Category: Music

Traveling Uke

Several months ago, I joined a ukulele group. We strum together each week, sharing songs from long ago right up to the present day. We also perform at local nursing homes, senior centers and town events. Our performances last summer included a Christmas in July celebration, a luau and a local town fair. It’s fun to see the smiles that ukulele music brings to the faces of our audiences. We also enjoy being part of the global resurgence of the ukulele’s popularity in the 21st century.

This affordable and portable instrument is capable of a wide range of styles and uses. Here, the ukulelist Cynthia Lin leads a simple Hawaiian rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow while hundreds play along. Here, virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro demonstrates the full capabilities of the ukulele with his rendition of of Bohemian Rhapsody.

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Backyard Music

Last March, I traveled to Backyard Music in Willimantic, Connecticut, to pick up my first handmade folk harp.

(Short audio at the end.)

Willimantic is famous for its frogs, which greet you as you travel across the town’s main bridge.
True to its name, the Backyard Music Shop is behind the owner’s colorful Victorian home.
Owner and musical instrument maker, Dave Magnuson, has been creating harps, banjos and dulcimers here for 35 years.
Dave has a wide variety of unique instruments in his shop, both old and new.

An hourglass shaped dulcimer hangs beside a plainer trapezoidal dulcimer. On the far left, a banjo is fashioned from a wooden box.
Dozens of harp necks stand ready to have strings added. Note the circular banjo soundboxes on the far left.
Here’s my new harp. The wooden neck is strung with 22 strings, and the soundboard is made of heavy duty cardboard. I’ve named it Maeve, which means “she who rules”. In Irish Mythology Maeve is a queen.
All harpers learn “Scarborough Fair”. Here’s my early recording of that famous folksong from the Middle Ages. Maeve and I were getting to know each other at that time.

Butterfly Wings

(Short audio included at the end of the post.)

During my recent blogging break, I have been learning to play the folk harp.

This is a Fireside Harp from Backyard Music, made of cardboard.

The shape of the harp reminds me of the wings of a butterfly that visits my garden.

A rain storm came up just after these photos were taken, but I’ve included a short audio with a rainy backdrop, which can be played along with these photos.

Eleanor Plunkett, by Turlough O’Carolan, arranged by harpist and composer Anne Crosby Gaudet, performed by Julie Mankowsky.