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Permalink Reply by sweetpotater on September 30, 2008 at 1:21pm

I'm just picking up the ukulele and recorder again after years away. I played the bass (not very well) in a punk band when I was in college and took a decade of piano lessons as a kid, but haven't had access to a piano for more than 25 years so my skillz are pretty rusty there. And I've been goofing around with a little toy accordion, trying to learn "Happy Birthday" in time for a party next weekend.

I would love to learn the trumpet sometime. All that beautiful silver and engraving, and only three buttons – I think I could handle that! My current ukulele is missing a string, and my friends laugh but I tell them it's definitely easier to play with only three.

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Permalink Reply by Misty on September 30, 2008 at 1:38pm

That's cute! The trumpet is not hard if you can blow raspberries!

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Permalink Reply by tmana on September 30, 2008 at 3:18pm

We learned soprano recorder in third grade... I've not played in a while but should be able to pick it right back up. I have a D fife somewhere, but it's not well-tuned and the cork has dried out after so many years (and they don't sell them at the US-colonial-era historical sites any more!). I had violin lessons in grade school, but then string program was discontinued before I got to the point of vibrato. I can figure the notes on a piano but I can barely span an octave, so it's a challenge to even to use it to compose. I picked up some guitar in college, but informally, and I've not played in probably 20 years or so...

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Permalink Reply by Misty on October 1, 2008 at 5:29am

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=398

I used to have one and it was gorgeous. I ended up selling it. I'm just not great with woodwinds!

By the way they are just about 20 minutes from me.

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Permalink Reply by Playthebanjo on September 30, 2008 at 6:41pm

I play Banjo , guitar, ukulele, dulcimer, concertina & Autoharp.

: )

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Permalink Reply by Misty on October 1, 2008 at 5:30am

Concertina?! That is so cool! I love the banjo too. Do you have any recordings?

And which dulcumer? Because of your other instruments I'm assuming plucked. Hammered dulcimer is one of my favorite instruments though!

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on September 30, 2008 at 7:41pm

I'm a music teacher and I approve this thread!

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Permalink Reply by Misty on October 1, 2008 at 5:31am

Haha! I have seen you talking about singing before so I assume you are a vocal teacher? I have a decent voice and was in choirs and chorales throughout school and up through college, but don't get much opportunity now. I do sing in church but it's a Unitarian church so our hymns are non-standard to say the least. :)

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Permalink Reply by tmana on October 1, 2008 at 6:56am

Doesn't it really suck that there is so little opportunity to just sing socially any more? It's all about pre-recorded music and professional musicians... I did sing throughout public school (sang All-County my senior year), but I made the mistake of getting roped into a madrigal group freshman year at college (it pretty much killed my upper register because the alto parts were written so low!), and then didn't have time to continue that AND be on the fencing team... Haven't had the opportunity to do any serious singing since :(

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on October 1, 2008 at 8:00pm

You might look into a civic chorus. I know you're in NJ. There's one based in Red Bank I found (thank you, google). Civic choruses or community choruses and local university choirs are often the best bets for those who aren't involved with church or religious based choirs. I joined an alumni choir at my university for a couple of years after I graduated from undergrad and still lived in the area.

Also, you might see if there's a chapter of Sweet Adelines in your area. You could go sing Women's Barbershop! They'd LOVE a girl that can sing women's b-shop bass lines.

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on October 1, 2008 at 8:19pm

Yes, I'm a private voice instructor by day and freelance singer on the weekends.

I did the whole choir girl thing all the way through high school and was a voice performance major in college. I don't play any instruments though. I sit at a piano all day and use it for a lot of what I do (scales and warm-ups, vocal lines, and plenty of music theory), but I couldn't play my kids' accompaniments if I tried!

I sing a little of everything. My best genres are certainly musical theater, classical, and sacred. But I also sing jazz, pop, opera, and country. In the past, I've been known to do stranger things - like barbershop.

I have always been fascinated by the idea of Unitarian church music! I'd love to hear more about it some time. I am not religious personally, but I find regular work for area Catholic churches as a soloist, cantor, choir director, and/or section leader - all paid positions. I sing for weddings and funerals at least one weekend a month (with my insulin pump on vibrate!).

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Permalink Reply by Misty on October 2, 2008 at 5:35am

Here is a link with info about the Unitarian hymnal: http://www.americanunitarian.org/hymns.htm

It appears that some of the links on that page are dead.

I think this is the hymnal we use: http://www.amazon.com/Hymns-Celebration-Life-Unitarian-Universalist...

I will tell you it's kind of bizarre and a lot of the hymns are not to my taste. But at least I get to sing!

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