Saturday A.M. Nest

I'm usually the first one up on Saturdays and I really love the quiet time. I've made a little nest in the couch corner where, cuddled under a red fleece throw I sip coffee or tea and listen to the music of the birds and house waking up. I also listen to the local station on a small battery powered radio while letting my thoughts run where they will.  Today I was thinking about music and those who have talent enough to create it. I admire people who can use either their voice, or an inanimate object to make pleasant sounds. I tried to make music when I was a kid, not very successfully I'm afraid. In our house you were expected to be in school chorus and church choir, and play a brass instrument. I learned French horn. I even took private lessons. Alas! The music gene did not manifest itself in me! My mother played the piano and had a pleasant soprano singing voice.My three brothers all had and still have good singing voices and all play or played brass instruments well. Two of them hold degrees in music and the other married a music teacher. My husband also sings, has played brass and currently plays bagpipes. My older daughter learned piano, violin, and flute, and still plays on occasion. When I was a freshman in high school I broke my front teeth trying to learn the trumpet for marching band. I then switched to percussion. Let me just say that this girl's got no rhythm. Poor Mr. Taylor, the assistant music teacher was tasked with giving me cymbal lessons. Yes, cymbal lessons. I clearly recall his red face as we sat in a small practice room with him shouting out "one, two, crash, crash, crash, two, crash crash!" cueing me waving his arm in time to the beat. I tried, but somehow I was never quite in time. Poor Mr. Taylor! I wonder if he remembers? I guess that like my father, I play the radio quite well, and that is all. I look at it this way, if everyone is making music, who is there to listen and applaud? I clap quite well; just as long as it doesn't have to be in time to the music. So that's where my mind went this morning. I hope you have a place to snuggle into and allow your mind to roam.

Here's a picture of my radio & my nest.

Summer Music

The sound track of my summer is different from the soundtrack of my work year, which is September to June.  During the work year I listen to one certain station on the radio in the morning that I can count on to keep me on track with time updates, and I’ve listened to it for so long that I really know what time it is instinctively by what song they are playing or whether they are doing a traffic update, an interview, or whatever programming is on.  Sometimes in the afternoon or evening I’ll listen to a CD or a music station on the TV.  But July and August are times that I listen to different radio stations and go to live performances.

               In the summer we go to fairs, festivals, and free outdoor concerts.  My favorite thing to do at a fair or festival is check out the musical performances.  This year I have three favorites, and they are eclectic choices.

               In June we went to a Scottish festival and the second we approached the field I was captivated by a lone piper surrounded by 5 drummers, it was Albannach, a Scottish band.  The massed bands is always powerful, so many pipe bands all playing the same song marching toward you in a block is an awesome thing, but the performance by Albannach  just fascinated me.  They are primal, and wild, and different than any other band I’d ever seen.  Needless to say I have one of their CD’s and occasionally check them out on Youtube.

               Every year we go to the local 4-H fair, and my favorite thing to do is hang out in the coffee house tent.  If I’m lucky we go on the day that Scott Hallock is performing.  We first saw him a few years ago, and something about his acoustic guitar and bluegrass style speaks to me. Primarily I’m a soft rock/pop music fan.  The first time we saw this performer at the fair he was singing a song he wrote about his grandfather.   Whether he’s covering a song like “Ode to Billy Jo” or singing an original song I look forward to seeing him every year.  He can also be seen on Youtube.

                Most recently, on our last night of vacation in Alexandria Bay, NY, we attended a free concert in the town park.  We didn’t know what to expect of the “Country Stompers”, but we picked up some sandwiches for dinner and headed off to the park.  It turns out that the band is local, has “groupies” who follow them from performance to performance, and are all over 70!  They were fantastic, playing covers of classic country western music from the Merle Haggard, Sr. era.  The groupies were dancing, and they even had a segment where the band called a square dance.  We were treated to watching the groupies square dancing, and all through the concert the audience, (my hubby and I included!) got up to dance.   A sing-along portion included “Roll Out the Barrel”, and they ended with “God Bless America” and all the groupies (mostly women of the same age as the band, I suspect) stood, holding hands with their arms raised as we all sang along.   Sadly, the “Country Stompers” are not on Youtube.  I think that may have been my favorite performance of the summer.

               In a couple weeks I’ll be back to the same old radio station and soft rock/pop, but in my head I can listen to any of these live performances any time I want.