Too old for folk when this is over

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 15 Aug 20 - 07:47 AM

yes sarah , good.for example if you get something that is sudenly dificult for me it has lately been playing arpeggios on the EC, FIND TUNES THAT MAKE YOU PRACTISE THEM, HEATHER BREEZE OR ATHOLL HIGHLANDERS i was playing atholl in a and b flat no problem but suddenly had problems in g, so 10 minutes every day on the problem.
i have a friend in the uk and we sing to each other for an hour every day, great practice and good friendship

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 15 Aug 20 - 07:41 AM

The current situation has put a sudden end to ceilidhs and our harmony singing band but hopefully it will return - the bookings cancelled earlier in the year rebooked for the autumn and now rescheduled for after Easter next year. Pure joy to play with others at a real live outdoor gig 3 weeks ago.

However in the meantime - I have a choice of Zoom clubs most days of the week and it motivates me to find and learn new songs. Voice is improving through solo singing. Lockdown project was starting to learn the anglo concertina - really enjoying that. Excercise - I dusted off the treadmill that was used as a clothes hanger and donning a pair of 3D goggles have trekked daily around the world curtosy of YouTube VR mode and have enjoyed the tranquility of a musical gondola ride in venice to punching zombies in some virtual landscape.

Oh and now my other education work finally looks to be picking up again after only a handful of jobs since March

You are never too old for music. My dad was still playing his fiddle and guitar in his 90s....and for real inspiration there is the wonderful John White who sings at the Sharps lockdown sessions on Tuesdays without the words in front of him even and he is over 100!!!
Think positive and there is a way for you too.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 15 Aug 20 - 07:03 AM

THE MUSIC DOES CHOOSE YOU.I keep playing at the moment to try and maintain a standrd of skill , its about taking a pride in your craft.Ifeel i am fighting against body deteriration, but keeping doing it for as long as i can helps me mentally as well as physically.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: leeneia
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 03:47 PM

You can hear the country dance theme on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6K2oEYm1fY

beginning at 17:39.

Our country dancers are meeting in a park and doing dances that don't involve holding hands. Maybe you could compose dances like that.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: leeneia
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 03:33 PM

Mo,have you ever choreographed a country dance? I have written down two themes from TV that would make good country dances. One is the theme for the Red Green show (easy to hear on YouTube) and the other is from the BBC archeology show "Time Team."

The Time Team tune is not the theme song, it's a faux country dance tune they sometimes play in the background when excavating a 17th-century site. The original has only one section, so I composed a B part. The Red Green Theme is 24 measures long, and the other one is 32, in two clearly different 16-bar sections.

I think it would be fun to have modern English country dancers dancing to a tune which the TV people never dreamed anybody would dance to. If you are interested, PM me with your e-mail address, and I will send you a JPG, which you can print. If you need abc, maybe a Catter will help produce it.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 02:59 PM

pointless, it keeps you fit, so you can dance better, alternatively the advice of N Tebbitt, to get on your bike, will get you fit , alternatively if you are familiar with princess anne, she might give you some exercise , if you like being a horse, but i quite understand if that does not appeal.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mo the caller
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 02:23 PM

Can't get my head round the mouth-organ at all, or anything with different notes on the pull and push. I do have descant & treble recorder sat next to me, and a spare descant next to the microwave, to noodle on while I wait for the tea to warm up.
Sorry. but an exercise bike seems even more pointless than zoom dancing (and doesn't fit my buy-nothing philosophy)

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Willie-O
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 01:52 PM

Hi everyone, been a long time. Which is probably why

There isn’t a gig I play that hasn’t been knocked down and stomped out, same as everyone else. The last few years I have spent 6 months of the year in Cape Breton,playing some pub gigs, lots of great sessions, and really got a handle on busking for cruise ship tourists. As you can see, all the growth industries. This year I can’t even go there at all. Not crazy bout the 2-day drive, (hi Charmion!) but its not the reason.

I don’t see a lot of that stuff bouncing back...felt like it was just getting started but I’ve had a good kick at the can I guess. I’m 64 next week. I know lots of great younger players out east and I’ll still enjoy going out to see them, they need the gigs more than I do.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 10:28 AM

I think the harmonica would be a more accessible choice than horses, Sandman, and fits in the pocket better than a bike.

