For as long as I can remember my life has revolved around music and a desire to learn new things. At various times I have tried a variety of hobbies outside of music to provide some contrast to the musical routine of my life: restoring antique clocks, woodworking, ventriloquism, raising birds, RC planes, cross stitch, gourd art, and water gardening.
Sometimes these activities have also involved my love for music: pump organ rebuilding, pipe organ rebuilding, clog dancing, collecting nineteenth-century hymnals and sheet music, learning to play various instruments (organ, bagpipes, marimba, hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, Renaissance winds (recorder, crumhorn, sackbut, cornamuse, kortholt, rauschpfeife), tin whistle, steel drums, taiko drums, shamisen, banjo, ukulele, button accordion), transcribing and arranging music, and building instruments (Native American flutes, taiko drums, mountain dulcimer, scheitholt, marimba sencilla, crotales).
As a result of teaching the course Introduction to Fine Arts I became interested in the visual arts and tried batik, ceramics, painting, illuminated manuscripts, woodblock printing, stained glass, and bronze sculpting. More recently I have resumed my study of graphic design and have become fascinated with typography as well as cartooning.
The following links lead to examples of some of these activities.