[LUTE-BUILDER] Re: I shall leave the list.
Sincerely, my best wishes to you, Jon. Juan Francisco Prieto. 2016-01-15 13:05 GMT+01:00 Jon Murphy <[1]j...@murphsays.com>: Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to remove myself from the Lute Builder list. Nothing to do with the communications, it is a fine group. I am 80 and no longer can deal with my several instruments - I have chosen to stay with my harp and a couple of others. My old guitar is yet an instrument I play when the grandchildren visit, but I'm not a guitarist - I'm a singer who accompanies himself on guitar. I fuss a bit with the home built psaltery now and then, it is fun to shift from the hammers on the lap to the plucked at the shoulder. What fun to imitate ancient instruments. I'll keep my modified Charango, now tuned as a Scots Mandora, so I can play the pieces from the Skene manuscripts. I think I'll pass on my "flat back" lute (the Musicmakers kit) to my grandchildren, my fingers are not up to handling all my instruments. I'll also pass on that silly bowed psaltery that many think is an ancient instrument, but was invented by a German at the turn of the 19th to 20th C. as a training device. It is a good training device, but at my age I don't need training, just better fingers. The lute is the most beautiful of instruments, and the luthier the epitome of artisans - be he making a lute (al oud) or a violin or any of the other heirs of that Arabic necked instrument. I wish you all well, and the same to your instruments. I am going to clear a shelf in my closet, the storage room for my bedroom workshop, that contains my form for shaping the lute body parts. Not a decision I wanted to make, but a bit of realism. I intend to live another 20 or 30 years (110 would be pretty good), but I know I'll not make another lute. Another harp, maybe, they are easier. I'll not leave the list tonight, you can all bless me for my future should you choose. Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:j...@murphsays.com 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE-BUILDER] Re: I shall leave the list.
A favorite of mine Timothy, and not just the glass itself - although I do enjoy a wee bit o' the stuff. I learned the song from my friends the Clancy's and Tommy Makem many years ago (along with many other songs). After college and then a few years as a seagoing Naval officer I found myself to be a ski bum and itinerant folk singer (at the ski lodges). As the summer of '61 started we were running out of snow at Mammoth Mountain, CA so I went on to San Francisco where I had college friends. The intent was a quick visit then a return East and a start in business, but a visit to North Beach and I found myself to be wanted as a singer at a joint called Lucky Pierre's (it was at the mid-point between the Condor - where Carol Doda was starting topless singing - and Finnochio - which was a drag queen act, thus Lucky Pierre). The Clancy Brothers were at the "name" place, The Hungry I. We got to know each other well and sang together for charity performances. We stayed in touch over the years, but gently so. I learned The Parting Glass from them, and also the real sense of the song. It is now, and has been for years, the Irish equivalent of Good Night Ladies in the pubs - but as they sang it, and as I do, it has a deeper meaning. I sing it for those I've lost when I hear of the loss - and sing it to the moon in the quiet of the night. Should the good Lord do me the favor (not too soon) I will sing it for myself. "But since it falls, unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not - I gently rise and I softly call, good night, and joy be with you all". Pardon the ramble, but there are some songs that are a part of me and some memories I have to share. I copied the list for that reason. Tommy Makem had a song, done a capella, called The Cobbler's Song. Gestures he claimed he learned from a man who learned them in the 19th C. Some few years back, about 8 or so, I was performing with my harp ensemble for an Irish group and went into the audience and did The Cobbler's Song. After our performance one of the audience came to me to tell me that Tommy had just died. Tom and Paddy had died earlier, and then Liam died within the year. A sadness, but if one subscribes, as I do, to the concept that one is not gone as long one remains in memory they they are with us. Oh Wow. Another Murph Says coming. In my college days I was a member of the Princeton Tigertones, an a capella "triple quartet". Our theme song, with which we ended every performance, was an arrangement of The Song is Ended done by one of the group founders in 1947 and based on the Louis Armstrong arrangement. The