As the World Turns

One of my favorite things to do is to play bluegrass music with my friends. Originally I played fiddle. Actually, I was classically trained but then switched to playing music by ear. Now I also play guitar and I have learned a little banjo, enough to know how the banjo works. In my town, we have a music store that specializes in bluegrass. They sell CDs, instruments, music books, picks, and anything else you can think of that relates to bluegrass. On Saturday they have a jam session that lasts all day, from about 9 in the morning until 6 p.m. There are people who arrive in the morning and basically stay all day. That is a fun thing to go to. Often my husband and I have a jam session at our house. We cook up some pizzas and have several friends over who play different instruments. We play for two or three hours and really enjoy it. We have jam sessions about once a week. We also started a gospel bluegrass jam session once a month at our church. On a Friday night we gather at 7 p.m. We play for an hour, eat a potluck dinner for an hour, and then play for another hour. It is amazing the people who show up for the fun, both musicians and audience members. Playing music, particularly a form of folk music where you can pick up an instrument and play without worrying about written music, is a great hobby. It is something you can do all your life. I have met a lot of great people, including my husband, through playing bluegrass.

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