Alto guitar fiddler...

I was browsing through a favorite educational clip-art site just now, looking for some inspiration for a blog entry.  Lo and behold, I come across this little gem, and looking at the title, my thought was, "Well, this was meant to be."

The title describes me in a nutshell.  No, I don't play the odd instrument in the picture, though I would love to try.  What a gorgeously mellow sound that would be!  Just the thought makes me want to go pull out the viola in my closet.  Yes, I am a "closet" violist - a viol player, one might say.  (Insert smiley face.) However, I am all of the descriptive terms listed above.  Alto - guitarist - fiddler.  Or at least, I have been all of those things at one time or another.

I have realized in the past month, as I do periodically after an extended time of interruptions by other life priorities, that I must pick up my instruments again.  The hardest part is to keep playing when one has no goal in mind - no upcoming performance or "reason" to play.  But the truth is, if you are not going to play just for the pure joy of making the sound and story, then perhaps it is time to sell the instruments to someone who will.

Setting aside time to play in 2013 would be a good thing...