A Long Time Playing

     During these February days, it is hard to come up with something to blog about.  This morning I searched through a packet of things my mother had collected and came across an old article from the hometown newspaper printed in 1964.  It was from the “Teen Section” and told about the “Folk Club” I had formed with some friends and fellow folk music fans, when I was in high school.   That is me on the left, holding a banjo.

    During that time, there was, what has now been called the “Folk Revival” that was popular with a segment of the young generation, particularly university students.  Even though I was in high school, I caught the folk bug, watching “Hootenanny,” a weekly TV show that was on Saturday Nights.  The show featured folk music concerts filmed at universities, featuring a wide spectrum of folk singing groups and individuals.

    The music really connected with me and inspired me to order a banjo from the Sears catalogue.  I didn’t know a lot about banjos, but I loved the sound, energy, and fast finger picking of the instrument.  When I got it and taught myself some chords, I continued to watch banjo players when they appeared on the show, and to my dismay, I realized that I had bought a four string banjo, not a five string banjo, which was the type used for finger picking.  Five string banjos have the fifth string attached halfway up the neck.

    Luckily, in the back of a folk music magazine, I saw an ad for a five string banjo neck, so I ordered it, removed the neck from my banjo and installed it, making my instrument a five string banjo.

    Our folk club met on weekends to play and sing.  We even performed a few times.  The article about us mentioned some of the songs that we sung, a few I still remember, a couple I have no memory of, and one, “Stewball,” a popular Peter, Paul, and Mary tune, I still play at our Tuesday Night Jam.

    Seeing the old newspaper article made me realize just how long I have been playing music.  While I started with the banjo, I soon jumped over to the guitar, which was more versatile.  My acoustic guitar, eventually led to an electric guitar when I played in a Rock and Roll band.   Later, I bought and taught myself to play the mandolin.

    These days in our Jam. I play the acoustic guitar and mandolin.  I also continue to love to sing.  Mostly I love to sing harmonies, but in our jam I usually have to sing the lead.

    Music has always played a important part of my life, and I am fortunate that now in my dotage and having lost a finger, I am still able to participate in it.  All week long I look forward to Tuesday Nights , because that is when our Jam gathers to play music.  Tonight, which is Tuesday, one of songs I will pick to do, is going to be “Stewball.”   When we play it, I am going to think about those years of long ago, when my old friends and I played the same song in high school.

    

   

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca