Thought Provoking Music Books

     A couple of weeks ago I was leaving the library after our Writing Group.  I was called over by the librarian, who then asked me if I would take two boxes of music books and try to find new homes for them.  She helped me cart the boxes of books out to my car.  

    The books had belonged to a local resident who had recently past away.  A couple of days later I emptied the 32 books onto the living room floor and began making an inventory of them.  There were books for fiddle, banjo, and guitar as well as three ring binders full of hand written lyrics and chords of songs, and photocopies of songs, mostly for banjo.  I made a list of titles of the books, and emailed them out to our jam members to see if they wanted any.  They reduced the number of books by about half.  The remaining books I will list on Pete’s List, our local Robson Valley internet bulletin board, to see if other residents want any of them.

    I was acquainted with Brian, the man who once owned the books, and was surprised, because I wasn’t aware that he played music.  I guess he must have played music on his own; he had never come to our jam, even thought a lot of the music he had, were songs that we play.  That isolated playing of music seemed sad to me, because I have always found playing music with others is so much fun and a real learning experience.

    This collection of books cost Brian a lot of money.  That got me thinking about how things had changed.   Once if you wanted help figuring out how to learn an instrument or learn how to play a song, you bought a book.  Some of these books included CD’s or DVD’s to help.   However, today with the internet, it is a lot easier just to find the lyrics and chords for free online.   There are also lots of free videos that show you how to play an instrument or a song.  Music books have become obsolete.

    The other big thought that struck me while dealing with the books, dealt with death.  I thought about all of the music books I have, and when I die, someone will have to deal with them, the same way I am dealing with the books Brian owned.

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