The Ashokan Farewell

[Zen]

It sounds so lonely.

Since fourth grade when kids got their band instruments I've wanted to play the flute. I told that to a friend and he gave me one. Unfortunately my story does not have such a happy ending as mudmucker's.

The flute is complicated!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Mudmucker,
Fiddlers have traditionally learned to play merely by ear, by listening long and hard and working the tunes out by themselves. Traditonally, fiddlers did not ever take "lessons". So you are learning exactly the way fiddlers have learned for many generations. Good job!

[oxysback]

It sounds so lonely.

Yes it does. Here's a bit of background from the composer...

Ashokan is the name of a fiddle camp in the Catskills.

"I was feeling a great sense of loss and longing for the music, the dancing and the community of people that had developed at Ashokan that summer. The transition from living at a secluded woodland camp with a small group of people who needed little excuse to celebrate the joy of living, back to life as usual, with traffic, newscasts, telephones and impersonal relationships, had been difficult. By the time the tune took form, I was in tears. I kept it to myself for months, unable to fully understand the emotions that welled up whenever I played it. I had no idea that this simple tune could effect others in the same way."

http://www.jayandmolly.com/ashokanfaq.shtml

Funny story...last year when my daugher was in 8th grade they had an 'instrument exchange' program where you buddy up with another student and trade instruments for 2 weeks. A fun concert came at the end, and hopefully the students had a new appreciation for instruments other than their own. Well, Jess had buddied up with her friend, Justin, who played trumpet (I think he had a secret crush on her, being that he was willing to play a 'girlie instrument'...hehe). We were taking him home one day after he was at our house for a 'lesson'...and I use that term very loosely...and he all of a sudden asked, "Who would EVER choose to play flute? It's SO HARD!"

I guess it's all relative. I can't get any sound out of anything brass. Tickles my lips!!