The Well Aging Fiddler - Carpe Diem!

By Michael Kennedy: At this age (I’m 75 years old), you’ve got to keep moving forward. Carpe diem, eh? So, I’m going for what pulls me, for what keeps me getting up in the morning, for what has me grabbing my fiddle, my mandolin, my viola, my guitar, and my octave mandolin, and diving into the wide net of Americana, Scandinavian folk music, Irish music, and anything else that keeps the flames burning. But let me back up. Over the last six months I've tried some new things and some old things - and now I'm ready for my own things. Here’s what’s been happening. First, in December, I was invited to join the Portland Megaband. This is a group of 75+ volunteer musicians who rehearse 35 contra dance tunes for four months and then put on a huge show where people dance the night away. This group has been an active band/orchestra since the early 90’s, and the Megaband Dance is a highlight of the early spring. This is something I’d never done, so I enjoyed dealing with the newness of the experience, the challenge of learning 35 tunes in roughly 12 weeks and admiring the talents of the members of the band. It wasn’t all blissful fiddling. During those 12 weeks, I came down with Covid, I had to fly across the country to attend a funeral, and I caught a respiratory illness on the airplane. Subsequently, I missed at least a third of the rehearsals. I’m a person who directed plays for over 20 years and insisted on perfect attendance. So, when I missed four rehearsals, I felt compelled to quit the Megaband. I kicked myself off the show. To my surprise they just laughed it off, told me to keep on playing, and insisted I stick it out! And I did. The performance was amazing. We put the show on at Portland State University in a huge hall filled with hundreds of excited and energetic dancers. Frankly, I had no idea what contra dancing was, so it was wonderful to play music and watch them dance, and twirl, and step and smile. The whole thing went well past my bedtime and they even threw a party once the room cleared. But that’s just the warm up for the next part of this blog. Prior to the pandemic I’d attended weekly jams, but since then like most other people, I was weary of large groups of people. However, since the Megaband experience – 75 musicians and hundreds of dancers – I realized it was time to get back into attending Bluegrass jams. Also, with the spring months lengthening days, the nights have been growing shorter and driving in the evenings was less of a problem. Perhaps it’s an aging issue, but the older I’ve been, the less I enjoy driving a car. Night driving is particularly frightening with the darkness, blinding headlights, bicyclists, and people crossing streets. Dark winter nights are a challenge I’d rather avoid. So, with longer days, I hopped in the car and drove to a popular Bluegrass jam. I parked the car, walked to the venue, and to my surprise I couldn’t walk through the door. I saw the musicians setting up, making a circle with the chairs, tuning their instruments, and so forth, but I couldn’t go through the door. Instead, I took a walk around a few blocks to clear my head. What was going on? I've done this dozens of times. I knew the drill, I knew the tunes, I even knew what tunes each player would suggest. I got back to the venue, and still, I couldn’t walk in. Subsequently, I got back in the car and drove home. My wife was surprised. “What happened?” I shook my head. “I can’t do it. I can’t play ‘Soldiers Joy’ one more time. I’ll go nuts. Perhaps I’ll feel better next week.” A week later I drove to the venue, and once again, I couldn’t do it. Once again, I went back home. “I’ve been playing Bluegrass tunes since 2008. I don’t feel any challenge to any of this. I can’t do it anymore.” Then my wise wife said, “So, why don’t you form your own jam? Do what you want to do.” Bingo! The lightbulb over my head turned on. She was right, and that’s what I’ve done. I looked around Portland until I could find a venue willing to give me a chance to create a new jam. I found one. The White Eagle Saloon has given me two hours a week to host an Acoustic Americana Music Jam. The focus is to give acoustic musicians a platform that isn’t genre specific. While they are welcome to play Bluegrass tunes, they are also encouraged to play blues, country, folk, fiddle tunes, soul, R & B, contemporary tunes, novelty tunes, and so forth. The only restriction is the instrumentation must be non-electric, acoustic instruments. Beyond that, the sky's the limit. We’ve had four jams. How is it going? I’m having a great time. We have guitars, mandolins, a cistern, an octave mandolin, accordions, congas, bass, a melodica, a dobro, fiddles, and last Thursday someone asked if he could join our jam with his clarinet. Sounds good to me. Songs have ranged from traditional ballads to blues to Bluegrass to soul to pop (The Duke of Earl sounds great) and so on. Out of this we are creating a caldron where the focus is on imagination and connection. We have young people, older people, beginners, experienced players, and so on. Plus, every now and then the elements come together just right and within the semi-improvisatory nature of the music, a song touches that magic we all seek. It's all one time through and take no prisoners. You name it, we’ll play it! I know it’s not classical music, and I know most of the readers of this webpage are classical musicians. While I enjoy playing classical music, I know my heart seeks something else. I’ve been playing violin for 7 years, and at 75 years old, I have my doubts that I’ll ever get into the Curtis or Juilliard. Face it, that ship sailed over half a century ago. In three weeks, I’m going up to Port Townsend, Washington, to attend the annual Fiddle Tunes conference at Fort Warden. They appear to offer everything I’m looking for in music. So that’s that. I’ll let you know how it went. Oh, and P.S. I wrote another book. I’m editing it now. More later. You might also like:

• The Well Aging Fiddler or learning to play a violin at 68 years old. First Entry.
• The Well Aging Fiddler – Busking at Friday Rush Hour
• Starting on the Violin as an Adult Beginner: What to Expect

* * *

Enjoying Violinist.com? Click here to sign up for our free, bi-weekly email newsletter. And if you've already signed up, please invite your friends! Thank you.