Running Out of Time: Banjo and Fiddle Feel Neglected as Summertime Arrives

Summer brings warm weather and music festivals, but also a bevy of activities to eat up my time. It's been a struggle to make space for playing banjo and fiddle the past two months. 

As some readers might recall, I used to run a lot. In fact, this blog grew out of my now-defunct running blog. In my B.C. life (i.e., before child), I ran a handful of marathons, several half marathons and dozens of other races. 

However, that all came to a screeching halt when my son arrived in 2013. I ran sparingly over the next several years as parenthood took centerstage.

Last year, my friends coaxed me into running a race for the first time in nine years. That resulted in running my highest mileage since 2012, plus a sprained foot after running my second race. 

As of this month, I've already surpassed last year's total mileage, as those same friends recruited me to run a leg of the Burning River 100 for part of an eight-member relay team. 

Between running five days a week, yardwork and summer activities like attending little league baseball games and birthday parties, plus working and spending time with the family, my instruments have ended up being neglected. Sometimes life gets in the way of hobbies. 

Q2 Report

Looking back over the past three months, though, I've made some good progress with adding tunes to my repertoire, continuing to record myself regularly and getting to enjoy an in-person festival for the first time since before the pandemic hit.

Hourly goals: My objective to reach 125 hours playing banjo and fiddle this year is becoming more and more unreachable. After a strong April, which included attending the Lake Erie Folk Fest, I fell way short of my monthly numbers in May and June. I'm now about 30 hours behind the pace to reach my annual playing goal. 

New banjo tunes: I can't say I've really added any new banjo tunes these past few months. I worked on "Cindy" a bit, but not enough to feel like I know it well. I've also been quickly running through some tabs in various books I have to try to learn some new tricks.

New fiddle tunes: I learned three new tunes since my last update, with "Candy Girl," "Fishing Time" and "Goodbye Liza Jane." These were all through Michael Ismerio's Online Fiddle Course. I had learned "Candy Girl" before, using Bruce Molsky's Southern Old-Time Fiddle Tour video, but it had kind of slipped from my regular playing. I had a lot trouble with "Goodbye Liza Jane," as I just couldn't seem to find the groove. 

Consistency goal: Obviously, my consistency has been poor the last two months. There are a few local festivals coming up in July and August, and I'm hoping those will provide me some motivation to get back on track with my playing to stay sharp.