Chapter Nine

         As his banjo, I'm feeling a bit left out. He's not picked me up as much as he use to.  But it comes in fits and starts, and so I'll wait for another fit or start. Or this could be the way it is.

    He played me yesterday. He skipped me today. He has moved me to the office (again). Sigh. Oh that office with the 'Gone Fishing' sign constantly affixed to the window pane.

    Another day, he didn't play with me.  But he heard a few good songs, even one that reminded him of me.  Or, so I hope. I thinking of  that one where Roberta Flack sings 'his fingers slowly strumming '. 

    Well, instead of me whining on like this, let me just say there were periods of time where he didn't play me. 

    Did I mention I did get played a bit by someone else? This new player was much better than Harry. Harry is a very metronomic rhythm to his strumming.  This player had some rhythm, even swing. And well, yes I began to sing in ways I didn't know I could. I felt like part of the river of music that a banjo can make. Harry's strumming was ... and here I go whining about things. By the way, Harry knows he has issues with rhythm, he knows he doesn't clap on the right note often. I am not whispering behind his back.

    Is this the natural history of a banjo owned by a man with no rhythm.  Can he find the rhythm through me? Not if he don't play me.

Chapter Eight

    As his banjo, now existing in the main room, I could see that working for the woman was the new value offer for Harry. Harry traveled from, "How do I prepare for a disaster", to "I'm in a disaster", to "How do I make it better." Harry cycled through them.

    This is not to be taken lightly. Thair are many kinds of disasters. Some of them we share, some we don't. Thinking about disasters can bring anxiety itself.

    Beng in a disaster has all the impacts of what that disaster means. Disasters are painful.  The ones we share, and the ones we don't. A disaster brings indeterminate times. Questions like "Are we there yet?", and "When will we get ...?" and "When can I go home?"

    As his banjo, "How do I make it better?" had a ring to it.  He might just be able to make me sing-a-ling a song with that. But yet he endures in the land of plowing.

    And, so, tell me something good today.  Something new can be just as good. Tell me something new today. And why is that important? Oh my, not another disaster. 

    Nope.

    A lot of what we have is not a disaster. And learning something new can brighten the mind and the day.

Chapter Seven

     If a guitar can weep, I can whine a bit.  A banjo can whine with chords about the state of the world.  We banjos have done it for generations, and we will do it for generations to come.  At least that is what I was told by my banjo kin at the store. 

    The banjo builders were moving so fast at the banjo factory, I as a banjo before I even knew what I was.  I got to the store that had me month to month in 2018.  I went month to month for a while and then I got a for real home.

    A banjo can sing a bit, too. But will the singing ever be with me, and make a difference?  That's a question, which I don't think about it. 

    A musical instrument can be a source of discomfort for many of those surrounding a musician new to their instrument. The discomfort is caused by the off notes, and irregular tempo. The musician makes many mistakes in the use of the musical instrument.  Initially, and including a longer span than some can endure.

    As a banjo, do I become a part of that discomfort?  Yes.  We are not talking air banjo here, this is a physical banjo being strummed. And if a lot of bad, bad banjo is played, people can get tired of hearing any banjo.  Importantly, the banjo's human should like to hear what proper sounds the banjo can make too!

    Therefore, I implore you to play me to the best of your abilities. If not for this banjo, then for all the other banjos in the world, now and to ever come. Please don't be the one that killed the banjo!

    Frankly, I'm not amazed about the disappearing recorder, because recorders have so commonly been used to teach lots and lots of elementary students about playing an instrument.  If you didn't know about recorders, well now you know why you didn't.