Whenever I’m at a party or other non-musical gathering of people, it seems like I always get into a conversation about music education. The ubiquitous icebreaker question: “So… what do you do?” leads to an explanation of the work I’m doing with the ToneWay Project—which, for those of you who don’t know, is our family’s decade-long effort to make music accessible to anyone who wants to play, using stringed instruments and mountain music as a foundation. Anyway, what comes next is usually hearing about their take on music-making. And after scores of these conversations, I’ve noticed some interesting patterns.

First of all, it is a rare person indeed who doesn’t have a hunger to play music. They won’t always tell you directly, but you can see it in the way they idolize their friend or relative who plays this or that instrument.

On the other hand, most people have discounted music-making as an option for themselves… Continue reading ‘You’ve Got What It Takes… We All Do’