It's 2014

The New Year always seems to have an aura of freshness about it.  I suppose that is because we are conditioned to reacting to calendars and clocks.  If you really think about, each moment, hour, day, week, month and year are always fresh, new etc.  The Zen idea of living in the moment is the best logical way to approach life.  Yes, you can arrange your days and schedule your future to accomplish certain goals.  I squirrel away money for my cherished lessons with Richard Gilewitz and for  attending the annual GillaCamp in Florida.  I build another fund to make my rent payments at Fire Arts and to pay for materials and firings. In order to make these things happen I must make financial decisions well in advance.   I have to keep the bank account building and restrain my nasty tendency for buying STUFF, mainly art and music STUFF.

 On Dec. 31st, my guitar student, Paul, wanted some company on a music adventure, so my husband and I joined him on a journey to music nirvana. I proudly came away from a first time sojourn to Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Mi. without having made a single purchase.  It was close although.  I nearly committed $800+ to the purchase of a Michael Kelly Octave Mandolin.  As I was handing the octave to the salesman, I discovered a flaw in the binding that may have indicated cracking.  They immediately refused to sell it.  I really loved the tone and action of that instrument.  I would have been really upset had I complete the purchase and discovered the flaw when I got home.  It was a great time as we spent several hours playing guitars and mandolins and conversation was lively and continuous on the trip there and back. 

 I brought along the banjo and banjolin that I acquired in 2013.  Both are vintage instruments.  The banjo was a gift from my friend Marilyn.  It had belonged to her late husband via his father. It languished un-played for many decades and prior to that was in the Grandfather's amateur museum.  It may be impossible to date because I cannot find a maker's mark on it anywhere.  The banjolin also lacks a maker's mark but it does have some provenance.  I purchased it on eBay.  The photos showed that its natural hide skin had been embellished with pencil sketches of old cartoons and other drawings including "White Plains High School" clearly penciled.  The vintage cartoons really attracted me to this instrument and I was very pleased when I won it.  Upon receipt I saw the original owner had written her name on the cross piece of the pot.  Her name was Jessie Hyde.  I attempted a Google search which brought me to a link for the 1924 White Plains High School yearbook.  I found pictures of Jessie Hyde, who was a member of the Mandolin Club and Art Club.  There she sat amongst the other student members with the mandolin in hand along with its decorated skin, but the sketches were different.  I can see where she had erased and done a few new drawings on the head.  I am guessing she had made a number of changes through the years.  I can feel an odd connection with this instrument and I wish I could learn more about Jessie Hyde.  It is unlikely that she is still alive because she'd be pushing 106 years old now.  All of this brings me around to the fact that the luthier at Elderly's did a basic check and head tensioning for both instruments and didn't even charge me.  The banjolin drew much attention from their luthier department because vintage instruments rarely have much documented history.