Uncollected thoughts about recent playing.
Two Sundays ago I said goodbye to a dear friend M: the soprano section leader at my choir. We never really said too many words to each other, but it's through the weekly act of singing and breathing together that we forged our relationship. I remember hearing her voice both before and after my hearing loss, and I will remember her ringing voice always.
To mark her farewell, our choir hosted a potluck lunch and I took my fiddle along. I wanted to play for her farewell and to wish her good luck. It was the only thing I really wanted to do. We never talked so talking wasn't really our thing. I can't sing at her level, so duets or a serenade is out of the question. The only thing I could and really needed to do was to show her a side of me that she hadn't seen before, as a farewell.
I planned to play two pieces. A tune from our slow jam at Ashokan (don't remember the name), and a Cape Breton tune as played by Howie MacDonald. She was moving east to Nova Scotia so it seemed fitting.
I picked up my fiddle, tuned it a bit, and started with the D major steps of the American slow jam tune. I made a few mistakes, but could get it back to a slow pace. People seemed to like it and M liked it too. Moving onto the Cape Breton tune I made the mistake of playing too fast. I had wanted to try to speed it up, but the lilting feeling of the song disappeared.
I was joined by two other friends with guitars, and they really pulled me back to a solid rhythm. I was going helter skelter - really playing way too fast. And I moved well beyond the two pieces I was planning to do.
It sounded pretty wild, but I could already tell - playing too fast is really fun! Fun for the audience as well.
All in all it went pretty well - I did my part and we didn't cry too much, which is all I really wanted - to say farewell in ways other than words.
I hope she's doing well - it's only week 2 and I'm sure there'll be tons of happiness and joy in her life.
I'm feeling the pull of the East myself as well. After I went to Natalie MacMaster's concert last year, I started looking for houses on the eastern shore, on the far east tip of Sydney, Sydney Mines, North Sydney. The house prices are pretty great and I think that's where my heart will guide me.
Not sure how it'll work out, but it'll be grand.