While attending a wedding in Grand Forks about a week and a half ago, I listened closely to a musical instrument that I thought was remarkable in its tone. Mary and I sat close to the front for babysitting duties with Grandson Lucas when his mother, a bridesmaid, handed him, a ring bearer, over to us during the ceremony. The two musicians played a violin and a piano, and I thought the violin had an exceptionally mellow, rich tone. After the ceremony, I returned to our pew to fetch something left behind and stopped to visit with the musicians and remarked to the violinist how good I thought his instrument sounded. He did not act out with any sense of false modesty since he really was proud of it. He knew its history - crafted in Italy, its maker - whom I promptly forgot, and its year of birth - 1718. Almost 300 years old, I was quite impressed with it. It both looked and sounded great!
We attended the bluegrass music festival in Bismarck this past Saturday. Great musicianship was the rule. All the performing groups knew a thing or two about playing those strings: guitars, fiddles, banjos, mandolins, and upright basses. These groups are always great with their vocal harmonies, too.
More entertainment is on our calendar. Tomorrow we're heading to Medora for a Michael Martin Murphy concert and will stay over to take in the Medora musical the following evening. If that's not enough, we plan to go to the Czech Hall located in the hills south of Mandan and listen to some local musicians. To top it off, I'll probably go to my favorite coffee shop Saturday morning where a couple good local guitarists hold regular jam sessions. I'll even take my guitar to that one, but I will have little to offer. It's all learning for me!
