Postcards From The Castaway Music Cruise
Good Morning, Y'all, and Happy Friday!
This will be a "different" newsletter. Casey and Cheyenne are back at the shop, making things, but I'm not there to witness the action. They're both fine craftsmen, though, and don't need my supervision, so I know they're making lots of sawdust.
I'm with instructors Bing Futch, Guy George, and Sharrie George, teaching dulcimer as part of the Castaway Music Cruise. We left Port Canaveral, Florida, last Saturday, and will be back in the USA tomorrow morning.
We've had classes in dulcimer, ukulele, whistle, and steel drum, plus some amazing jam sessions. Group dinners, shore excursions, and even a flash mob playing "Jamaica Farewell" for the other ship's guests.
The ship has close to 4,000 passengers, so the Castaway Music Cruise number (about 90, in all) is a small part of the ship's overall contingent.
Here's a view from the topmost deck as we departed from Port Canaveral. That ship across from ours is the newest Disney cruise ship. It pulled out of port right after we did.
Guy and Sharrie George teaching a pennywhistle class.
Jim Ash (aka Dad) making music with a talented banjo player!
A world class dulcimer player, taking a steel drum class
Bing Futch got a chance to play my DulciVox.
My Intro To Dulcimer Class had an extra get together - on a shore day - so it was a smaller group. Since our usual meeting room was occupied by another group, one of the ship's officers found us a space in an amazing performance room!
View from my office (stateroom's balcony) on Tuesday, in the US Virgin Islands. I sat inside my dark, windowless office, and took phone calls most of the day while we were in port. One Folkcraft customer was surprised when I answered the phone. She told me that she thought she would get the voice mail, since I was teaching on a cruise ship! Most everyone else I spoke with had no idea that I wasn't in Indiana.
Folkcraft's phone system is entirely Voice Over IP, which is fancy for "Internet telephone." When traveling, I use a tablet that functions as a phone, and also allows me to connect to the Folkcraft website for order lookup and entry.
When Dad found a person who didn't know what a dulcimer was, he'd pull his out of its case to demonstrate. In a dining area. And the hallways. And the elevators.
Here's the view from my "office" as we left the US Virgin Islands.
The next morning, we arrived in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
I'm all set up for my workday. My first class isn't until 3:15, local time. I'll set the phone to go straight to voicemail when I head to class.
Tortola - British Virgin Islands.
I'm writing this newsletter on Wednesday morning - the cruise will end on Saturday morning. Next week I'll share photos from the last few days.
Thanks for reading, Y'all, go make some music!
Richard Ash, luthier-who-should-be-making-sawdust-but-is-glad-to-be-making-music-with-friends
P. S. View from my desk when I'm not on the phone:
BAKER'S DOZEN #1 - Celtic Music
by Shelley Stevens
Need a few tunes for an upcoming St. Patty's Day gig or jam session? This book by Shelley Stevens invites you to experience the beauty and versatility of some classic Celtic melodies. Arranged for solo mountain dulcimer, these 13 well-known tunes provide both standard notation and 3-line tablature in DAD tuning. You're sure to enjoy enhancing your playing skills and exploring new chord-melody arrangements. (21 pages)
This book is published by Fingers Of Steel, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
Check out this five-star review of Shelley's books
✮✮✮✮✮ Great Books. Shelley is a great dulcimer player and a superior arranger of tunes. Her books are perfect examples of this. I'm glad to have them. (Shane - 1/4/25)
SONG LIST:
Annie Laurie • Another Jig Will Do • Black Nag • The Bonny Boy • The Boys of Wexford • The Cliffs of Doneen • Connemara Cradle Song • The Hills Of Connemara • John Ryan’s Polka • The Minstrel Boy • The Sally Gardens • Swallowtail Jig • Temperance Reel