When I was in Grade 7 in 1968, Vikki F. played her 12-string Gibson guitar and sang folk music. That is when I decided to become a folk singer. Vikki taught me my first three chords ~ G, C and D. Then, as a bonus, Em. You can do a lot with those chords. 

 

By high school I was dressing in hippy clothes and playing folksongs and gospel songs at Victoria Park in Kitchener with a bunch of other freaks. We described ourselves that way before anyone else could! 

 

A woman I met told me she had played guitar as a teenager and enjoyed it, but once she grew up and had a family she didn't play anymore. And that would happen to me. 

 

But I said she was wrong. 

 

And now, more than 50 years later, I still play guitar. I have added ukulele, ocean drum, rainstick, singing bowls, and kazoo to blend with my stories. 

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My repertoire is eclectic. But for adults I mostly rely on the stories in old ballads from the Middle Ages. They deal with adult themes of love and death. And folksongs, of course. 

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Children know how to do music; singing and dancing with wild abandon. Their songs are stories too, and so are the movements that go along with them.

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So, that just goes to show that even though I didn't become a folk singer, I kind of did, and wandered into stories so I could tell them. Not bad, eh?