The Process of Letting Go
Our young and sprightly new minister at church delivers wisdom beyond her years. Her latest sermon centered around John 12:20-33. As she spoke, she mentioned death as being an uncomfortable…
Category: Inspiration
The Right String Is Going to Be in There Somewhere (??)
One of my webcam autoharp students began playing melody a couple months ago (after a couple years of singing songs and strumming chords), and the learning curve really got kind…
A Sonic Music Experience at The TANK
On June 6, 2016, autoharp student Garrett Sullivan and I journeyed to Rangely, Colorado some five hours west of Denver to engage in a recording session at not just…
How Many Autoharp Techniques Can There Be?
Many of you reading this post may be doing so in response to my recent question to the Cyberpluckers (autoharp) forum about how many autoharp techniques I apply when I…
Teaching vs. Teaching, Part II
[one_half] (Excuse me: Yay, Broncos!) I’m still learning how to make Viking knit chain. I made the piece at right in the Broncos’ honor for just a few dollars (the NFL…
The End of an Era
Patsy Stoneman Murphy, daughter of autoharpist/singer-songwriter Ernest “Pop” Stoneman, passed away Thursday, July 23 at the age of 90, marking the end of an era in autoharp history. Last night I pulled…
The 2015 Mountain Laurel Autoharp Championship
The 2015 Mountain Laurel Autoharp Championship took place on Friday evening, June 26, during the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering (MLAG) outside Newport, Pennsylvania. A number of folks in the autoharp community…
A Beginning Autoharpist’s Great Chord Find
My webcam student, Al, is very much the beginning autoharpist, although I am impressed by the way his harmonic perception is growing. I usually start new players off with singing songs…
A curious comment about folk music
Recent events remind me of a comment that came my way during a gig twenty years ago. This comment has weighed on my mind ever since. My blog, now just…