Anyone can make music...
regardless of age, musical ability or knowledge! Many never try to play an instrument because they have a fear of music or the inability to read standard notation. Long before there were video games, televisions, or even radios, there was a form of entertainment, a tradition passed down from generation to generation, the heritage of music. Sadly, that heritage has all but disappeared from our country with the appearance of modern technology.Traditional music of the Appalachians was not taught by reading music; it was taught and passed down father to son, mother to daughter with hands-on instruction.
Anyone Can Make Music is more than a title. It is our philosophy. Even today, within the Appalacian, Blueridge, and Ozark Mountains are folk who cannot even read or write their own name, but they can pick a 5-string banjo, flat-pick a dulcimer, or play a variety of some of our other traditional instruments. They don't read music, but they can make music, oft times better than today's "learned professional".
For several years I have taught the hammered dulcimer, the 5-string, and most recently, the appalacian or mountain dulcimer, guitar, mandolin, and autoharp, to people who cannot read a note of music. I teach in the traditional method, one still used but almost lost to history...and it works!
I do not teach by ear, but listening and hearing what we play is a forgotten "art" and plays a great role in traditonal teaching and learning. I truly belive that if a person can hum, whistle, or sing (and not necessarily on key) then they can learn to play an instrument. Anyone Can Make Music is a unique program that demonstrates this philosophy and one you are your students will not only greatly benefit from, but enjoy as well!
