 The bowed psaltery creates a high, haunting sound. I was surprised that one of my Hospice patients requested I play it for him over a long afternoon session. Often the psaltery's timbre is too neurologically stimulating for very ill or anxious patients. It can be too much for well persons!
How did today's audio clip of my bowed psaltery affect you?  Master Prose class begins Aug. 29th.
I am dictating the handwritten first draft of Chapter Eleven, entitled "Helmer," of my book-in-progress into the iMac. I would like to have sixty pages of OPEN FOR LUNCH ready for the start of class since every four weeks I need twenty pages of fresh manuscript for oral and written critique by my classmates and professor. I have come to love the critique process. Usually a full hour! So helpful!  Did you or your kids get these plastic recorders for school music class? I can recall hearing the entire assembly of children, including our kids, tooting away playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on their recorders. They were thrilled. If you look carefully, you will see our youngest child's name written on the side of this instrument, which has been lying in one of my instrument collection drawers since he was in fifth grade, a mere 26 years ago. I played a little of Dvorak's "New World Symphony, Largo" on his recorder during this audio take.
Do your kids. grandkids, even you own one of these school recorders?
 Maybe you have heard or seen one of these. My late Aunt Nan sent me this Door Harp when we moved into our last house in Northern Virginia. Notice she had Dogwood blossoms painted on it--the State Flower of Virginia. Since our new home is in North Carolina I was delighted to learn that NC shares that state flower with VA. I tune this instrument to a chord using my regular goose neck tuner. Great way to welcome guests with music!
Do you own a Door Harp? If not, have you seen one?
 Pardon the out-of-tune strings but this Harp Zither or Guitar Zither, as it was coined in Germany, is well over one hundred years old and I was very careful not to push tuning since these are original strings you are hearing me play. Sears began making this instrument in 1902, calling it a Zither #2. My great-grandmother Nora Thayer Duncan ordered one from the Sears catalogue and played it for her family as an accompaniment for hymn singing, usually on Sunday evenings. My Grandma Char, her youngest daughter, granted my wish to inherit this treasure, recalling her mother playing it. On her hundredth birthday ....... I surprised her by playing several of those old hymns on the Zither. There weren't too many dry eyes after that special music.
Do you see the shape of another more common instrument in the Zither? Ideas?
Starting July 6th, I am bringing you recorded music along with a photo and a story every other week about some really interesting instruments I have in my collection. I use certain of them for therapeutic music and will explain why they are effective.
For starters, I'll begin with my family's 115 year old Zither #2, as it is labeled. However, that is really NOT its name according to research I uncovered. Learn more. And of course, listen, too. If you believe that there is value in reaching out to strangers, what might your gift be for doing so?
Most tell me that I can do this because I'm me. Probably so. But you're you........what can you do? A smile? Eye contact? Pay it forward? Listen? It only takes seconds to reach out. • • • What ideas do you have about engaging in this kind of behavior with a stranger? I have come to see that my simple gesture of asking a stranger to eat lunch with me opens up opportunities for us both that we might never have had. In other words there is value in this practice.
• • • What value do you see in asking a stranger to eat lunch with you? The events that comprise the chapters in OPEN FOR LUNCH have occurred over fourteen years and continue to happen.
Here's the gist: when I'm by myself and out for lunch at a restaurant---fast food, sit down, take out---I have been asking other diners who are alone, to eat lunch with me. You won't believe what happens! • • • Any idea what occurs during these lunches? I had to re-order business cards so I had them redesigned. If you look closely you will see the title (so far) of my new book in-the-writing. Like 'Musical Morphine,' this one won't let me go. • • • Can you read the book title? Any thoughts?  I am beginning a spring/summer website slowdown to every other week starting today! Be watching for news, special announcements and a book teaser just the same. Check my events calendar for update of my whereabouts.
Writing can be solitary except when you are lucky enough to participate in a class. Once again I am back at the writing desk in a three-hour UNCA grad. class through Great Smokies Writing Program (see it on Facebook or the UNCA website) With this go-round I am in an eight-person Prose Master Class with prof. Elizabeth Luytens, a master teacher and editor. Twenty pages of new manuscript are due every four weeks for oral and written critique. • • • Any guesses what I'm writing? PS Join me tomorrow and Saturday at Asheville Wordfest "Buffalo Plaid' was excluded from my book, MUSICAL MORPHINE: Transforming Pain One Note at Time," not because my editor didn't like it, but because I needed to cut a little in a particular chapter. The story takes place one winter in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York when I was working at Mountain Valley Hospice as a Certified Music Practitioner. The story has never been published, although I have submitted it for inclusion on a music website. As an author, since I never toss anything I write, I am gifting "Buffalo Plaid" to you. Enjoy.
Doug sat alone in his Hospice room, seated in a beige recliner, staring out the window at the snowy woods. His door was wide open. The television was off, no radio played. He was not reading or working a puzzle or talking on the phone. When I knocked lightly on his door he looked up with a response that surprised me.  What does the setting in Doug's room suggest to you about this man? What response do you think he surprises me with? I looked more closely at Doug and saw missing fingers on the hand lying across his lap. Any more ideas about Doug's working life?
The vast unforgiving Adirondack Mountains harbored many a hard-living man eeking out a meager living in the woods just five hours north of hurried, crowded, sophisticated New York City. What does the mention of New York conjure up for you? Thought so. Most people think New York means New York City.
I approached the solitary man slowly. Keeping my distance, I pulled out my harmonica, showed it to him and began playing "Git Along Home, Cindy, Cindy," an upbeat folk tune often played on hammer dulcimer in the lumber camps up north.
Now what? Should I leave Doug's room at this point?
I didn't expect him to speak. What do you think Doug has to say to me?
"My Uncle played one a' them," he said flatly, looking at me briefly, then turning his head to gaze out the window again. Do you have a harmonica "story?" It seems like lots of folks do. Share one if you do.
"You want me to play some more?" I asked. Will Doug want more music or has the lone man had enough?
"Yeah," he said still looking away. What did the music, the choice of harmonica do for Doug?
I played several more camp tunes for Doug: "Golden Slippers," "I've Been Working' on the Railroad," "Oh, Susannah," and the like. Help me out with some more "campy tunes" to add to my harmonica repertoire? What might you enjoy hearing?
"When you comin' back?" Doug asked me. Are you surprised at Doug's response? I was. Why?
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Musical Morphine:
Award Finalist in the "Health: Alternative Medicine" category of the 2017 Best Book Awards |
