N1M © 2003—2024
Laura P. Schulman
6 years ago
Howdy y'all, thanks so much for listening. Just a quick update.....
As some of you know, I had surgery in February, 2017 to fix damaged cartilage in my left wrist. I guess MRI doesn't show quite everything, because the hand surgeon found massive destruction of joint structures that was completely unsuspected, based on imaging. See, I have a connective tissue abnormality, and my joints kind of fall apart easily.
What this means is more surgery to, uh, "salvage the joint," as they so delicately put it. Taking out some of the little bones, fusing things...ugh, I don't even want to think about it!
What this means for my music: (censored!)
I've been in a wrist brace ever since surgery #1, and hoping to talk my hand surgeon into putting in a certain kind of artificial wrist joint that will be more like a normal joint vs the other options, all of which come with severely reduced range of motion....not good for a banjo player!
Bottom line: If I get an artificial wrist I'm gonna rehab that sucker like crazy! I've got whole lots of chunes that I haven't recorded yet, and it's all riding on my left wrist getting rebuilt.
Hope all y'all have had a decent summer, not plagued with injuries or hurricanes or fires....now to have a nice safe (well, you know what I mean, dontcha?) cozy winter...crank up those chunes and dance! Always makes me feel mo betta.
All my best xxx
Laura
Laura P. Schulman
8 years ago
Hi y'all! I'm so glad to be here, and I just wanna say that I consider everyone who digs my music to be a personal friend.
Ya know, music is a very personal thing. I respect everyone's taste in music, whether it's something I dig or not. My philosophy is that the specific vibrations of different kinds of music change the energy of our bodies, even the chemistry, even the way our cells do their internal dance...not "just" our brain and whole nervous system. So, for instance, when I get up in the morning I listen to mantras. This sets me up in a balanced way for whatever is going to manifest today. Mind you, I'm not always so chill all day, but at least I try!
So, what does this have to do with old time banjo music?
Everything!
Authentic old time banjo music is built around mantra. It's the American form of mantra, where you've got a simple structure that repeats and repeats, going around like a wheel. The player (me) goes into deep trance, and from that point, whatever happens, happens. Staying in the trance, letting it carry me along, eyes closed, oblivious to everything but the experience, in the moment. And the end of the tune....makes itself manifest. I don't just decide, well, I guess I'll end it here, unless I'm recording and my producer kicks my chair or something! Or, as often happens, I get so tranced out that I forget to swallow, and then take a breath and choke on my spit! **TMI**
Laura P. Schulman
10 years ago
Merry Christmas, Cool Yule, Happy Belated Hanukah, and best wishes to all the other Wonderful Winter
Ah, the Winter Holidays! The top of the year. Kind of like a great big Wednesday, and then, after the Big Cleanup of Winter, we get to slide down the hill of Spring into the sleepy summer. Well, at least around here in hot and humid North Carolina it's sleepy--hammock style. It's hang out on the front porch picking' in the cool evening. But don't get bug repellent on your fiddle/banjo/mandolin, etc. Eats holes in the finish. I know, because one of my fiddles has a nice smear in the top varnish from DEET :( Anyway, it's not summer yet, except for those of you who live in the Southern Hemisphere. I can't get used to the idea of celebrating the Winter Holidays in the summer, any more than you can imagine celebrating them in the cold.
I hope everybody is staying healthy this winter. My grandfather of blessed memory used to say, "If you don't have your health, you don't have anything." I heartily agree with him. But I know that many of you are struggling with illness, whether acute or chronic, and for you I wish a speedy recovery, from the bottom of my heart!
Speaking of health, my CD #2 has been delayed because I broke my right wrist while getting healed at an Ayurvedic hospital in Tamil Nadu, South India. In the course of the fracture healing, my all-important-for-banjo-playing thumb got stuck between two pieces of bone, requiring surgery to get it out. The surgery caused pressure on the other 4 tendons on the back of my hand. Bummer. But a steroid injection that I had two weeks ago seems to be working to get rid of the swelling, so I hope to get back to playing just as soon as I gain confidence that this is not a passing improvement.
Take care, y'all, enjoy the parts that make you smile, and learn from everything else.
Wishing you all the best this Holiday season and forever,
Laura
--for any of you who might not have received my last email, my CD "Pretty Little Dog" is on sale at CDBaby for 50% off of everything--physical copies, digital album downloads, and digital MP3 single tracks! If you didn't receive any of my stuff for Hanukah/Christmas/Yule/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice, hurry over to (expired link) and pick up a copy for yourself, and a couple for those people on your list you didn't get to, or want to surprise with something new and different...you know what I mean.
Laura P. Schulman
10 years ago
It's fall and the wild turkeys are gobbling in the woods. There's a flock of about eight of 'em that stroll around my property taunting me.
Not much banjo pickin' going on around here, unfortunately. Both of my hands kind of suddenly developed Arthur-ritis. I'd like ol' Arthur to take the next train out of here so I can get back to making that second CD everybody's been asking for! I'm leaning hard on the Curcumin (comes from turmeric, very potent anti-inflammatory) and it seems to be helping, so I hope to be back in the banjo-picking saddle soon.
I wish you and your loved ones a healthy winter. Get yer flu shot! Yeah, I know a lot of people don't believe in 'em, but all I can say is the last time I got the flu was in 1985, which was the last year that I did NOT get a flu shot. But that's just me.
All the best,
Laura P. Schulman
Gift giving time is right around the corner! Might be that someone on your list is an old-time music lover...'nuff said!
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Laura P. Schulman
Banjo Pickin' Girl