Reinvention

In 2011 I had a difficult year. I felt stagnant, and started reflexively flailing to make random changes. Needless to say I made some poor choices, which only fed into the feedback loop. Until I found a project.

Years ago I'd taken up the renaissance cittern and dabbled with the lute. I decided I'd reached a point of skill with the dulcimer where I could now bring that music to my primary instrument with only minor changes. And I started with the hardest piece of English renaissance music I knew of, John Dowland's Lachrimae Pavane.

It took almost two years, interspersed with various other lute and virginal music of the late Elizabethan and Italian renaissances, but I managed it and recorded the whole batch on Wanderlust. I've got more such tunes on deck for the next cd, some of which I'm playing for italians today, including the ability to name drop Bach in my repertoire.

So last month when my orthodontist asked "do you play real music?", I said yes. As a folkie I'd have taken offense, but in my current incarnation I talked about Early Music and the projects I was working on. Not to denigrate my earlier work, but some of this new stuff is epic!

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