song, as written, is a paean to a lost love - "the song is ended, but the melody lingers on, you and the song have gone, but the melody lingers on". Over my many years I've found a different meaning, a more spiritual and general meaning. Our lives are our songs, some good and some bad as we progress, but our selves are our melodies - that which we leave in the minds of our friends and family. I could ask no better epitaph than "the song is ended, but the melody lingers on". As long as I'm rambling, my return East from the Bay area (a family problem at home, but I had a TV offer and an offer to be permanent "singing MC" for a new folk joint in San Jose - introduce the acts and fill in the gaps). Oops, almost forgot - had a booking at the Purple Onion in SF that was postponed, one month comedy and one month folk pattern broken by the new comedy/folk combination called the Smothers Brothers. Drove back East and arrived in NYC of a mid day Sunday and booked in at my parent's apartment. Went to Gerde's Folk City in the evening (still amateur) and listened to the acts that lasted 10 minutes. Decided to play, so borrowed a guitar from someone. Ed McCurdy was at the bar. He came to the rail to listen to a young lad in an RR engineer's cap and harmonica mount - a certain Bob Zimmerman (who was basically doing Woody Guthrie). Bob held the crowd for over a half hour. Ed also came to the rail to listen to a certain Jon Murphy, on borrowed guitar and singing with no program - he also held the crowd over a half hour. Ed invited the two of us out for drinks to discuss our careers. I had to choose business, I owed it to my my family. I became an IBM computer salesman. Bob went on in music. I kept my music, but as avocation rather than vocation. I can step in front of a crowd and sing a song - but my instrumentals are a bit more limited since the stroke affecting my left hand. I make silent music with a wood lathe, certain shapes that sing to the viewer. I make music yet with voice and harp and other instruments - but I'm not going to make any new instruments. Not as I've given up, just because there is only so much I can do at my age and I've chosen my areas of concentration. This was meant as a quick note to Timothy, it turned into a history, and that is why I CC'd the list. Oops, forgot
[LUTE-BUILDER] Re: I shall leave the list.
Juan, I return your best wishes and thank you for them. I am not departing either music or life - at least not for a long time - I'm merely trimming my emails. I hope you will remember my direct address should you have anything to share. Best, Jon On 1/16/2016 2:23 PM, Juan Fco. Prieto wrote: Sincerely, my best wishes to you, Jon. Juan Francisco Prieto. 2016-01-15 13:05 GMT+01:00 Jon Murphy <[1]j...@murphsays.com>: Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to remove myself from the Lute Builder list. Nothing to do with the communications, it is a fine group. I am 80 and no longer can deal with my several instruments - I have chosen to stay with my harp and a couple of others. My old guitar is yet an instrument I play when the grandchildren visit, but I'm not a guitarist - I'm a singer who accompanies himself on guitar. I fuss a bit with the home built psaltery now and then, it is fun to shift from the hammers on the lap to the plucked at the shoulder. What fun to imitate ancient instruments. I'll keep my modified Charango, now tuned as a Scots Mandora, so I can play the pieces from the Skene manuscripts. I think I'll pass on my "flat back" lute (the Musicmakers kit) to my grandchildren, my fingers are not up to handling all my instruments. I'll also pass on that silly bowed psaltery that many think is an ancient instrument, but was invented by a German at the turn of the 19th to 20th C. as a training device. It is a good training device, but at my age I don't need training, just better fingers. The lute is the most beautiful of instruments, and the luthier the epitome of artisans - be he making a lute (al oud) or a violin or any of the other heirs of that Arabic necked instrument. I wish you all well, and the same to your instruments. I am going to clear a shelf in my closet, the storage room for my bedroom workshop, that contains my form for shaping the lute body parts. Not a decision I wanted to make, but a bit of realism. I intend to live another 20 or 30 years (110 would be pretty good), but I know I'll not make another lute. Another harp, maybe, they are easier. I'll not leave the list tonight, you can all bless me for my future should you choose. Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:j...@murphsays.com 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE-BUILDER] Re: I shall leave the list.
