Tales From the Road

Today I'm looking ahead to my Italy tour next month: I'm going to have a slightly smaller dulcimer, which limits me compared to the one I've been playing. I'm adjusting some of my newer repertoire so that I'll still be able to practice it and not need to relearn it before recording next December, and I'm looking back through past repertoire to dig up gems I haven't played in a while.

Specifically, the Italians have responded very well to my original material, but Renaissance Faire audiences prefer the Celtic stuff. Because of that, I've whittled my originals down to a dozen tunes fresh in my head and allowed the rest to get rusty. Now I'm dusting off a lot of that music and letting the jigs and reels atrophy a bit.

I honestly think that one reason I remain so invigorated in my performance career is because of this annual repertoire shift. It keeps me from getting bored, and on my toes!

The Best of 2014 lists are coming out and sometimes it gets depressing to notice so little progress in my own life, so I thought I'd name the things I accomplished this year.

I street performed in South America for the first time. I haven't made a profit yet, and I have future plans and ideas to try, but I've broken the ice.

I learned my third Bach tune, Allemande in Em. Similarly, I've expanded my early baroque repertoire with five 17th century Italian tunes. I also continue to grow as a Renaissance performer, with three new tunes learned.

I played my first busking tour of the American southwest, focusing on San Diego. I expanded my Minneapolis busking to include the farmers market, which was a big addition to my schedule.

I successfully weathered some big changes in my personal life. I try to keep that offline, but if you see me I'll be happy to chat over a beer. Even better, I didn't let the change get out of control and demolish the good along with the bad.

To sum up, it hasn't been an easy year but neither was it a bad one, and it held its share of triumphs. I think I'm in a pretty good position for the new year, and excited for what I can see taking shape!

That one was a bad year, one of the worst: the year I took an expensive trip to the last city on my bucket list, giving myself permission before I had finally closed the door on suicide, and I still call it Black '11.

It was the year I decided that three months abroad was too long, too much. I burned myself out playing on the street, and even Herculaneum could only revive me for a day or two. But it was a particularly hard tour, coming on the heels of a break up that rattled me harder than expected, and I think I'm in a position to give it another try.

In 2000 I bought my first dulcimer (Dusty Strings Apprentice), and in 2004 it fell in a parking lot so I replaced it. That replacement (Dusty Strings Prelude) was warped when I lingered to finish a song in a 2005 downpour, and I upgraded to a larger size (Dusty Strings D35). That same year I picked up a tiny travel dulcimer (by TK O'Brien's) and took it to Europe on my first trip there, but found its small range limiting and didn't do much with it aside from loaning it out occasionally.

In 2012 I upgraded again (Dusty Strings D550), but I didn't retire my old concert instrument. The older dulcimer was better suited to air travel with its slightly smaller size and 20 fewer strings, so it has remained a touring instrument. The problem was that I now needed a way to distinguish between them, and so for the first time in my career I named instruments.

The older dulcimer was obvious: in Italian naming conventions the first daughter is named after the father's mother, and so Maria it was. My newer dulcimer I named for her mother, Antonietta (yes, the younger dulcimer is named for the older person. I'm using a guideline, not a rule). And all was well.

Except that I've started playing that little travel dulcimer again: its limited range nicely approximates an instrument from the Middle Ages and I've been using it for that repertoire. So I needed another name.

I decided on Isabella, for my aunt and godmother, and "Bellina" as a nickname since she's so tiny.

I've said this before, to laughter and disdain, but the Rust Belt is where the next American renaissance is being born. There's urban density, cosmopolitanism, and cheap rent, which cause an escalating network effect. Artists can no longer afford New York, but two month's Manhattan rent can buy you a house in Michigan.

I'm a fan of Richard Florida, and his book The Rise of the Creative Class, and one thing that he mentions as being key to habitability for artists is a socially tolerant attitude towards homosexuality. Now that gay marriage is sweeping across the US, this is becoming much less of an issue, but its legacy remains; one of Florida's examples of a revitalized city is Pittsburgh, which has shed the steel industry to become a leader in health and education.

Another factor in a Rust Belt Renaissance is the area's compactness: a regional tour can take in easily a dozen major cities, none of which are more than four hours' drive apart. The South is cheap, but too spread out: artists and crafters can make a living in one place (and being in a tourist magnet like New Orleans or St Augustine helps), but performing artists need to travel*.

A final factor is health care: many Rust Belt states are in the process of expanding medicaid coverage under the ACA (come on Wisconsin, catch up!) I do well for a musician, but I may never make more than $16k after business deductions, and I'm finally in a position to have a primary care physician.

I've toured the world, and I've no intention of slowing down yet, but this Ohio boy is starting to appreciate his home.


*the exception being those who do everything: I have a friend who's happy sticking to Denver, but he teaches guitar and plays in three different styles in four different bands.

I've reached the enviable point in my career at Renaissance Festivals where I'm familiar enough with people booking entertainment, and to them, that I don't need to do nearly the amount of gig solicitation I once did. I'm looking to book some open time at bookstores and coffee shops, however, and I'm back into the realm of tossing off emails by the dozen with the prospect of cold calling looming in the near future. It's been a long time since I've had introduced myself as "hi, I'm some random musician and I'd like to play your venue".

It's rather humbling.

As a professional, in my specific niche, I memorize all my music, but as I pick up new hobby repertoire I'm staying on book and hoping to improve my sight reading. This also means I can tackle a lot more material, and I'm hoping to do some interesting stuff at SCA events this winter. Especially since I have the perfect instrument for the project!

In 2005 I bought a tiny dulcimer for travel, so I could have an instrument with me even on potential vacations (it came to England and Italy with me in 2006). I later neglected it because its small range (two octaves and very few accidentals) was limiting and because I had concert instruments with me at all times as I embarked on my busking tours.

It turns out that the range of that dulcimer almost perfectly replicates one in SCA period, so I'm reviving my use of it. It's an engaging challenge, and digging up period music that works for it is fun!

My goal for the week was to transcribe five 14th-century pieces that are appropriate for the 14th century dulcimer, and I have succeeded in four of those: the fifth turned out not to be playable on the instrument in question (but I may be able to fudge it). Still, those four are an excellent start, and I look to start working on the material itself next week.

My goal is to have eight pieces audience-ready by Twelfth Night SCA events, to play a repertoire I can't do much with professionally because it won't sell CDs. One reason I've concentrated so heavily on the 16th century is that it sounds like classical music to modern ears, and isn't nearly as foreign as earlier music often can be.

When your living is your life, it's sometimes tricky to figure out how to make it a hobby as well. I feel good about the choices I'm making here.

Pennsic is like nothing else: the closest description I've read was an SCA event meets a renaissance Faire meets Burning Man. And this was my thirteenth in a row.

I went in on Saturday, early. My parents' house is only two hours away, giving me a huge advantage over most everyone else. I stayed until Friday, when I dashed off to open the New York Renaissance Faire, coming back for the second Monday-Friday typically called War Week (it's when stick jocks bash helms).

This one was a particularly good one, I'm almost ashamed to say. Many friends didn't have the experience they'd hoped for, but I was in a camp new to me, with a fantastic group of friends. My Wednesday concert went wonderfully, especially considering I drew up a set list at the coffeehouse (Cafe Merhaba FTW) an hour before curtain. I also played the legendary Casa Bardicci formal party for the first time in years, which was a real pleasure (see attached pictures of the villa).

It flew by, and I'm thrilled to have caught up with so many friends. It's a great venue for playing and a joy for social camping, and I can hardly wait for next year.