But of course a harmonica is no help when you need to pop out for a carton of milk.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 05:03 AM

mo the caller, try the harmonica, very good for breathing , a walking machine for rainy days, and cycling ,very good for keeping fit , i do 8 miles every day, if you cannot find a bike, try horse riding princess anne swears by it, shes a dab hand with the whip

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 04:52 AM

the most difficult thing for me is airports , its difficult being a high flyer.
as you know Nick, if you can get an audience to laugh they might warm to you

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 04:47 AM

LOL We all have our aspirations :-)

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 04:41 AM

nobody is going to stop me[i hope] i cant wait to be gigging again, so i can bore everyone rigid

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mo the caller
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 03:24 AM

Not quite the end of the story. Some of us, as in Charmion's thread need the motivation to go from meaning to practice to actually doing it. And dancing solo is not at all the same.
I started lockdown with good intentions. I would use all this time to play tunes and get ready for Whitby Folk week. Start the week at the level that I usually come home after a week of playing with other people. A few weeks later WFF was cancelled and it became obvious that this could go on for a long time since all our folk activities involve close contact with folk. Most discouraging.

As for dancing. It is what keeps some of us moving, some into their 90s. Clubs adapt to the age of participants. Even one well known caller who only a few years ago seemed surprised that calling hornpipes at his mother's club was not a popular choice now calls contra and other smoother types of dance after experiencing joint problems himself.
Zoom solo dancing is OKish, but going round in circles in a small space palls after a while, even if there are friends on your screen doing the same.
I occasionally double step up and down the corridor, can just about manage 32 bars singing and dancing before legs and lungs force me to stop.
Luckily our U3A walking group has restarted, even there my range is not what it was.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 13 Aug 20 - 07:41 PM

Nope! You don't choose music music chooses you. End of story. The rest is just a matter of venue.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: treewind
Date: 13 Aug 20 - 03:59 PM

As it happens, Mary (Humphreys) and I had decided to retire from gigging just before the pandemic and lockdown started, so it hasn't been too much of a shock.
We had expected to go on playing for dancing, though, and I miss that. And real live sessions. Taking turns in a Zoom meeting is not the same as the real thing, though it's better than nothing and the regular chance to have somebody else to talk to is helping to keep us sane.
Meanwhile: home and garden projects, and like Mr Red I'm doing some web site work (more PHP and MySQL than Javascript) and walking for exercise. And working my way though digitising some vinyl LPs...

Anahata

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mo the caller
Date: 12 Aug 20 - 07:06 AM

So is it best to have our folk archives in local 'general' collections, to be happened upon by the general public, or in specialist libraries (e.g. at CSH) to be searched by folkies? Or both, perhaps.

The Zoom things that are going on show that the generations below me are taking up the baton. I was happy to call at dance clubs, and have worked out how to use zoom. But adapting and calling dances using recorded music doesn't appeal at all. In our area there the clubs have been kept going by a younger caller (still has children at home) and a couple who are probably nearing retirement have also slotted in to do alternate weeks.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Aug 20 - 04:19 AM

the me me society.

Oh Maggie didn't invent the Me-Generation but she opened the door. WIDE.

And as for private collections. There is always the EFDSS. There are a few of my collected things worthy of offering, though a few years back I did offer under the banner of The Full English. I was deemed unimportant, in the context of their remit. Their remit was to get the biggest fish. I suspect it merely linked to collections, to save on webspace and personnel/time. But that is insecure, if cheap.

My collected audio reminiscences of the local area are copied to the local museum & Gloucestershire Archives. Local gov have the infrastructure, and motivation.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: JHW
Date: 11 Aug 20 - 05:39 AM

I love beer but last pint I had was 8th March. Used to drink along with the singing.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Aug 20 - 01:14 PM

While there's beer, there's hope.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: JHW
Date: 10 Aug 20 - 05:45 AM

It surprises me that more folks aren't worried about no singing, no dancing, no folk clubs, no festivals, nothing to do at night and no-one to meet.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mo the caller
Date: 04 Aug 20 - 03:40 AM

Thanks Ged - that about sums it up.
v2
Might as well be in a care home
Sitting watching the TV
If I cannot go out dancing
What has life in store for me
I have tried a solo Zoom dance
Tried just skipping to the loo
But the motivation's lacking
Without others dancing too.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,big al whittle
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 01:53 PM

folk music will survive as long as there is folk. its easy to overestimate our importance in the evolutionary process.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Ged Fox
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 01:16 PM

Too ould for folk when this is over
No more clubs in pubs for me
No more singing in a circle
I'll be sitting sipping tea.
No more hairy beards and sandals,
No more finger in me ear;
Just an early night with Horlicks
'Stead of pewter mug and beer.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: JHW
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 05:44 AM

'They lose tools right and left' There's a memory, rewiring my first house in the 70s. Always losing tools.
If I'm doing a job now and the place looks too strewn I clear everything up, put everything where it goes and start again.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 02:55 AM

I think everyone should make the most of any outdoor opportunities to meet up and make music in local parks while the weather is good this summer - not least as the gov could well reintroduce tougher lockdown measures at some point. In my local park over the weekend, there was a group of women, all in their 70s I would say, playing socially distanced classical music, some wearing masks, one on a mobility scooter.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 04:12 PM

One day when my mother was 78, she said "I am not what I look like. Inside of me is a girl of 18." At 74, I feel the same way.

