Music On The Porch Day

I hope your week has been good so far - it looks like lots of you participated in last weekend's "Music On The Porch" day. Awesome!

 

Most of you know that I'm a music teacher by training. I've been an instrumental music teacher my entire working career, either in the schools or in my private studio. I majored in music education in college, and taught piano/voice/band instruments early on, and of course nowadays it is almost exclusively mountain dulcimer

 

I've always seen music education as a way to better people's lives. Either young people (early in my career) or adults (especially since I became involved with dulcimer). As part of that educational mindset, I've organized a slew of music festivals - mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, and ukulele. I've taught at festivals (mountain dulcimer and other folk instruments). And I've also - through Folkcraft Instruments - put on hundreds of one-day clinics.

 

We call our one-day clinics "Second Saturday Clinics," because they're (usually!) on the second Saturday of each month. We have two clinics left for 2022, then we'll stop for the winter. We used to go year-round, but the awful experience that Lorinda Jones had while driving back to Kentucky during a surprise blizzard put an end to clinics in the winter months!

 

Our two clinics left for this year are Mandy Tyner, on September 17, 2022, and Richard Ash (me!) on October 8, 2022. This will be Mandy's first Second Saturday Clinic, and my second Clinic - my first Second Saturday Clinic was back in 2010. So I guess I'm still in the "rotation," but it's sure been a LONG wait between my appearances!

 

We have a jam at 10:00 a.m., clinic at Noon, and short concert at 4:00 p.m.. With short breaks between each segment and a lunch break in the middle of the clinic, it's a relaxing, enjoyable day. We regularly have guests drive from 4+ hours drive-time away, which includes large parts of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky. WIth the long summer days, it is easy driving to Woodburn, Indiana.

 

We have limited seating for our clinics and they tend to sell out. Pre-registration is required. Here's Mandy's Second Saturday Clinic picture.