Fiddlers' Jam at the Scottish Games in Woodland, April 28 and 29, 2012

Several of us Riggity Jiggers will be sitting in with the Fiddlers' Jam Sessions at this weekend's Sacramento Valley Scottish Games & Festival at the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland. Bring an instrument if you'd like to sit in with the group on stage, or just bring your ears and listen in from the audience.

In case you think you might have trouble hearing the music, here's something that may convince you otherwise. I just received as a gift a peculiar little 1810 volume entitled "A Manual of Useful Knowledge &c. &c.," which proves itself worthy of the title by even one single entry, such as the following:

#271. To Make a Deaf Man hear the sound of a Musical Instrument. 

IT must be a stringed instrument, with a neck of some length, as a lute, a guitar, or the like, and before you begin to play, you must by signs, direct the deaf man to take hold with his teeth, of the end of the neck of the instrument, for then if one strikes the strings with the bow one after another, the sound will enter the deaf man's mouth, and be conveyed to the organ of hearing through the hole in the palate, and thus the deaf man will hear with a great deal of pleasure the sound of the instrument, as has been several times experienced; nay, those who are not deaf may make the experiment themselves, by stopping their ears so as not to hear the instrument, and then holding the end of the instrument in their teeth, while another touches the strings.

You see? There's no excuse for not coming to hear! Just remember to ask the musician politely for permission before you apply your teeth to the neck of the instrument. I'm sure he or she will happily agree to let you do so.