Blog Comments

  1. Cary Fagan's Avatar
    Fine thoughts, beautifully expressed
  2. Kevin Winn's Avatar
    Thank you, Jeff. Always good to be reminded of what playing music can bring to life. And to hold it lightly...
  3. Sue Rieter's Avatar
    That's beautiful, Jeff.

    I lost my wonderful Mom to dementia not many years ago. Her love for music was the last to fade.

    And catmandu2, I couldn't agree with you more:

    ...Art is of eminent value, sacred, for it is the domain of understanding
  4. 2Points's Avatar
    Thank you Jeff.
    You've nailed it for me, and, I suspect, many others.
    Playing music has become very important to me these last few years, pulled me through some troubled times and brought me a lot of joy and new friendships. It is true that if you want to get into a flow state, trying to learn or play music is a great way to get there. Playing with others develops a type of synchronicity that is unique and rare; in order to play music you must be present with each other.
    Thank you. You are profound and write well.
  5. catmandu2's Avatar
    Hey Jeff, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I believe you are right in that many (more) people are currently facing existential issues that, probably, are mostly avoided throughout a privileged life; there's nothing like a "near death experience" to shock the mind out from its doldrums and into a state of reflection, self-assessment, and appreciation. Jung said that this shift in perception is what's most essential. I tend to concur.

    This is why Art is of eminent value, sacred, for it is the domain of understanding. Music, as you point out, is especially potent - as it can be all of those things you mention. We live in a culture of visual bias, but music is perhaps the most elegant and closest analog - to our temporal, beautiful, tragic existence. Keep playing/searching. cat
    Updated Nov-18-2020 at 4:56pm by catmandu2
  6. JeffD's Avatar
    I know. All stake holders have to be "on board".

    Observation - I have never seen a headstone in a grave yard that reported on how neatly the deceased folded his underwear, or his superlative garden maintenance.

    Just sayin...
  7. Gelsenbury's Avatar
    Great writing and an important message! Thank you for sharing.
  8. Edster's Avatar
    Very Profound Jeff, I can see myself in there. Love it man. Thanks bud
  9. jpugh's Avatar
    Well said and beautifully written Sir (Jeff) enjoyable discussion, im quite sure this site is among the best on the inter-web machine, makes me glad that the music-gods made me suck at banjo so much that I stuck w guitar/mando ��,
    Great discussion all. Also, the Pats just won yet another Super Bowl (is that 12 now?��)
    Off to actually practice mando now-
    Cheers-
    jp
  10. JeffD's Avatar
    I saw Morgan Freeman in something the other day, and I thought of my story and you are right.
  11. lflngpicker's Avatar
    Hey Jeff! This is something I get. You talk, er, uh, write about things that I think about a great deal myself. There is something to be said for the "find" and then there is the employment of the instrument in seeking enjoyment. And fulfillment. We must seek above the name on the headstock and the value, as you have said, the playing itself for the joy it brings ourselves and possibly others. I think that the guitar bought at a great price, say two days' wages, and in turn played well, is a higher call than the expensive guitar charged on the card and held as it suffocates in the case. I love the well-played, hard earned Pac-Rim built Epiphone over the USA made Gibson for a bluesman who has something to sing and play about. I appreciate your point. Great writing, man!
  12. JeffD's Avatar
    The most wonderful New Mandolin Day ever, with what has to be no detectable bragging or self satisfaction and the most amount of naked joy, has to be Mr. Rod Neep.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDt-YKYrziY

    Here is a master class in enjoying the moment and letting the mandolin make you happy. I don't feel like I want that mandolin, as much as I want to be that overwhelmed with joy.
  13. JeffD's Avatar
    I am sure I suffer a bit unnecessarily from an over active jealous reaction. Probably some deep seated insecurity that would send a therapist's children to college.
  14. Jim Garber's Avatar
    Well, that is all well and good. I agree the whole point is that we acquire these to play. Does this include merely posting on MC when one acquires a new mandolin? I seem to recall a few of those postings that you have made. Granted I never heard you brag about getting the bargain of the decade but why deny anyone the joy of New Mandolin Day? I think these forums we frequent would be a lot emptier if we eliminated those posts. In fact why show up here at all except for advice on what to buy or how to play?

