Banjo Lessons 1 - 10

Lesson #1 My Teacher
My teacher wears suspenders and speaks in rhyme. Coolest factor is really high right now.

Lesson #2 Tuning a Banjo
Teacher-Let's check your banjo to see if the cold weather outside got to it.
Me-(after plucking acrossthe 5 strings) How's that?
Teacher - Well, close enough for country music.

Lesson #3 The Scale

I had a lot of trouble finding B Flat until I remembered that A Sharp and B Flat are the same note.

Lesson #4 Sheet Music
There is no sheet music for banjo. Real banjoist play by ear/what feels right...I'm in trouble.

Lesson #5 Wall of Frustration
We all experience the wall of frustration. It's like El Guapo, we all have our own. Mine just happens to be learning how to play the banjo.  As my teacher said, The only thing you learn from success is that it feels good.

Lesson #6 Mistaken Identity 
My teacher has me confused with someone else, that is good at playing the banjo.

 Lesson #7 Clapping 

It's really helpful to sing while you figure out how you want to play the song. -Teacher Sing AND play banjo? At the same time? I can't sing and clap at the same time.

Lesson #8 Costume
If I ever get serious about performing...I need to consider a costume. Every other banjoist has one..


Lesson #9 Sickness
If you are sick, do not go to banjo lessons.


Lesson #10 Blizzard
If there is a blizzard, banjo lessons will be canceled.

RimRock Farm

 

 I had heard a lot of great stories, so I had to check it out myself. It started out as acres of untamed land and through more than a decade of blood, sweat and tears became a beautiful cross country course that's also been used for weddings, retreats, etc. In fact, they even have their own graveyard. It 's uniqueness, makes it ... unique.

 

 This feature is of a covered bridge over one of the many ponds. As you can see, I was not the only visitor. It's a busy place.

This is a view from inside the covered bridge. Can you find a rhombus? Triangle?

Another cool feature would be all of the silhouettes of folks relating to KU track history and beyond.This is one of Jim Ryun, he broke a lot of distance running records, went to the Olympics and such. As if that wasn't challenging enough, he served as a U.S. Congressman for quite a while.

This one is of Coach Timmons, the man behind RimRock Farm and former coach to a lot of driven, successful athletes and adults. Thanks for the boost, Pheffer...The silhouettes are larger than life size.

A lot of runners have told me it is a challenging course to run, and I only walked part of it. I can say, it does take a lot out of you, but it was worth it all.