masterhandmusic.com Blog

Today is Easter, and normally I am not a poet, but I wrote this today…..

I went to the place my folks are laid to rest

flowers as far as the eye can see

some living, some never dying

but my hands were empty, no flowers I brought

It’s not a place often I visit

for a promise to Dad once I made

not to bring flowers, for here he is not

the other side of Jordan – to Glory he has gone

I heard the LORD say as I entered this place

“why do you seek the living amongst the dead?”

Mom used to say “only a shell you see”

for the body with fail, but the spirit lives on

Resurrection Day is today, this is the day

not reliving the death, but celebrating the lives

once lived before us, as tales once told

and holding on to that Blessed Hope of our Resurrection Day

—–Lana Exline

4/4/2010

Here's the actual business card.

Ok, so I am not real good at keeping the “BLOG” rolling, so to speak.  Forgive me. 

So if you have visited the website, www.masterhandmusic.com/musiclessons and take a look at the Background page, it will basically cover the answer to the question “why name the studio Master Hand Music?“.  Basically. 

But if you haven’t visited that page, here’s the reason.

My Dad’s brother made a living in luthierie making violins/fiddles, some guitars, dulcimers, yard gizmos that spin, etc.  He was indeed a true woodworker.  He in fact was said to have made a guitar for Elvis back in the day.  I have never seen a picture, nor read, nor have found factual evidences of the sort, but it is possible.  My uncle, Ed Exline, lived in Verona, MS literally just down the road from the infamous birthplace of Elvis.  (If it is in a museum somewhere please let me know, I would prize that information). 

Uncle Emmitt also, amist the many he made, “built” (as he used to say) a fine violin for President Carter, with the official Presidential Seal hand carved on the top of the back.  Now, this one is not a fathom, I actually with my own two eyes have seen this instrument.  At the time, and perhaps is still the case, there was a monetary limit to what the President is able to accept.  So, the instrument was insured very heftily and sent back to my uncle.  Hmmm, wonder where that one went to.

In any case, my uncle had labeled his “shop”  The Master Hand Violin Shop.  So, really it was a no brainer to sort of borrow the name.

Next post I will talk just a little more about that.

Last post I mentioned about a fiddler from my youth who has made a career playing music.  Pat White, who plays fiddle in the Navy Bluegrass Band called Country Current, has been entertaining since his youth.  Follow the link for more information and recordings that are available.  http://www.navyband.navy.mil/MUCpwhite.shtml

I have cassette recordings of the pair of us playing fiddle along with a fella named Herald Hill.  I am thinking Pat was in Middle School at the time we played together.  I was in High School and was in the school orchestra with his very gifted sister who was the concert master at the time.  I wonder what became of her? Hmmmm. 

My point in all this is that of the quote mentioned in the earlier post.  Pat chose to entertain (always did like the attention) and I chose a different path.  Raising kids, working and being a wife.  I never cared for the stage performance scenario anyways….in fact, I really don’t like it at all.  

What if……….what if I had actually liked performing.  Entertaining, or whatever you want to call it.  What if I had been able to do really nothing else but play fiddle for a living?  Ug.  Who knows.  A little rhyme I once heard goes like this, “if if’s and buts were candy and nuts, what a wonderful Christmas it would be”.   So, only the Lord knows.  Anyways, I bore so easily which is why I play fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar.  A master of them I am not.  But I do pick them all. 

Speaking of master, I will at my next post explain the reason behind the name Master Hand Music Studio.  I’ll give you a clue.  I am not the master of the music:)

The quote “those who can– do, those who can’t– teach” came from a man named H.L. Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956).  I had heard that quote before, but didn’t know where it came from, at least not until tonight.  If you take the time to look him up on the encyclopedia on the net, it can give you the low-down on him.   The short of it is that he was a writer for the Baltimore Morning Herald and then the Baltimore Sun……….and many other works as well.  He was quite the opinionated fella and not to mention an Agnostic as I just learned………..hmmmmm.

What does this have to do with me?  Well, I teach.  I am not a performer.  Or an entertainer.  Sometimes I wish I had that gift of captivating the attention of an audience and running with it.  But it’s simply not in me. 

So, I teach. 

The next post I will tell about a fiddler that I played music with as a child.  Someone who “can” and is still doing so professionally.

Well, this is a NEW THING for the New Year….a BLOG!  What the heck is one anyway?