John Your posts have always been amusing and insightful. One of the reasons why I have stayed on the list myself. I joined the list in the days of David van Edwards' baroque lute making internet course. I made myself a lute at the time when I was an aspiring guitar maker. I later became a violin restorer and double bass specialist. For living people life has strange ways of unfolding itself, and I wish you well in whatever may come your way. Njaal -- Njål Bendixen nj...@operamail.com On Sun, 17 Jan 2016, at 10:37 AM, Jon Murphy wrote: >Juan, I return your best wishes and thank you for them. I am not >departing either music or life - at least not for a long time - I'm >merely trimming my emails. I hope you will remember my direct address >should you have anything to share. >Best, Jon > >On 1/16/2016 2:23 PM, Juan Fco. Prieto wrote: > >Sincerely, my best wishes to you, Jon. >Juan Francisco Prieto. > >2016-01-15 13:05 GMT+01:00 Jon Murphy <[1]j...@murphsays.com>: > > Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to remove myself from the Lute > Builder list. Nothing to do with the communications, it is a fine > group. I am 80 and no longer can deal with my several instruments - > I have chosen to stay with my harp and a couple of others. My old > guitar is yet an instrument I play when the grandchildren visit, but > I'm not a guitarist - I'm a singer who accompanies himself on > guitar. I fuss a bit with the home built psaltery now and then, it > is fun to shift from the hammers on the lap to the plucked at the > shoulder. What fun to imitate ancient instruments. I'll keep my > modified Charango, now tuned as a Scots Mandora, so I can play the > pieces from the Skene manuscripts. I think I'll pass on my "flat > back" lute (the Musicmakers kit) to my grandchildren, my fingers are > not up to handling all my instruments. I'll also pass on that silly > bowed psaltery that many think is an ancient instrument, but was > invented by a German at the turn of the 19th to 20th C. as a > training device. It is a good training device, but at my age I don't > need training, just better fingers. > The lute is the most beautiful of instruments, and the luthier the > epitome of artisans - be he making a lute (al oud) or a violin or > any of the other heirs of that Arabic necked instrument. I wish you > all well, and the same to your instruments. I am going to clear a > shelf in my closet, the storage room for my bedroom workshop, that > contains my form for shaping the lute body parts. Not a decision I > wanted to make, but a bit of realism. I intend to live another 20 or > 30 years (110 would be pretty good), but I know I'll not make > another lute. Another harp, maybe, they are easier. > I'll not leave the list tonight, you can all bless me for my future > should you choose. > Best, Jon > To get on or off this list see list information at > [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >-- > > References > >1. mailto:j...@murphsays.com >2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- http://www.fastmail.com - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an unladen european swallow
[LUTE-BUILDER] Re: I shall leave the list.
Lovely words Njaal, I thank you. I am going to make a link, or an attachment, or something else, to connect to the fine voices I've heard from the Lute-Builders. I may have to stay aboard and just ignore the matters on diagrams and building techniques. what a fine bunch of people love the lute and the construction, but I don't have the time left for that. Yet the music is another matter, and we always have time for that. As you sent to all I'll reply to all. I have grandchildren who play instruments (but not as strict students, thank the lord). My children live far away - my daughter in Chicago and my son in Texas, and me in New Jersey. It has been a year an a half since I've seen my Texas grandsons (12 and 14) and Chicago twin granddaughters (9). Their parents have taught them the love of music. not a desire to play rote music. The most wonderful thing I've heard was when the family visited three and a half years ago. I sang Hush Little Baby to my granddaughters and one asked her mother why I sang "papa's gonna buy a mockingbird" and she sang it as "momma's". My daughter, who was about 5 when her mother moved her to Idaho after our divorce, said "that is because my poppa sang it to me that way, and I sang it to you because I'm your mamma". It was a moment of emotion for this unemotional old fart - I knew then that my brief years with my children had registered for life. Music is sound, and sense, and soul. It is not notes on a score. Best, Jon On 1/17/2016 5:45 AM, Njål Bendixen wrote: John Your posts have always been amusing and insightful. One of the reasons why I have stayed on the list myself. I joined the list in the days of David van Edwards' baroque lute making internet course. I made myself a lute at the time when I was an aspiring guitar maker. I later became a violin restorer and double bass specialist. For living people life has strange ways of unfolding itself, and I wish you well in whatever may come your way. Njaal To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