    It is not an either/or IMHO, more like some of each. And I actually don't really recall many posts here at all of someone bragging about the bargain they got.

    But I do agree about your comment about potatoes and mandolins. Always!
  15. William Smith's Avatar
    Great Post!
  16. Bill McCall's Avatar
    Yes, it is a choice. Choose carefully grasshopper.

    thanks
  17. Gelsenbury's Avatar
    I think you're onto something there. I wish I had the courage - or family support - to make those decisions.
  18. JeffD's Avatar
    Add Jacob Reuven to that list!
  19. DavidKOS's Avatar
    Wonderfully put!
  20. JeffD's Avatar
    Yes, I batteries for the tuners. Forgot to list them.
  21. Dan Krhla's Avatar
    I'd add extra batteries for gear that needs.
  22. seg's Avatar
  23. John Soper's Avatar
    Music is therapy for many of us. Communal music enriches all who participate as performers and audience.
  24. Tavy's Avatar
    Very well put, you just can't beat music to break down barriers and bring people together.
  25. Russ Donahue's Avatar
    Well put, Jeff. Thank you for reminding us of the power music has.
  26. Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
    Well spoken.
  27. Mark Gunter's Avatar
    Yep, important stuff. Thanks for the thoughts.
  28. Werner Jaekel's Avatar
    http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/en...on-great-tunes

    Simply a wonderful piece of thought and writing. So true. Sometimes I get so lost in a tone I forget to play.....drifting off

    Genre does not matter. One finds them in all traditions and cultures worldwide in all ages. Sometimes how a piece of music moves us from cultures so different from ours. I travel alot.

    I also Like melodies from the 20ties, or 39ties, got some fakebooks. I also find them in bluegrass, celtic, swing, classical....

    "A tune tells us a story. The better the story and the better its telling, the better the tune. Great tunes tell unforgettable, timeless stories, that delight us anew with each hearing."

    "In a great tune, we respond upon first hearing as if we have always known it."


    M.Marmot -
    Now days he said that he much is much humbler with respect for the tunes saying that he now realises the power and beauty such music must have to endure as long as it has and that now his approach is to strip back the superfluous in an effort to allow the tunes essential beauty to emerge.

    Jim Nollman -
    In our band we have a running argument about speed. Some tunes I just can't stand playing fast because the melodies can't breath corectly.
  29. JeffD's Avatar
    Home made music!
  30. FatBear's Avatar
    Some of us are independent, Do-It-Yourself types and some are not. The world needs all of us. As my wife always says: where would the musician be without an audience?
  31. JeffD's Avatar
    Well getting the number of quarters was trial and error.

    My "field recording" cassette recorder, for capturing tunes at jam sessions, had a switch to change the speed, and a slider to get the pitch back up to normal. Real innovation.
  32. Bill Cameron's Avatar
    Hey, remember record players--the good ones--with multi-speed turntables that would play 78, 45, 33 and for some reason 16 rpm? Now who the hell ever saw 16 rpm records...(I think it was supposed to be for talking books or stuff like that)--but it just occurred to me that you could have played 33rpm records at 16 and, bein almost half speed, they would be playing fast tunes slowly and almost exactly in the same key an octave lower--at least close enough to tune to. Anyone ever try that?

