And Then I Was In An Orchestra

We were up first.

Me with my guitar.

Setting up.

Once I started studying the Law of Attraction I realized it was imperative for me to get music back into my life.  So I started putting that energy out into the universe. Now that I have a car, I have a lot more options. So I decided to pursue the free orchestra at the Apple Valley Library. I started last Saturday and today I got to join them in a concert at Spice of Life in Victorville, CA. I played my guitar.

But that is just the beginning of it. For the past few months I've been taking many musical paths. I just ordered harmonicas and picked those up at the store today.

I also took my mandolin to last week's orchestra practice.

And my boyfriend got me a digital tuner that covers ukelele, violin, mandolin, guitar, and chromatic. It is so much easier than tuning an instrument by ear when everyone else is trying to tune theirs at the same time.

And I got two books on making stringed instruments. I'm having a blast. I'm only going to play in fun situations so it won't trigger my performance anxiety.

The most important thing for me is that being in this group is teaching me how to combine a whole bunch of instruments into something that sounds like music. I could never figure out how all the parts went together. The director is very good at answering questions like that. His orchestra is for people from 3 to 104. I do take my own instruments (because if you don't, how are you going to practice when you go home)? But he has some loaner instruments.  If you are in Apple Valley or nearby and have Saturday afternoons free, I recommend joining.

Guitar Pratice Another 20 min.

Today I got to play guitar for my grandson who came for a surprise visit.  He seemed to like it. Then again he's only 8 months old. So I think that gets me to the 1 hour mark. Only 999 hours to go.

Guitar Day 2

Today I managed to play for 25 minutes before my fingers were screaming at me. I found a book of children's songs on my bookshelf so I can learn some songs to play to my grand-kids. I worked on making my fingers stronger for barre chords. I practiced scales. I'm annoyed that I can't read a music book anymore without glasses. That's inconvenient. But all the more reason to memorize the song.

Guitar Practice

My new goal is to practice my guitar for 1000 hours. So I just did maybe 15 minutes until my finger pads got too sore to play. I need to find a widget that keeps track of my goal.

I found the widget, which you can see to the right. My 15 minutes barely shows up on it! 1000 hours equals 60,000 minutes. I also made a treasure page to inspire me which is here. These are the singers and musicians that I would be if I could be. Somehow I thought I'd have lives like theirs. But somewhere along the way I either ran out of talent or motivation or moral support. But I'm no quitter, so here I go again.

Guitar Tuner

My electronic tuner has some issues but this handy website helped me tune my guitar in no time: http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/onlinetuner.html

I promised myself I'd practice guitar today and it was way out of tune. I also had to prune my finger nails so I could push down the strings. And once again all my calluses are gone from infrequent playing. It's always like starting from scratch for me in spite of my best intentions.

At some of the archery gatherings people sit around and play guitar. And I want to join them, I really do, but up to now I've never been good enough. But I'm too stubborn to quit.

Musical Instruments I Have Played

I was pondering the different musical instruments that have come and gone throughout my life. When I was a eight, my parents got us an upright piano so I got to take a few lessons on that. And I remember a neighbor letting us try out her organ.

My father had a trumpet he would play once in a while. I was going to play it in the high school band, but my sister decided she was older so she should get to play it, and my mother said neither of us could. Later on my younger sister did play it in a band of some kind.

In high school I took guitar, choir and snare drum. Come to think of it I was in choir in grammar school, Jr. high and high school.

In college I kept on with the guitar. And somewhere along the way I started playing dumbek. I also have a clarinet I toyed with, a fife, numerous recorders, rattles and so on.

And then about 1999 I bought a mandolin on Ebay. Sad to say I'm not really very good at any of them. I could be a one woman band. Oh and I forgot the didgeridoos we made.

Live music

I went to hear my friend John Joseph play at It's A Grind last night. He plays at 3 of them (the ones that pay). I wish he played at the one closer to my house but they don't pay anything. John said he can't believe how much places will play for a DJ, yet they won't support live music. So true, so true. I don't get it either. People want to hear cover songs so they can sing along I guess.

First Post Learning Music & how it's been a part of my life

I am a challenged musician. To quote Walt Ribeiro 'learning music is like a giant mountain and you have to chip away at it a bit at a time'. I am an inconsistent musician. My practices are few & far between & I get frustrated a lot.

I first took piano lessons when I was eight. I still have that piano today. In first grade I was in my first choir. I was in choirs up through high school, at which point I got mad about a public school singing religious songs in their choir & I dropped out. But by then I was taking guitar lessons in high school too, and then in college.

I was never a music major, deciding to focus on dance instead of music. The two are so interrelated that it seems silly to label them as separate. Oh, and I also took a snare class in high school. So I have had a fair bit of music theory. But even so, I've never felt like an accomplished musician. But lately I've decided to give music another try, and I've started this blog to talk about it.