I like lots of
harmony, well-crafted lyrics, and bad puns well told. I played guitar
for some years before coming across a mountain dulcimer, was charmed
by its voice, and never looked back (probably just a stiff neck....).
I don't remember why I started playing hammered dulcimer but it sometimes
drives me a little nuts, especially after getting bifocals. I also
really enjoy teaching everything I know (we're talking dulcimers here),
with great enthusiasm for the instruments and my students, who, if
they stick with it long enough, eventually become my friends.
The truth is I
wouldn't have picked up an instrument at all but for the fact that
I really like to sing. It seems to be something I have always done,
instinctively, for myself, for the sheer joy of it. Somewhere along
the line I realized that people were listening, and that it mattered
to me that they were listening, and that we all were enjoying the
exchange, making it exciting, communal. So while I still sing for
myself, I am very aware that I am communicating with others.
I think the voice
is the most personal of instruments, perhaps because we all have one
and it is so emotionally pliable. I can't imagine not singing. It
is a very special privilege to share this kind of intimacy. It has
made all the difference.
