Old Joe Clark

At the end of Sly's first fiddle lesson (3 weeks ago), his fiddle instructor told him to go home and listen to at least five different versions of "Old Joe Clark" on youtube every single day, and try to play along. By the end of the week, he was squawking out a very recognizable "Old Joe Clark."

Three weeks later, Sly went to one of the local Saturday morning bluegrass jams, where he was ushered up front by several of the folks in attendance. It wasn't long at all before the lead mandolin player (Mr W, the fellow who told us to go to the fiddle instructor we ended up choosing) had Sly up there with him and a group of guys all playing Old Joe Clark! Sly had decided do just play "mandolin style" instead of using the bow, and Mr W partnered with him so Sly wouldn't have to "rise and shine" entirely by himself. And Sly did GREAT!

As folks were leaving towards the end, many of them came over to talk to both Sly and me, telling me to keep him playing fiddle, to not let him get discouraged, and reminding him that the most of the guys he was playing with had been playing for fifty years so don't get discouraged. I think he was a hit!

Sly also got invited to join the folks at a local monthly "opry" and play with them, and he was invited to another gentleman's house to see a music writing computer program called Music Time Deluxe. We weren't able to go over Saturday night (this new momma was just too beat!), but we did get to go over Tuesday evening, which worked better for us since we had a babysitter for the other boys and Sly's fiddle instructor was traveling. As it turns out, that was when some other folks regularly go to Mr N's house to practice jamming with each other and using Music Time Deluxe. We had no idea what we were getting in to! But lo and behold, Sly found himself getting yet more personalized impromptu jam music lessons for both fiddle and guitar! Is God cool, or what?Anyway, just wanted to share a bit about my fiddle boy, how proud we are, and how great he's doing in such a short time, and how God is setting him up with all these amazing hook ups. You go, Sly! (And if anyone can tell me how to upload a three minutes of video in less than three hours or more, I'll upload the video clip of him playing at the jam on Saturday morning!)