First time I heard the Sam Bush and David Grisman album Hold On, We’re Strummin’ I must have had Hartford’s Reel on repeat no less than 5 times. It’s such a great tune, capturing the essences of Hartford, Bush, Grisman, as well as the mandolin itself. It’s quick, playful, exploring. That’s the mandolin, isn’t it?
I learned the tune a few weeks back, so I figured I’d sit out in my backyard this fine day to play it through a few times. After reading Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music I was struck with how outdoors music used to be. There are still awesome forest, beach, etc, jams out there, which is wonderful. But I often find myself practicing indoors. The Carter’s weren’t. They were out on their front porches learning. Which of course means making mistakes. Mistakes that are out in the open.
Music is practice, mandolin definitely is too. There’s a fine line between performance and practice. One day we’ll probably discover that they’re the same thing, we just been giving them different names. Or maybe we can discover that today. So whether we deem our playing as performance or practice, there’s no real difference.
John Hartford, that wild and prolific man, whom the reel is dedicated, is an embodiment of experiment and performance as practice. Those ingredients have got to be the main items in the concoction of a prolific artist. Turning fearfulness of wrong notes into new paths that work because they’re allowed to.
I hope you find the weather beautiful out today so that you can pull up a stool beneath a shady tree to spend some time exploring your mandolin. Loud enough for your neighbors to hear too! Maybe they’ll bring out a guitar to play along with you.
MandoZen 