Young people need old people for two reasons. 1. Loneliness and isolation. I have a friend of 44, and he really needs me and my friends.

2. Wisdom. My house is being renovated, and the immature and unwise behavior of the guys 20-35 years old would amaze you. They leave, with all the lights burning and the back door unlocked. They drop sharp items on the floor and leave them. They lose tools right and left and throw away nice things. You'd think they were eleven or twelve years old. They need the companionship of older people to bring them up to snuff.

Two days ago the carpenter told the DH that his wife had called because their baby had a tick on the back of his head. The DH asked what I thought, and I said, "The important thing is to find out whether it's the kind of tick that causes Lyme disease. Tell her to call their pediatrician."

The guys had just been thinking of how to best get the tick off. The wife was told about what I said and took the baby in.

They need us.

The next day, that same guy came out of the closet and said that he is trying to learn banjo.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 01:53 PM

2021 cancellations are starting with Ireby in May

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 10:13 AM

My parents told me that I was too old to be going off to gigs or ceilidhs two ir three times a week when I was in my 40s!

These days failing joints mean that some elastic bandages and a packet of paracetamol are an essential part of a ceilidh but inside there is still a young man furious that he can't step continuously through a dance any more.

Dances will be about the last thing to reopen, I just hope that I will still be around when they do.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 05:10 AM

you are never too old to tango sing play or enjoy life

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 04:49 AM

When I go to Whitby each year and see the youngsters at the dances, and hear the young whizz kids being turned out by Newcastle, and Glasgow, I don't fear for the future of our music and dance, but I do wonder what will happen to the format.
I still miss the entertainers like, Alex Campbell, Jasper Carrot, Noel Murphy, and Billy Connollys of the folk world, but as the song says, "Those days have passed, and the time's come at last, for the weakness of age to make way for the young"
I am probably too old for folk music now, at 77, but given the chance I will still indulge in, and enjoy it.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mo the caller
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 03:29 AM

JHW - yes indeed. It has been creeping up on me. 'Don't think I want to drive on busy motorways, or in unknown cities any more', 'can't dance the way I used to at ceilidhs, maybe won't bother'. I think it's the sudden break that brings it home.
My Google calendar has yes moved onto August, and is showing 2 gigs (now cancelled) for this Saturday and next :(
Leeneia - the band I call with certainly notices that it's only the Golden Weddings etc. that sing along with our waltz and barn dance medleys. One that is fairly well know even though it's 53 years old is When I'm 64.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 03:06 AM

I am continuing.i am going to a privates session today to play. my last two gigs inthe uk in feb were ones i will always remember,i got a thankyou for a wonderful night from annie morris organiser at potteries folk club. if i never gig again in the uk i can remember my last 2 gigs potteries and stockton being as good as my first, kingston folk club fighting cocks 1976,i shall go on singning and playing until i am taken out in a box

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: JennieG
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 05:42 PM

My ukulele group plays (and hopefully will play again, when we can get back together) a medley of waltzes. "Let me call you sweetheart", "Around the world", "Mexicali Rose", and......."I like Aeroplane jelly", a song just about every Aussie kid has grown up with since the 1930s.

Because we're in the 'be vewy vewy careful' age group we haven't played together since the middle of March. We have hopes to, perhaps, get together in September.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Felipa
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 05:15 PM

There are some good virtual sing-arounds going on at present, but as people are getting more reluctant or less able to travel and are wanting to get back to personal (off-line) connection, itsounds like we need to revive the culture of house parties, making music locally, getting more people to particpate without the emphasis on professionals or on being "a performer"

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: JHW
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 03:07 PM

As one gets older there are very many things one can't go back to. Events are gone, people you knew perhaps too. Highlights and essential activities have to change if only to cope with your own ageing.

Years ago in 'Roger's Bar', Sidmouth, I was sad when a regular couple declared they wouldn't come any more, it was getting too difficult (at their age). Tim and Kitty and Les's singarounds long left the place. I miss them but can't go back.

At every stage in your life you can only make the best of where (time and place) you are.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 12:37 PM

I do not think I have heard that since those command performances for the old sweats at the Rideau Veterans' Home in the 1960s and '70s.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 12:19 PM

I think I have known “Let me call you sweetheart” my whole damn life.

But then, I grew up with a grandma who played the piano for community singing when that was a thing, circa 1918.

At 65, I am normal age for a folkie muso, but my repertoire makes me look a lot older.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Jos
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 11:42 AM

I didn't know the tune, never mind the words, of 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart' so looked it up and find it dates from 1910 and was a hit in 1911, with a Bing Crosby version in 1934.
I'm not THAT old.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 11:26 AM

Lots of FB groups for remote sessions/open mikes/singarounds, using several different technologies.

