Well, when I was eight years old Dad thought that it would be a good idea if I learned to play the accordion. We were living at Star Lake at this time so every week Dad would drive me to Kenora for a lesson. Then I would practice for at least an hour a day for the rest of the week. I have to admit that it was not my favorite activity but I did become a good player by the time I was 12. I used to play at concerts and at a couple of Christmas Concerts I even received standing ovations. The accordion I played looked a lot like this one.
I played in an accordion band for about a year when I was twelve years old very similar to what you'll see by clicking on this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEAXrt1q20Q&feature=related
By the time we moved to Winnipeg my interest in continuing to play the accordion was waning. My lessons continued until I was fifteen years old but then one day I just decided that I would play no more. I picked the accordion up a few times after that. The last time was when I was eighteen.
You may get a chuckle out of watching this video. When I was growing up Lawrence Welk had a very popular musical band. This video shows one of the members playing a song that I once was able to play; believe it or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCMzRLov58&feature=related
That was the end of my music career. Since then the only musical endeavor that I've entered is the building of six classical guitars. These were build when I had my own cabinet shop. I had a friend who had a very sweet voice but little money. I used to have back yard get togethers around a bone fire and she would come and play an old beat up guitar and sing. When I learned that her birthday was coming up in a few months I decided to build her a guitar.
So off to the library I went and studied all the guitar making books I could find. The book I ended up following was Classic Guitar Making, by Artur E. Overholtzer. I'll be ordering a copy of this book next month.
The next step was ordering the wood. Once the wood came I spent two months making the guitar. On her birthday we gathered around a fire on the beach. The first time she was going to sing I presented her with the guitar and she spent the next hour singing and playing this guitar. She loved it and the rest of us loved the sound of her voice and the new guitar. The guitar looked just like this one.
This summer I will be moving to a new home somewhere in the Slocan Valley with the intention of building a guitar or two over the coming winter.
Who wants the first one?
.
