which required you to play the piano. Again, never got good at the multi-finger things but I could sight-read a single melody line. In marching band, I played valve trombone - which fingered like a baritone horn but with much less mass.
Years went by - Serious orthodontic work meant that I gave up brass instruments at 15, so I concentrated on vocals. Solo and concert work through college, then at renfaires. I taught myself the penny whistle, so to this day I play "upside-down", with my right hand on top. I learned bodhran from a videotape and some hands-on work with a friend. I taught myself bowed psaltery. I played in seisuns and jam sessions and learned to improvise countermelodies. I've taught the fundamentals of voice, bodhran, or whistle to more people I can count, and have given away more than a dozen old instruments to people starting out as additions to my musical karma. My videotape on basic bodhran techniques was last seen somewhere in Oklahoma.
Along the way I lost something. The ability to sight-read.
I think it's because besides voice and bodhran, my next instrument is pennywhistle. Penny whistle always has the same fingerings within the octave, but generally if you want to play in a different key, you pick up a different whistle. For faire purposes, I pretty much get by with a stock Susato whistle in D and one in C. (I probably have 3 sets in various stages of wear scattered around the house).
But when it comes to sight-reading on the pennywhistle, I'm screwed, because on one page this particular fingering is a G while on the next page that very same fingering combination produces an F natural. My brain just won't switch gears that fast, and I completely muddle myself up. Given time and a recording of the melody, I can work out a good harmony part that fits both the key and the somewhat limited chromatic capabilities of the pennywhistle.
But we are playing a historic dance event this evening and I think I'm going to be drumming a lot. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, as a solid beat for dancers is really important when it comes to events like this. But inside I'm really embarrassed because I've had the music for a week now and can't manage to stuff most of it into my brain. After more than 30 years as a musician I find myself holding the whistle, and counting lines up the staff out loud and picking my fingers up one at a time like a 5th grader. It's rather humiliating.
As Sarah Wilfong once said, 'There is something to be said for musical monogamy".