Bing Futch Clinic

June 9, 2023

Good Morning, Y'all!

I hope you're having a good Friday, so far, and that you have something fun planned for the weekend. Ideally, making music with friends, but a close "second" would be making music with just you. I got to play with my dulcimer club last night and will get to jam with the Second Saturday Clinic attendees on Saturday. And maybe see Carol Walker put on dulcimer concert tonight (Carol's doing a house concert with one of her students & the student is also a member of my dulcimer club).

Just 14 days from right now, we'll be loading the trailer with instruments, repair tools, and all kinds of dulcimer goodies in preparation for Kentucky Music Week (KMW). KMW starts two weeks from this coming Sunday and runs through June 30th. Then, just one weekend later, we'll be hosting a Bing Futch clinic here at the shop on July 8th.

Only a few days after Bing's clinic, we'll be packing the trailer again - on July 11th - and heading up to the ODPC Funfest (in Evart, MI) on July 12th. Returning from the Funfest on the 16th will give me plenty of time to prepare for a ukulele class I'm teaching - for the Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department - on July 29th.

Then, surely, it is all over, right? Ha! Not even close.

Two weeks after my ukulele class, we're hosting Aaron O'Rourke for a Second Saturday Clinic on August 12th, with Larry Conger and Marc (Lil' Rev) Revenson clinics in the following months. And the Black Mountain Music Fest falls somewhere in the midst of all those Folkcraft-hosted dulcimer events.

Good grief! These instructional/festival things we do are IN ADDITION to the daily "make-dulcimers-for-people" which happens year-round. But making music is important. Playing dulcimers with a group of musicians, in person, is important. And developing skills? Also important. (The better you get, the more fun it is!)

I'm heading back to the shop now. There are people waiting on dulcimers, so I need to get some instruments built. And get ready for the weekend with Carol Walker!

Thank you for reading - Go make some music now...

Richard Ash, luthier-who-spends-so-much-time-making-instruments-and-organizing-events-he-doesn't-have-enough-time-to-play-for-fun-as-he-would-like