Category Musical Instruments
Best Mandolin Pick / Plectrum
I’d never thought so much about picks (or plectrums as they’re formally called) as I have since I began the quest to find the right pick for the varied playing demands of a mandolin. There is the flexibility of the pick (or thickness/weight) and the shape of the pick that make a huge difference in […]
Hitty Dolls Celebrate Canada’s Birthday
If you wondered what carved wood dolls, named after Hitty, were doing on Canada Day then be sure to check these photos. Naturally, they were celebrating! And they wanted to go fishing in the beautiful Muskoka Lakes near the Canadian Shield. Can you blame them for wanting to paddle out onto the clear, crisp water […]
Summer Song Sale: Flutes, Kanteles
In the heat of summer, what can cool you immensely is sitting in the air conditioning and playing a soothing musical instrument. During the summer, I am often making instruments and getting ready for my Fall art and craft shows that I travel to. Some of you have asked why I don’t have more flutes […]
My new mandolin
I’m now learning to play the mandolin. I hadn’t expected to be adding the mandolin to my musical instruments, but a nice series of events has led to me having a Kentucky KM-620-S. A few weeks ago, my aunt gave me her old mandolin (pictured right). She had started taking mandolin lessons, inspired by the […]
Gamelan Workshop in Barcelona, Spain
One of the many interesting moments during my trip to Barcelona was the opportunity to participate in a Balinese Gamelan workshop. Yes, in Barcelona not in Bali. When looking online for places to visit in Barcelona during my visit with my friend, I discovered the Museu de la Musica with its many historical instruments. The monthly workshop on the […]
Beautiful Barcelona
I enjoy traveling and exploring. I long admired my father and mother for figuring out the logistics of getting the family of five to explore and travel (relatively peacefully) across Canada and the United States for many summers as we children were growing up. We packed economically into a station wagon and a tent trailer […]
9 reasons your flute won’t play
From time to time people have shown me a flute that doesn’t work to ask what is wrong. I believe you should ask the maker of the flute, but people don’t know always know who made their flute. And so they ask me. In cases where I am the maker of the flute, I usually start […]