    I just thought of that because I used to learn by recording tunes onto a double-speed tascam cassette 4-track, then playing them on a regular speed deck. Your mastery of tuning with quarters is impressive though.
  33. Mark Gunter's Avatar
    Cool story, thanks for reminiscing publicly to share with us. Your dad did good.
  34. JeffD's Avatar
    I play music that strikes fire and tears from our hearts.
  35. Mark Gunter's Avatar
    The music of life.
  36. Randolph's Avatar
    Depending on the affective tone of the question, which might range from snooty-snide to genuine wonder, the reply might range from "mandolin music" to "love songs." The reply, of course, harmonizing with the tone of the question.
  37. JH Murray's Avatar
    I play old songs that talk about having hope.They are like old friends who get you through the rough times.
  38. Mark Gunter's Avatar
    That's a thoughtful and thought-provoking exposition, Jeff, and resonates with me on a deep personal level - as I'm sure it does with many of us. A great deal of the fun is in playing with others, and a great deal of my own reasoning for wanting to play well and improvise on any tune known or unknown is to be able to fit in and contribute, playing well with others.
  39. mandolindude04's Avatar
    This is the best description here on why I "pick those old guitars and drive them old trucks". I've always been partial to cowboy tunes, and bluegrass. It's kind of funny though how that happened. My Dad is from Germany, and I was born in Munich, my Mother is from Oklahoma. My Dad's mother was a classically trained pianist, and according to my Dad, they would often play folk music with his brothers and his mother on the piano. Most of the tunes were classical in nature, and I grew up listening a lot to classical records as a child at home. But when my Mom and Dad were gone, I listened to the country music radio stations. This evening I'm going to hear the Bill Hearne trio at Swallow Hill music here in Denver. Looking forward to that. To me music is kind of like what I read once about the people who build houses for Habitat for Humanity. The people who are on a build sometimes have all kinds of different religious views, political views, etc. But there isn't a Roman Catholic way to swing a hammer, or a Lutheran way to use a paint roller, or a Baptist way to tamp down the dirt for a concrete pathway.
  40. bradlaird's Avatar
    Bill:
    Well, in terms of sonic bliss, you are correct sir.
  41. Bill Snyder's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by bradlaird
    JeffD:

    You hit on something very powerful. And powerful things can be frightening. I don't disagree with your discovery that making "musical sounds" can transport us away from the mundane grind and idle chatter. I would only like to suggest that there are more things, as I am sure you know, which can do the same thing.

    I, for one, spent the weekend just past with 250 Cub Scouts on a camp out and, without a mandolin, the same thing happened. So, it may hinge more on doing something else rather than doing something else with a mandolin.

    Trust me. 250 Cub Scouts is also a cure. Heck, 5 or 6 would do the trick. My point is simply that the mandolin is just one slice of the world and sometimes doing without is healthy.
    Brad, I am sure that for a few spending a weekend with 250 scouts would be anything BUT the "tonic" Jeff describes.
  42. Trav'linmando's Avatar
    Beautiful statement. Jeff, I Enjoy your posts for just this type of stuff. You are a cerebral guy. Thanks. Larry
  43. mmukav's Avatar
    Sorry, almost missed this post 'cause I was playing my mandolin....
  44. bradlaird's Avatar
    JeffD:

    You hit on something very powerful. And powerful things can be frightening. I don't disagree with your discovery that making "musical sounds" can transport us away from the mundane grind and idle chatter. I would only like to suggest that there are more things, as I am sure you know, which can do the same thing.

    I, for one, spent the weekend just past with 250 Cub Scouts on a camp out and, without a mandolin, the same thing happened. So, it may hinge more on doing something else rather than doing something else with a mandolin.

    Trust me. 250 Cub Scouts is also a cure. Heck, 5 or 6 would do the trick. My point is simply that the mandolin is just one slice of the world and sometimes doing without is healthy.
  45. Bertram Henze's Avatar
    Quickly enough the world’s context reasserted itself and after just a day or two, I am as prejudiced and irritated as I ever was.
    I know what you mean. But repeated and regular doses of The Tonic have more of a longterm effect, and those short vacations the human soul takes from the intellect gradually open up into a permanent retirement.
  46. JAK's Avatar
    Music THERAPY!
  47. Ryk Loske's Avatar
    Great post .... thank you!

    Go to your room Ted.

    Ryk
  48. wildpikr's Avatar
    Agreed, Jeff! People ask me why I still play; I tell them it's my therapy...for all the reasons you mentioned and then some...
  49. JRG's Avatar
    What goose said x 2
  50. Ted Eschliman's Avatar
    (Warning: Music Theory Humor...) Sometimes I feel like a Tonic in a Dominant obsessed world.
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