Adventures

In church we all have our own parts we play. Gabe is the base guitar player, Jennifer (my sister in law) plays the trumpet, Hazel plays the guitar, Dolly (my mother in law) plays the piano, and I play the saxophone. 

To be honest, I never had an interest in the sax. I actually wanted to learn either the violin or the french horn. I tried both and neither of them worked out so well for me. I never could get the hang of it. The notes never came out right. I just couldn't get it. My minister came to me one day and told me that he had always liked the sound of a saxophone and wished I would try to play that. Well, that's where my first adventure started.

I couldn't find any place where I could just rent a sax and honestly I didn't know how much I wanted to rent an instrument that had already been in someone elses mouth anyway! So I called around and found a good priced sax and bought it! I tried figuring it out on my own and just could get it. So I took 3, 30 minutes lessons w/ Russ Weeks in Buffalo. During my 3rd lesson I told him that that would be my last one, as I felt like I could handle learning by ear after that. He didn't like it much I don't think, but that's what I did!

From there, I've been able to learn and play anything set before me! It's amazing how the Lord has blessed me with the ability to play songs by ear! Now that I've been doing it for so long, I've nearly forgotten what was taught to me during my lessons! I don't hardly remember what keys are what anymore! I'm still very happy with my sax, but I've been wanting to learn a new instrument just to switch things up a bit. 

When Gabe was little his mom had bought him a mandolin thinking that one day he'd either grow into it, or would want to play it. Well, she was wrong. He never did learn to play it. Something about his hands being too small and he just wasn't interested either. So she kept it!! To this day, we still have that same mandolin. Granted the strings are a little old and rusty and needing to be replaced, but it's a beaut!

My new mission is the learn to play it! I asked Gabe about it and I think we are going to have the strings replaced and get it tuned up. I've got a book that'll show me the cords. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up and really go with it! I'm really excited for a new adventure and can't wait to see how it pans out!