Music

Music

Seven or eight years of formal music lessons as a child (not that I had any talent) gave me an interest and passable understanding of the various forms of noise we call music. I played clarinet in grammar school and high school (though its been so long I shudder to think of the consequences if I picked it up today); am an advanced beginner on the guitar (my prized possession is a 1971 Martin D-35 dreadnought with ebony finger board, 3-piece Brazilian rosewood back, and inlaid mother-of-pearl); can find my way around the finger-holes of a recorder; own a Scottish chanter (the single pipe you have to master before they'll sell you a set of bagpipes - lethal in the wrong hands), a handful of Irish tin whistles, and an American phyffe (as in phyffe and drum); and can easily get my hands on an Appalachian dulcimer, a flute, a Bodhrán, and a piano.

The one musical instrument that I have totally mastered is the CD player in my stereo. My wife and I have a love for almost all forms of music, particularly certain less-well-known folk singers (ever heard of Bill Staines, or James Taylor's kid brother Livingston?). We're struggling with opera and rap, though the former was enhanced after we saw the movie Philadelphia. We've also collected a few European folk music CDs in our travels around Germany, the Czech Republic, and the British and Greek Isles.

SOUND BITE OF THE FLYING FINGERS (.WAV File - 93k bytes)

SOUND BITE OF SOME FAVORITE MUSIC (.WAV File - 170k bytes)