I got a little distracted…
Okay, it’s true that I’m not done with all the points I wanted to make on stories and storytelling and the creative impulse. But I got all distracted, see. By this.
That’s my new mountain dulcimer. You won’t believe me if I say this didn’t come out of nowhere, because it more or less did.
I took piano lessons when I was little and decided I was not musical, because it didn’t come easily to me. For a lot of reasons, failure was one of the things I was most scared of, so I spent most of my youth avoiding things that were difficult.
As an adult, I started learning how ridiculous that was, and little by little I’ve tried to become one of those people who, if she did not exactly embrace challenge, would still not run screaming from it. I took guitar lessons for several years and I am very fond of the guitar, but it doesn’t feel friendly. I worked and worked and worked, and I gained a good set of skills, but the guitar is still not a place where I feel like I can go to express myself, or just let myself have fun.
In the past few days I’ve had mountain dulcimers on the mind, because a friend of mine got one for Christmas and posted a little video she made not a month later. We emailed back and forth a bit and I started reading up, pricing, thinking, sleeping on it.
But only a few days. Because I decided the thing I had to do, that I did not do with my guitar, was put hands on the instrument before I bought it. On Saturday I walked into the Appalachian Bluegrass Shoppe secure in the knowledge that I would not buy a dulcimer, and 40 minutes later I walked out with a dulcimer in a gig bag.
It’s “used,” in the sense of “previously owned,” but it doesn’t seem like it was played much. It’s made of cherry wood and I think it’s just beautiful. It was hand carved by a local craftsman. A real selling point was the head piece which is carved in the shape of a frog.
The shop owner said, “I think it’s spent more time on someone’s mantelpiece than being played.” I can see why someone would display such a lovely thing, but that’s not my aim. I’m already playing a few things, but importantly, I’m having fun with it. I’m letting myself experiment, try, and fail. Tuning it is a challenge: hand-carved means hand-carved fitted tuning pegs, which are the devil to hold steady and tighten without the note going flat. The neck is narrower than some of the other ones I played meaning some fretting tends to slop over the edge. But it’s so much fun, and so immediately rewarding: the kind tones sound pretty even when you’re not sure what you’re doing.
Maybe I acted too quickly, but I don’t think that matters. I think the fun in trying, even the fun in failing, is what matters. And that cute little frog, he matters too.
January 30, 2011
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Jen · 
5 Comments
Tags: music · Posted in: Uncategorized
5 Responses
That: is entirely awesome.
BTW, I know you already travel in folk music circles up Baltimore way, but you might also consider adding House of Musical Traditions (here in Takoma Park) to your FB friendslist. They often post announcing concerts and new recordings.
Happy bonding with your new musical friend!
Amber, it was a toss-up as to whether I’d go to House of Musical Traditions or Appalachian Bluegrass, actually. But Kim called and the latter had lower-priced options. In fact that turned out to be because of this used one! Anyway, you make a good point, I need to add both of them to FB. I just don’t tend to think of FB because I still don’t really like using it a lot. =)
I love the froggie! If anything it will be pretty to have around and I admire you for learning a new instrument.
The frog was a big, big selling point!
I love having it around. I took it to my brother and sister-in-law’s yesterday because tuning it was taking me a long time and I didn’t want to leave it un-tuned. Then I just sat with it in my lap most of the day, sometimes playing it, sometimes not.
It is beautiful!
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