Question Of The Week: Do You Take Your Instruments On Vacation?
Since Folkcraft is down on the Gulf Coast this week enjoying the Florida scenery and playing music with old and new friends, we thought we'd focus on a vacation theme for this week's question.
Do you take your instrument(s) with you on vacation? Or... Do you go to music festivals for your vacations?
Folkcraft's "jam room" this weekend
Most of us try to sneak in a song or two each day, or at least get a few minutes of practice in around our daily routine. But we all like to ditch the 9 to 5 (or whatever normal day-to-day schedule you're used to) sometime. And when we do, do our instruments get more or less personal time?
And to the people who plan their vacations around their music and hit the road for the yearly festival circuit, tell us how much extra time your instrument gets. We've seen people jam in a hotel lobby for an hour before heading to a festival that lasts 9 hours, then head back to the hotel for an all-night jam session. Do food and normal comfort take a backseat to the music for a few days each year? Tell us about it!
Do you take your instrument(s) with you on vacation? Or... Do you go to music festivals for your vacations?
Your Answers
Do you take your instrument(s) with you on vacation? Or... Do you go to music festivals for your vacations?
Name: Tabitha
Location: Ohio
"Yes, I take my uke on vacation. Sometimes I take 2 or 3 just in case of ukulele emergencies. I'm not sure I'll take one overseas. Yes, I sometimes plan my vacation around a workshop or music festival. I can only jam until midnight or so because I'll be up at 6:00am no matter how much sleep I've had. It's called being middle-aged."
Name: Yvonne M
Location: Eldridge, ND
"We travel in a motorhome, in which I have a full keyboard..plus I take a dulcimer along. Haven't been able to find any music festivals near our winter home."
Name: Mac
Location: Eastern US
"My wife and I take her dulcimer and my resophonic dulcimer and my resophonic steel guitar, and maybe flutes along with canoe etc. Too much stuff for air travel. I no longer go to festivals-I don't play fast or standard tunes, but then my audience enjoys and sometimes dances to what I do play."
Name: JLT
Location: Sacramento CA
"For camping trips, I take a mandolin and a Double-O guitar. For other long trips, I put a mandolin into my checked luggage."
Name: Wayne Anderson
Location: Kingston, ON Canada
"When I travel and am away overnight (by car) I take my dulcimer(s) with me. We do travel to festivals and always have one or two with me. It is great the conversations that a dulcimer can start up when playing in a hotel or in a park where the instrument is not a common sight. I have made a few new friends this way as well. Yes have to play every day."
Name: Cheryl F.
Location: Soddy Daisy, TN
"Yes, I am in Florida for the 2nd year of the Florida Gulf Coast Dulcimer Retreat in Homosassa Springs with Bing, Richard, Guy and Sharrie. It is a terrific festival! Having lots of fun playing my dulcimer and meeting more dulcimer players."
Name: Diane and Dave B.
Location: Dunnellon, Fl.
"When the RV goes Diane takes her guitar, Banjo, Mandolin and sometimes the fiddle, I take my double neck and resonator dulcimers, sometimes the Dobro."
Name: Judy S
Location: Auburn Indiana
"We don't travel very much, but when we do we always take our dulcimers with us if at all possible. Last year we played in the lobby of the Abe Martin Lodge in Nashville Indiana, and this year we are hoping to go to Don Pedi's Tao of Dulcimer retreat in North Carolina!"
Name: Betty H
Location: Louisville KY
"I usually take my instrument on vacation. I go to at least four (sometimes more) festivals which revolve around the Dulcimer and other folk instruments. My favorite part of festivals is the jam."