So!  Those of you who follow my twitter may remember me tweeting about getting a new instrument…or you may not. I told people they would have to guess what new instrument I got, and @citydifferent asked if he could have an mp3 of me playing it if he guessed correctly (was it happened, he did), which I thought was pretty fantastic. He’s going to have to wait a while, though.

Not only have I no idea how to play the blasted thing, but I’ve never played a chorded instrument before at all…unless you count things I played before I was ten. I don’t count that, though, because though that would make the number of instruments I play round up to a tidy six (even then, you’d have to count the miniharp as an autoharp), it would also make me feel a bit foolish if anyone ever, you know…asked me to play them.  I really can’t.

So! How to wrap my head around the idea of chords, after years of playing things where notes were tidy and one-at-a-time, and sometimes (piano, pennywhistle, sweet potato ocharina) even arranged helpfully in order?

OBVIOUSLY, the answer is to lay the instrument itself aside and head to the sewing room!  YEAH!

The thing, being the cheapie that it was, came with a cheapie bag. This Will Not Do! At least, not when I can take it apart and make it look MUCH cooler. This will likely be a bit of a work-in-progress, as not only have I not picked out the fabric I want to use on the outside, I don’t even really know what I want to make it out of.  I do have a few things I want to use, though. I want to make use of the plastic ironing idea laid out in this post.  Hopefully this will protect against rain and unexpected bloodbaths. If I should need a total seal I’ll just line the inside seams with hotglue, I guess. I’d like to have knitted fabric in there somewhere, because…umm, I like knitting?

I also have this cool patchwork fabric that I made for a set of curtains ages ago.  They’re basically patch-worked out of several pairs of jeans, and sewn with silvery thread that glitters beautifully, especially against the darker fabrics. They look really neat, I think, but they weren’t working as curtains: they weren’t on my windoes so they aren’t doing their job! The obvious answer is to cut them up and use them for an instrument case.  Or I could just use my old black trousers from school, the ones I got to do tech for the school theatre.  Ah, those were the days! Where I keep coming blank, really, is quilted fabric to add a bit of softness. I have canvas and plastic for strength, stiffness and waterproofiness, but what about a bit o’ padding?  STAY TUNED. Future rambling will most likely occur.