View Full Version : musicians
squeezebox
10-23-2013, 16:08
I play Irish style button accordion. Way to big to bring along, but would consider penny whistle. So what can a musician do to get their fix on the trail.
Bryce
Lone Wolf
10-23-2013, 16:11
headphones.....
headphones.....
I carry a harmonica but don't pull it out unless sure no one is around.
WingedMonkey
10-23-2013, 16:14
headphones.....
:banana.........
FarmerChef
10-23-2013, 16:25
:banana.........
Aww you beat me to it. LOL. I am a musician and my trusty iphone is my fix if I absolutely need it. Honestly, I like to get out and hear the sounds of nature and all its music. Now, if there happens to be a piano or guitar at a hostel or inn...that's a different story. :D
squeezebox
10-23-2013, 16:32
Any hostels with a button accordion ??
Special K
10-23-2013, 16:34
There were a couple of young people who brought along their banjos this year. They could also sing! Loved hearing them harmonize after a long day of hiking.
Dueling banjos in the woods? That would be awesome (unless you were camping a few hundred yards away at dusk)
hikerboy57
10-23-2013, 22:31
my guitar has been my best friend since i was 8 yrs old,but ive never brought it on the trail, and never will.ive gotten a few opportunities to play several times last year in maine, and twice this spring, once in franklin and again in damascus, and those times were all very special and wonderful.the moment and the mood were just right, and i happen to play pretty well, so i wasnt pissin people off.but if i had been playing the whole trip, none of those moments would have ever happened.and i guarantee you i would have pissed a few people off.
now bagpipes, on the other hand, would work.
Lone Wolf
10-24-2013, 00:44
my guitar has been my best friend since i was 8 yrs old,but ive never brought it on the trail, and never will.ive gotten a few opportunities to play several times last year in maine, and twice this spring, once in franklin and again in damascus, and those times were all very special and wonderful.the moment and the mood were just right, and i happen to play pretty well, so i wasnt pissin people off.but if i had been playing the whole trip, none of those moments would have ever happened.and i guarantee you i would have pissed a few people off.
now bagpipes, on the other hand, would work.
you don't play any of that bruce springsteen crap do ya?
ChinMusic
10-24-2013, 01:05
I prefer to listen to an air guitar in the woods.
stranger
10-24-2013, 07:03
I play Irish style button accordion. Way to big to bring along, but would consider penny whistle. So what can a musician do to get their fix on the trail.
Bryce
I'm a professional, international touring musician...music defines much of my life, leave your instruments at home. Wanna play music...play music, wanna hike...go hiking.
That's my view.
forrest!
10-24-2013, 07:34
I play piano, every day. Mostly classical, but other stuff too. Still taking lessons after all these years. It's become a habit, a much-needed hour of calm concentration in my day. So I miss it when I go backpacking. And I'm planning a SOBO thru hike next year. I will miss my wife and the piano the most, I think.
But I take an ipod full of music. Next year I'm thinking about taking some piece of sheet music with me that I have never played, and studying it when I get the chance, away from the piano. This is pretty specific to classical music, but there are a lot of details in a typical piano piece. Some of the great players are able to do this, totally learn a new piece away from the piano, hearing it in their head, then sit down and play it. I would probably print it out as reduced as I could and still read it, so it's ultralight. It would be an interesting experiment...
I play other instruments too - bluegrass banjo, baroque recorder - but I would never take them backpacking. Sound really carries, especially at night. What you think is great music might be someone else's hell on earth.
Forrest
hikerboy57
10-24-2013, 07:34
you don't play any of that bruce springsteen crap do ya?occasionally in ny/nj.never ever in damascus.guess i gotta learn me some dbt
Lone Wolf
10-24-2013, 07:35
occasionally in ny/nj.never ever in damascus.guess i gotta learn me some dbt
or some jason isbell
Lone Wolf
10-24-2013, 07:39
or some jason isbell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClugMhMbrRg
hikerboy57
10-24-2013, 07:58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF9jQHwRbDk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF9jQHwRbDk
hikerboy57
10-24-2013, 08:01
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM0bTQNUKOM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM0bTQNUKOM
kayak karl
10-24-2013, 08:17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM0bTQNUKOM Bruce was good till '75, after that just political crap. some hikers should start a band "Trail Running Wet Dogs with Guns" :rolleyes: just don't call yourselves "Drive-by Hikers" somebody will be pissed.
hikerboy57
10-24-2013, 08:26
Bruce was good till '75, after that just political crap. some hikers should start a band "Trail Running Wet Dogs with Guns" :rolleyes: just don't call yourselves "Drive-by Hikers" somebody will be pissed.
i saw him play the bottom line in 75. best rock and roll bar band id ever seen.after the darkness album he took a left turn into politics.still he was a great part of the healing process here both after 9/11 and the storm last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKuRGt7LnzU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKuRGt7LnzU
hikerboy57
10-24-2013, 08:31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi_Tm_g6KdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi_Tm_g6KdA
i saw him play the bottom line in 75. best rock and roll bar band id ever seen.after the darkness album he took a left turn into politics.still he was a great part of the healing process here both after 9/11 and the storm last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKuRGt7LnzU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKuRGt7LnzU
I grew up the shore I remember when he played the stoney poney in Asbury..We use to see him ride his bike all the time in Sea Bright with his trainer..
