Being Is Doing and Doing Beats Applauding
Writing and listening hard to music for a long time has really only taught me one thing: Making music with other people, no matter how ineptly, is nearly always more fun and challenging than simply being in the audience; and speaking from my own experience as a mediocre if enthusiastic saxophonist, and even worse guitarist, this applies especially to improvised music. (Actually I've learned two things. The second is that the probability of a show starting at its official ""curtain" time decreases in direct proportion to the the lateness in the day of said time.)
So I was happy to learn that the organization of "music products retailers and retail affiliates" known as NAMM has (with more than a little enlightened self interest) initiated an online program devoted to the benefits and how-to's of Recreational Music Making (RMM). NAMM has done its research and learned that 82 percent of the population doesn't play a musical instrument but wishes it had learned to play one. A population that may increase as public education continues to slash music education from school budgets. Music making reduces stress, as any punk rocker could tell you, and, hey, did you know that "recreational music-making modulates natural killer cell activity, cytokines, and mood states in corporate employees"? Me neither.
The RMM site can help you get started playing guitar, piano, or whatever with online music lessons
. They have a blog, naturally, and if you've always dreamed of starting a community drum circle, they can help you with that, too.