Instruments:

Chet: For our honeymoon my husband and I went to Europe and started out at a festival of instrument makers at St. Chartier. There were lots of Hurdy Gurdy, Bombarde, and button accordion makers there. You'd have loved it. With the amount of money you could have spent, you could easily have spend your ticket home money. It was a terrific music festival besides. Music, concerts and dancing all night. It was great! I left a button accordion behind by accident that I'd picked up cheap in a flea market in Germany.

Jon: Don't let lack of expertise on any one instrument prevent you from getting another. I have attained mediocrity on many of my instruments. I am an expert-amateur on the recorder, medium-expert on the bowed psaltery (within my repertoire) and intermediate on the Hammer dulcimer and button accordion. I've always known I'll never be a great player, but I sure do enjoy learning and fooling around. I've been a member of what we call around here Closet Musician's Jam. We sit on the outer edges of the jam circle and hold our ears close to our instruments to see if we can play a note or two while the speed demons on the inside are whaling away. When we get together, we play all those "old standards" (that are sure to be played at least once at every jam) at 33rpm whereas the expert jammers will zip along at 78rpm. I HAVE found a way to play at those zippy jams, though: I play the first note of every measure. (or every 4th or 5th measure). Or I play the root note of the chord. By training, I play by reading the music, but I've trained my ear to hear too. But singing is SO much EASIER!!

Sharon: The Akron was a store in the 60's with items from around the world: paisely Indian dresses, incense holders, and often real and tourist instruments. They went out of business and Circuit City came into their stores. Cost Plus is the same sort of store, only larger. I believe they used to only have a store in SF on the warf but now I think they are a West Coast chain. They have furniture, food, and international goods. Their instruments, when they have any, are pretty pricey because the store has caught on with the eclectic tastes of the upscale baby boomers. Email me at bc031@lafn.org about the possibility of buying my Chinese Hammer dulcimer. I've seen someone playing the Yang Chin while reading music!! What a feat, to play without looking.

play away!
judy