Another Kevin
10-24-2013, 13:53
I've been known occasionally to tote along a recorder. I don't play when I know anyone's about, and always stop, put it away and apologize if people appear - without them having to ask me to. (Sometimes the response is, "Oh, please go on! I was enjoying that!")
Sometimes it's been magical. I'm sure I've told this story here before, but I once encountered two Scottish couples who proceeded to dance a four-hand reel - astonishingly well - while I played 'Tansey's Fancy' and 'Fionn's Favourite' and someone else kept the beat drumming with two sticks on a pot. I still remember that evening, nigh on forty years later. (Which means that I didn't get THAT much whisky on board: I know never to get into a drinking duel with a Scot!) Who knows but that Fionn's Favourite raised the spirit of Oisín the Bard!
In my estimation, a céilidh about a campfire is about the least severe offence against LNT. (It still offends, but it's a venial sin.) When the music stops, the silence returns, with little lasting damage done. And the magic outlasts the sound.
kayak karl
10-24-2013, 14:11
I grew up the shore I remember when he played the stoney poney in Asbury..We use to see him ride his bike all the time in Sea Bright with his trainer..
i still go see southside in town.
HikerMom58
10-24-2013, 14:57
There were a couple of young people who brought along their banjos this year. They could also sing! Loved hearing them harmonize after a long day of hiking.
I love to hear about this happening on the trail , SK.. I love it too!
I would love to hear HB and ATM play their guitars.. I've heard good things about HB's playing!! :D
Special K
10-24-2013, 16:34
I love to hear about this happening on the trail , SK.. I love it too!
I would love to hear HB and ATM play their guitars.. I've heard good things about HB's playing!! :D
I would love to hear them play too!:) I remember one night from my tent I called out a request: "Do you know how to play AMAZING GRACE?" The young man proceeded to play and sing with such conviction that you could of heard a pin drop. It truly was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard! Before long we all gathered around, and with big smiles and warm hearts, began to sing along. It was magical! One of the best memories I have of the trail.
I play piano, every day. Mostly classical, but other stuff too. Still taking lessons after all these years. It's become a habit, a much-needed hour of calm concentration in my day. So I miss it when I go backpacking. And I'm planning a SOBO thru hike next year. I will miss my wife and the piano the most, I think.
But I take an ipod full of music. Next year I'm thinking about taking some piece of sheet music with me that I have never played, and studying it when I get the chance, away from the piano. This is pretty specific to classical music, but there are a lot of details in a typical piano piece. Some of the great players are able to do this, totally learn a new piece away from the piano, hearing it in their head, then sit down and play it. I would probably print it out as reduced as I could and still read it, so it's ultralight. It would be an interesting experiment...
I play other instruments too - bluegrass banjo, baroque recorder - but I would never take them backpacking. Sound really carries, especially at night. What you think is great music might be someone else's hell on earth.
Forrest
ALways loved classical piano. I gave my kid a CD -- Michael Allen Harrison with lullabies on it, hoping my granddaughter would go to sleep from early age listening to this fantastic music -- and one day -- Carnegie Hall...(well, that probably won't happen, but who knows!)
I remember bluegrass music up in the Tennessee hills in my younger days, so I wonder how far off the trail you'd have to get to go hear some of that?
I play Irish style button accordion. Way to big to bring along, but would consider penny whistle. So what can a musician do to get their fix on the trail.
Bryce
Uhh, penny whistle it up and pass the hat.
I grew up the shore I remember when he played the stoney poney in Asbury..We use to see him ride his bike all the time in Sea Bright with his trainer..
I used to live in Rumson(and Sea Girt) right down the road from where he lived across from the *******. I guess that was just one of his homes though. Maybe he doesn't even live there anymore. Lots of people don't know this(because he was dressed up in costume) but outside his home in Rumson his security didn't want trick or treaters during Halloween coming up to the house(would have set off alarms anyway, I knew some of the crew that used to take care of his grounds) so they set up this display with a coffin at the gate. When a bunch of kids and their parents amassed he, dressed as Dracula, would arise out of the coffin and hand out candy to the kids. He was a lot of fun and approachable even as a celebrity. You had to know when he desired his privacy though and respect that especially when he was with his children.
Any hostels with a button accordion ??
Elmer in Hot Springs had one in the music room.
There was an an AT thru-hiker in 2006 who was a professional violinist(world class!), as well as being able to professionally play other instruments, which he demonstrated on various occasions on other hiker's instruments, that carred along one of his violins along his hike for awhile. When he played for us at AT shelters everyone was so captivated. It was angelic.
Also love it when someone takes along a Uke, and knows how to play it well, like my buddy Slick did on his PCT thru-hike in 2008. He was a riot not only playing it but coming up with lyrics that so reminded me of Walking Jim Stiltz songs glorifying various long distance trails, long distance hiking, and nature.
That's Walkin Jim Stoltz. May he still be hiking the long trails. Love Jim's folky trail songs. Speaks to me.
Gray Blazer
10-24-2013, 21:55
Claves are easy to carry or you could whittle a new pair every night.