I have many teachers, friends, and strangers to thank for encouragement in my musical life, but Jamie stands out in particular.  He pulled together a band called Mardi, Hub, and the Sprockets around the time I bought an amplifier to plug in a bass guitar.  Before electricity entered my musical world, I played acoustic tunes, mostly bluegrass.

The Americana rock band pushed me into new territory.  We played for friends’ birthday bashes and a wedding, a couple bars, a Philly street fair, Bucks County wine tastings, and even the XPN theater twice as a warm up band!  During performances my nerves were channeled as best as possible, but I always struggled to “get off the paper.”

After years of reading music on paper, the ability to improvise still escapes me.  My journey to overcome this started with the fiddle.  I picked it up figuring that my friends were all playing around a dark campfire and there was no opportunity to see written notes.  Jamie was most often present calling out “get your axe, let’s pick a tune.”  Later I started playing mandolin, figuring it had the same fingering as fiddle so I could use the frets to learn where to put my fingers for all those notes.  But when I began to sing along, I realized I had to get a guitar.

Years later I realized I still didn’t know how to improvise—to take a break on an instrument, calling out the lead melody or a variation of it.  My journey then took me to the bass, figuring I’d have no choice but to play the structure of a song.  And since I had no electric power connection at outdoor bluegrass festivals, I bought a ¼ size stand up Kay acoustic bass.  All of these instruments are my children.  Mostly recently I bought a ukulele.

Can I improvise a break?  Not like I’d like to.  I have moments when notes come together.  I’ll keep trying.