The Ashokan Farewell

[mudmucker]

I'm so 'chained' to the music that some styles are difficult to play, especially if they require any sort of ad lib.

Gee, you're also playing in front of an audience. With that comes some level of expectation on how a piece might be played, how the audience expects to receive it.

It is really all about the feeling, isn't it?.

Boy is it. Although I can read a little music I'm not good with the timing or intonation. So my "ad lib" is exactly that. It is my own interpretation and it's in a vacuum if I haven't heard the music at all. I learned a song from a music sheet, and months later I heard it on a radio program and it was very laughably different. At that point I discovered something. It didn't matter, it was ok to sound different because yes, it is all about the feeling. At that point, I felt free and liberated from any rules, which transcended me to even another level.

Which leads me to your choir kids when you tell them it's about the feeling. This is all about a form of expression. You really are offering them a wonderful form of encouragement. And, a permission at a young age that it's not always about perfect. That can come later if they wish. As for your own children, you are a mom with music and that's cool. I envy music families; your kids will have another dimensional facet to their beings.

[Tuckervill]

I lovely rendition! Thanks for sharing it.

Mudmucker, your story is so similar to mine with how I became interested in ukulele. I was 40, as well, and taught myself. But I wanted to be able to play and sing with my Campfire kids (which I don't do anymore). Now we have a whole wall of stringed instruments and both of my adult sons play something (my middle son is a guitar prodigy of some kind, I swear, and he plays everything from uke to hammer dulcimer now, and composes songs with the most clever lyrics. We're in the process of trying to talk him into at least getting some coffee house gigs. He's reluctant.)

There are many many songs I want to be able to play with my uke, but I'm just not talented enough. After 3 years of intense playing and learning, I moved on to other things, like cycling. That's pretty much how my learning cycle works. I loved your story.

Karen