That's a line out of the Charlie Daniel's song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Great tune. I suppose if I'm talking about myself, I should use the word 'wannabe' in there. But that's okay. We all have to start somewhere.I took violin for four years in school. Never came to appreciate Beethoven or Bach or any of those other classical composers that we had to learn. By the end of grade 9 I threw in the towel and didn't look back.
Fast forward to 1999. Something got into me and I wanted to learn the fiddle. Paul gave me one for Christmas that year and I was pumped to relearn it. Downstairs I went to practice. Riley was about 8 months old then, and every time the bow hit the string, she wailed. The fiddle went in the closet. Forgotten.
Fast forward again. 2009. I've been following cold antler farm and the author is a self-taught fiddle player. The old urge to play has returned.
Last night I dug out my fiddle. The D string had snapped and the bow hairs needed some cleaning up but even so, it looked mighty fine. I tuned it up with the help of Paul's guitar tuner (I don't have the ear for that stuff) and in no time was playing "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". Hey. You've gotta start somewhere.
Guess I waited long enough. Riley didn't cry. Cammy plugged his ears. I ignored him. Paul smirked. I ignored him too. And the music felt great! Whistled the song all day at work.
I found a great sheet music site and, with my new D string, tried a few tonight. It's amazing how fast it all comes back. That's not to say that I'm hitting every note...some would say I'm not hitting many notes, but I don't care. It'll come.
One more thing. Can you see the music in the picture above? It's The Log Drivers Waltz. Any Canadian worth his salt knows that one. Well, from my generation, anyway. I'll be playing it in front of the campfire by the end of the summer. 'Cause I'm a fiddle player too.
~Liz
