Holstein, Your experience sums up mine to some degree, being in Tasmania, a seriously remote location, it is not all that easy to find folks to play tunes with, so many things have to click, ability and interest levels, styles, personalities, etc.. Opportunities come and go there, kinda down, up, or is it up, down, or down down..ha. Thing is ..its so important to be able to do regular like. I saw the masterclass offering at the National Folk Festival for 2008 and decided to go..come hell or high water. I have not looked back. My lessons are so helpful and I am grateful to be able to find out so many things I would not otherwise know via this group. I have made a lot of progress and have a ways to go..too.
I find most of my trouble comes down to some kind of laziness that is born out of a sense of never being able to 'get there' with my technique, etc. some kind of not helpful head talk that says..you can't do that, don't even try. That is the big lesson I am still learning, to believe anyway, to decide its not all that hard but it does require some or a lot of rehearsals and tries, lots of time and dedication, and I find every time, I can do it, but it takes a lot of work on my part. I do get frustrated because in mandolin I am a slow learner and not used to that, other things come much easier for me that this!! My hard work has paid off. I keep being challenged beyond what I think I can do and sometimes even what I think I want to do, but a student must believe the teacher knows best and have that level of respect or else why bother. And in my experience the Tater does know best... And yes, doing a solo performance with a mandolin and making it so good, so entertaining, that is really something!! Packed house every time too!! I hope for another masterclass experience someday..here in Australia... I play old time music once a week in a small group, we are having fun, are all at about the same level except one who is a bit better than the rest of us. We are doing kinda easy tunes but playing them over and over and experimenting, watching each other more, listening more, etc. I love double stops,,,,tremelos......cool inversions and slides....like Monroe used. linda On Oct 2, 1:37 pm, Trey Young <[email protected]> wrote: > I fairly regularly play a Thursday night gig (not tonight) at a bar where we > play til almost 2 am and then get up to go to work at 6 am. I always tell > myself that it's nonsense and not worth it, but here I sit tonight having not > gone to play and quite literally feel a discomfort from not being able to > get out and play. This is my routine escape from the turmoil of the week... > > ________________________________ > From: The Holstein Kid <[email protected]> > To: Taterbugmando <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, October 1, 2009 11:27:54 PM > Subject: Passionate mandolin > > Howdy friends. Something Mike said in a recent post really hit home > and got me thinking about Passion. His comments... > > "Finding something that touches the soul and inspires, provides an > escape from the turmoil of the day is about as good as it gets. I > remember what I felt like when I bought Monroe's records. I used to > get the dry heaves before I could get the needle on the platter." > > That to me expresses so much and I believe that's the reason we're all > here in this forum. Sometimes you can get strange looks when you start > talking about mandolins / bluegrass and all in a different setting, > and a lot of people just don't get it. Getting the "dry heaves" is > exactly how I feel when hearing certain cd's and can't wait to figure > out what's happening. This passion stirs up the emotions and always > leaves me with the feeling of not having enough time to play, listen > and live it. When I found out MC was coming to Australia in March last > year, I was beside myself and just had to find a way to get to the > workshop and concert. After the concert I was so taken aback that I > just couldn't go and say g'day! Did he just play a whole show on his > own with just a mandolin?? Wow, that's what I'm talking about. When I > found out about the online lessons I was like an over enthusiastic > cartoon character so eager for his reply, I think I wrote several > times before he replied saying "Easy boss, I'm not going anywhere". > > For those of us in a remote location or at least in another city / > country, these encounters mean a lot. > > Aside from expressing what a joy it is to be in this group and sharing > among everyone here the same feelings, I'd love to hear to what extent > we've all gone to in our quest to feed our infatuation with this > music. I know I drove the 10 hours to Brisbane to catch the mando > workshop, then drove home again the next day whilst listening to > Monroe all the way, what a trip! Every minute was enjoyable and I > couldn't wait to start my new journey. > > That said, bring it on! > > Holstein --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
