I played silver flute from grade school through college, standard classical repetoire...played with a pianist for accompaniment and we played dinner houses and cafes for tips and meals...met a banjo picker at that time and was introduced to Celtic and other fiddle tunes..what fun I had playing gigs with him at the local coffeehouse...that was the birth of my love for traditional folk music. I learned recorder, and soon was playing the whole recorder "family". I taught myself the guitar, and played each year in my childrens' classrooms, teaching the kids songs, movement, and recorders until my daughter went into 5th grade and it became very "un-cool" to have Mom come into class every week to sing with your friends. But when she had the opportunity to start an instrument, she also chose flute - the best duet partner I've ever had!

Several years ago, I met a man, Tony, who moved up the coast from California and he introduced me to sea chanteys. What a kick! This is when I was first given the opportunity to sing for an audience. It is still uncomfortable for me even now to sing in front of people, as I was an instrumentalist for XX years before starting to sing. This is one reason I have really appreciated Mudcat HearMe. But I really dig singing, and am grateful for that shift musically in my life. We soon were performing at different festivals.

Soon after that, I met a bunch of local folks who play Celtic music. Viva Friends and Family - Kith and Kin. 6 months ago, I started playing hammered dulcimer.

I have a list of tunes I want to learn on hammered dulcimer. Besides learning hammered dulcimer, I'd like to learn guitar better. I'm all self-taught on it, so I'm not very strong.

Rose