Re: Help! Drowned out by fiddles!
An issue that shouldn't be overlooked here is hearing difficulties. Many of us, including a number at Mandolin Cafe, experience hearing loss as we get older. Hearing loss is a common problem with musicians, though I think it would be less so for those in small acoustic string bands. One friend blames my hearing loss, which is worse in my left ear, on playing fiddle, though he's not a highly paid expert. I have poor hearing in the high range. If I'm talking to a small child on the phone, all is say is, "Well, well," "Is that right?" and such. If you can't hear clearly what you used to, it's worth getting your hearing checked. Hearing aids are highly sophisticated and easy to use these days, though not perfect. (By the way, I heard B.B. King say that he was deaf in his lower range, which makes me think that if it were deaf in his higher range, we'd be hearing hundred of blues guitarists soloing on the low strings.)
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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