This lady, Sabra went to church with us there and played violin music. I wanted so much to learn and she was kind enough to teach me and get me started. I really wanted to learn fiddle, but I was excited to learn any type of music on it and she was an Orchestra violin player so offered to help me. Sabra is responsible for me playing music today because she is the one who taught me way back then and got me started down the right path. I have a lot to be thankful for thanks to her. From her, I learned proper bow technique and the proper way to hold my violin/fiddle. That has spun off to make me a better fiddler because of her early teachings.
For years now I haven't had any contact with her until recently when she found me on a social media website for helping to promote your business called "Linkedin". She found me on there and befriended me. Her last name had changed from Bradley to Lindgren and since we hadn't seen each other for over 25 years at first I wasn't totally sure it was her, but after reasoning that Sabra wasn't that common of a name and that it must be her, I added her to my network and it got me to thinking about how she had been doing these past years. I found out that she was now living in Missoula and was actually living there at the same time that we were, but we just didn't know that each other were living there.
We began e-mailing each other and re-connecting, talking about our music interests and just what each of us has done with our music through all these years. I was able to talk about bluegrass and different famous first generation pickers that she could listen to on You Tube and learn more about it too. She began telling me about her composing and copywriting her songs.
Sabra has gone on to become a composer of scores and has gone back to school furthering her education and getting degrees in her music, and I of course have gone on to play bluegrass and old time fiddle teaching a lot of people and playing in several bands throughout the last 15 years. It was great fun getting to know each other better and visiting over the e-mails.
Well a couple of days ago I received and e-mail from her saying that she had a couple of days off and was thinking that if it worked in with my schedule maybe she could come visit me over the 4th and we could play some music together. I was very excited and surprised. It just so happened that my company for the reunion wasn't going to be arriving until today and so it allowed us two days to jam and have the time to devote to it with little interruptions.
She brought a fiddle/violin and mandolin and her guitar. I'll have to admit I was a bit skeptical as to if she would be able to fiddle since she's so adept at orchestral violin style, playing and reading music, but to my surprise she has developed a great ear and has a real talent for hearing something and being able to execute it on her fiddle almost immediately including the bluegrass techniques I was showing her. I have played with violin, classically trained players and they just have a very hard time understanding and being able to relax into fiddle playing, so this is what I somewhat expected. Boy was I ever surprised though. She has become a great player in both the genre of violin music and also now fiddle music. We had a blast! I enjoyed meeting Allison and getting to know her also and it was a pleasant surprise learning that she also plays a little bit of music too. We had a wonderful two days of getting re-acquainted and playing music together learning from each other once again, and having Allison playing some back up guitar for us as we twin fiddled. I was able to teach them the mandolin chords and how to chop the mandolin in the bluegrass style and also the "G" run used in bluegrass guitar playing.
We jammed on our front porch until 12:30 last night and finally I began to get a little cold as the weather turned on us and it started to rain. They had pitched a tent and so I was a bit worried about the weather and hoping that it would just be a short shower but as the night went on we got severe thunder storms and it echoed off the mountains so loud that it shook the house. I was worried about them in the tent but this morning she told me that they stuck it out and were just fine.
I always love it when people are able to be self sufficient and withstand being less convenienced, still having fun and not allowing little things to bother them. I myself am that kind of a person and I've slept in my car, washed my hair with a hose, and slept in many tents just to be able to play music at different festivals and campouts through the last few years. It warms my heart when I see other people, my friends with the same passion and willing to do such things in order to play the music we love. Those are some of my fondest memories roughing it like that and playing bluegrass these past few years.
I just wanted to get this all written down in my blog today before I went to bed, and now I realize that it's after midnight so this is going to post as the next day, but I'm glad that Sabra and I are back in touch and back in our friendship. One thing I learned these past two days and that I never noticed before in Sabra; that is the gentle, kind, considerate person who she is and her kindness was once again evident as we played our music together and found a common ground in each of our styles. I was very impressed with how good she is musically and we just plain old had a great time.
Oh as a side note.....she even got to see the baby deer Jasper, and hold him and love on him getting lot's of fun pictures of them together. One thing I wanted to show them though and forgot was the beautiful pond we get to swim in down at Gail's place. I hope they can come back again and have more time, then I'll remember to take them down there and show them it. I guess I can post a picture of it on here too.
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