Tag Archives: Fun

It’s never too late to boogie!

A few months ago I was in a music shop. I brought my young son there to enquire about new skins for his drums. During the visit I immersed myself in the large range of musical instruments – pianos, mandolins, banjos, bodhrans etc. I sat at a digital piano and became engrossed for at least twenty minutes trying to get my fingers to tie together melodies from my teenage years. Some of them came back easily.

It was an early morning and we had the whole shop to ourselves. It is lovely to have the comfort-zone of total privacy when you are testing out different musical instruments. No inhibitions. My son started on a musical tour too. The lady at the desk didn’t seem to mind, which acted as further encouragement to us. It was a beautiful hour. We were lost in the flow of music. It was like a spell cast upon us but with our full consent.

Our private moments of adventure were shattered when the shop door pushed open. A man in his sixties in a baggy jumper and faded denim jeans asked the lady if she had any banjos for sale. She pointed towards the banjo section and said with a kind voice – “I’m sure you know more about these than me” as she walked him to the relevant section. “ Not at all” he replied, “I’ve never even held one!

I was intrigued and tried to eavesdrop. Why would a man at this stage in his life want to start music or even more interestingly why would he choose the banjo? I only heard some of what they were saying though by son’s strumming of strings.

Newly retired, he wanted to finally do something that had escaped him through the years. What a brilliant idea, I thought.

Yesterday, I returned to the same shop and bought myself a beautiful guitar. I’m not going to wait until I’ve retired to return to playing music!! We all need to create more space to do the things we love best. Life is a precious journey and time passes quickly. We need to legislate more for fun and pleasure in our lives!