The Lost Arts: Making Music

The Lost Arts...my attempt at rediscovering the simple things in life.

Making music...the lost art of homemade entertainment. Years ago, before itunes, satellite radio, and music video channels, folks entertained friends and family with music. Someone would pull out a fiddle, a guitar, an accordion, and  before you knew it, a makeshift band was forming music, just for music's sake. No one thought about recording contracts, television competitions, or fame and fortune. They sang because they had a song. They played because it brought them joy.

We're having a musical summer. At least once a week, we meet on the front porch with a gathering of musicians of varied talent just to jam. My son, Luke, will invite a few friends, they'll bring their guitars, and they'll try their hand at chords and vocals. Some nights, Luke will grab the dulcimer, Sam will grab his beginner guitar or a modified drum, and we'll play freestyle.

I picked up this penny whistle to add to our musical instrument collection. My mother was happy to hear that I haven't lost my embouchure (thanks for all of those years of clarinet and saxaphone lessons, Mom!). Our tunes have a very folksy feel. My son, John, says that it sounds like Frodo's music from the Shire...a very apt description!

Other nights, we play acoustic versions of favorite rock tunes. Luke was playing Jars of Clay "Flood" last night. How do we sound? Well, we're not ready for an audience, but that's not the point. The point is that it brings us joy. I love to play hymns on my dulcimer. It's a musical devotion time, a creative offering to the Creator.


I grew up in a big family that loves music. In recent years, many siblings are reconnecting with their musical sides. I have a brother that is making (yes, making!) and playing his own guitars. I have two sisters that took up guitar, and one now plays with the church praise band. I have another sister who fulfilled her lifelong wish to play violin. She's taking lessons and getting one of her grand daughters hooked on music in the process. All of my siblings (like me!) are over forty. It's never too late to learn something new!

Today's card reflects our love of music. I used stamps from Unity Stamp Company and paired them with papers, pin, and button from My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody collection (available at Memory Works).

{Today's Brew: stamps from Unity Stamp Co., My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody papers, MME pin and button, PTI kraft and ivory card stock, PTI die, soft suede and soft sky ink, baja breeze seam binding, baker's twine}

Tell me...do you play an instrument? Sing? If not, have you ever wanted to?

"It is never too late to be what you  might have been." -George Eliot