Tomorrow is the beginning of an adventure. It’s the day I sign in for an intensive, three-day residential folk-music retreat called the Americana Song Academy.
I’m doing this because to my great despair, I seem to have fallen out of love with playing music. There was a time when I played every day. These days, rarely do I pick up an instrument. I badly miss it, but somehow, it’s just not calling my name.
But now I’ll have no choice but to play, thanks to this program up in the mountains near Suttle Lake, just outside of Sisters, Oregon. It consists of early-morning to late-night classes, lessons, jams, performances, and more. Laura thinks that this is just what I need, that the experience will help me snap out of these doldrums and find some musical joy. I hope she's right.
And if the ASA isn’t enough, Friday through Sunday, we attend the Sisters Folk Festival, the nonprofit that sponsors and organizes the Americana Song Academy.
I told my old pal Mike last night of my frustration with this musical silence. It seems like my instruments sit here in their stands, untouched, silently mocking me. I told him that I feel as though I’ve fallen out of love with something wonderful. I badly want to fall back in love with it.
Mike used to be my musical co-conspirator. We’ve played together, off and on, since college. But since Laura and I fled California three years ago, I haven’t found a like-minded person to pick and sing with. Maybe someone will turn up in this coming week of music, this trial by fire.
I’ve decided to take a couple of meaningful instruments – an open-back custom Bacon-style banjo left to me by my dear old pal Hal Wright, who would be impatient with me if he knew I’ve not been playing, and a Martin guitar that I’ve owned and played for 57 years.
Songs? I’ve picked out about a half-dozen of favorites that I’ve loved for at least 50 years, old folk tunes with legs. Also, these are tunes I know how to play, even if I don’t always remember all the lyrics – my memory seems not to be what it used to be. I’m not sure I’ll need songs, but I suspect that at some point, every participant will be called upon, or at least offered the opportunity, to present a song or two. I’m trying to be ready.
So we shall see. This music has been of huge importance to me. I’ve missed it. I’m hoping that these twinned experiences help to rekindle my musical fires.
-JFT
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