I need to get back to bellows pipes, mouthblown winds are out for sessions.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: leeneia
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 11:09 AM

YouTube. Put folk songs in the lower search box. Or you could search for the name of a song, a band, a country's folk music or an instrument.
===================
Our country dancers are meeting in a beautiful park at 10 am on Saturday mornings to avoid the heat of summer. They where masks, keep 6 feet apart and don't touch hands. They are using recorded music, so I'm not needed. I'm not the morning type anyway.

Our dance leaders are early 30's in age, and musicians are 65-75. No wait, we have an occasional 40-year-old. At our February dance we wanted to play and sing 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart' for the couples' waltz, and the 40-year-old didn't know the words. What is this country coming to?

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,geo
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 03:44 AM

does anyone have any links they would be willing to share for virtual folk sings? i totally understand if not, i just dont know where the first place to find that sort of thing would be

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,Sol
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 03:22 AM

Great posts from Malcolm Storey and the Observer above. Though they are conflicting, both have many valid points.
The boomers (of which I'm one) broke free from the old disciplines of conscription, and social/religious doctrine however, the increase of affluence has made people less reliant on each other, spawning the 'me' society.

True freedom comes with responsibility. The lack of the latter has brought us to where we are today. Dog eat dog.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 02:55 AM

No ceilidhs. Or session & festivals. Zoom doesn't even come close.
Walking a lot is the only exercise, (for the body). But programming the computer covers the brain work-out aspect. JavaScript anyone?

me too old? If you believe Fakebook I am only 40!

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 02:19 AM

The post-war "Baby Boomers" WERE the "me-me society" to beat all others. The ones who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing, as well as knowing all of our rights while at the same time refusing to shoulder the obligations that went with them. There is absolutely no escaping the fact that "we" created the world as it is today - don't try and shift the blame onto others, although that is another characteristic of the Baby Boomer's "me-me" generation -"It is always somebody else's fault".

How many of you know of Folk Clubs that closed because of this pandemic that WILL NOT be restarted?

Festivals might just return, but they will be very different to the ones that were run pre-Covid. These will mainly be the summer festivals and open-air venues will appeal the most.

Festival fringe's, crowded sessions in pubs I just don't see coming back at all in my lifetime.

Until there is a proven and effective vaccine available nothing will return to what we all once used to accept as "normal".

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey
Date: 31 Jul 20 - 07:59 PM

The way things are going even the young could be too old for folk when this is all over.
My generation where / are the lucky generation who had the benefit of full employment (pre Maggie) and a system that allowed free expression and choice.
We also inherited the ethic that allowed and encouraged us to be able to give our leisure time freely to things which we enjoyed.
These assets which I feel enriched our lives are now sadly eroded by greed (mostly corporate) and an extreme collective selfishness - the me me society.
The one certainty I cling to is that due to the technological explosion an enormous amount of our folk heritage is preserved in accessible format - albeit a lot of it in private hand (mea culpa).
We need to ensure that this is not lost once we are gone and the best way to do this is for us all to establish quickly how this can be done.
I will leave it there for now.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: DonMeixner
Date: 31 Jul 20 - 10:15 AM

Charmion, I live just off the Thruway on the way to rout 81 in NY. IF you are driving by and need a break, stop in for a bowl of soup and I'll polish your bracelet.

Don

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jul 20 - 09:10 PM

*big smile* I won't hold my breath, 'cause I don't look good in blue... but just reading that is great...
Stay well..

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Jul 20 - 08:17 PM

Bill, if there’s a Getaway in 2021 and the border is open, we’ll make it if we’re fit to travel at all. We might have to pooter along the secondary roads stopping at every second diner, and it might take us a week, but we’ll make it.

Subject: RE: Too old for folk when this is over
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jul 20 - 08:07 PM

I'm 81, and fortunate to live in an area with lots of 'folking around'.

There will be no FSGW Getaway this Oct., but IF it happens next year, I can probably make the 1 hour drive. (I've made 41 in a row now, and will be there if possible.)
   I totally understand why Charmion and Edward will probably not do it, and I (we) will miss them and others.

FSGW also has a local festival early each June which I have attended since 1977, worked on since 1978 and managed the crafts for 15+ years. It will 'probably' re-start when things improve... but it depends on 3-4 factors that are always being debated.
   There will be local sings, concerts and such, but I tend to only frequent the close ones.

   It's hard to take in that most of my folk going that began when I saw Pete Seeger in about 1961 is winding down.... but then, *I* aam winding down.
My son & his wife are good singers with 30-40 years of music ahead on them... if, if and if...

If it ends, it's been a good run..