Sing-a-long magic

Hearty sing-a-longs are a rare and special occasion. They only happen with the right group of people, the right instruments, and the right atmosphere. Summer camp in West Virginia has always been my primary escape for singing songs in a group. Luckily, such an atmosphere occurred over the past week when some friends of mine and I went up to Old Lyme, Connecticut to stay in an old colonial house on Long Island Sound that is owned and maintained by Ellen's family. Everyone got a chance to relax and it was the perfect way to end our college careers.


But back to the subject at hand: times like these never fail to rekindle my excitement in the undeniable intimacy and unifying power of folk music. All pretensions or preconceptions about the music are lost and all that matters is that everyone is having a grand ol' time. It requires a certain amount enthusiasm of each person and thus the sum becomes much more than its parts. And amazingly we managed to entertain ourselves for hours with just a couple of guitars and our own voices.

Events like this must have been even more magical before the advent of abundantly recorded music too. Can you imagine? Without records, CDs, mp3s or even the radio, the only way to enjoy good music was too make it yourself! I can't decide which generations are more spoiled - the ones who have all sorts of music readily available at their fingertips or the ones who had no choice but to put their heart and soul into recreating the magic of music.


Not only that, every time such a happening arises it prompts me to grab the guitar and up my axemanship. Being several months out of practice, I craved being able to remember the chord progressions I was once so familiar with. Looks like my free time for the next few weeks will be booked.