Balancing Instrument Making and Instrument Playing
Jul 31st, 2009 by Doug Berch
I find instrument making and playing to be intimately linked together. I enjoy doing both equally. Sometimes I lean more one way than the other for a while but the focus always swings back and forth and more or less balances itself out.
I also find myself focused on different instruments as well and the same principal applies; sooner or later they all receive my focused attention.
Lately I have been spending a lot of time in the shop making some dulcimers to show at a few festivals.
Sometimes someone will find a dulcimer that is exactly what they want, other times they get an idea of what I have to offer and order something more specific to their personal preferences.
I also play and/or teach at these festivals and that gives me inspiration to keep my musical skills well honed.
And then there’s the rest of my life that occasionally deserves some attention……
Random Posts From The Archives:
What’s going on with the turtle these days?
The turtle came back a few times and we moved him or her away. After several turtle moving episoded it hasn’t been back since, and though I miss it I feel it is best that it doesn’t live in our driveway….could be messy and that would have broken my heart.
I know that feeling. I accidentally killed a toad last year as I was weed-whacking. And it broke my heart. I kept saying, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” and covered it up with grass and leaves to shade it. (Nutty on my part, maybe, but there it is.)
That’s exactly what I wanted to avoid! I don;t think you are nutty though, just sweet!