Small Joys–Heritage Gifts

About two weeks ago, my husband and I received a wonderful gift from cousins . Take a look. You might not have seen anything quite like it!

It’s called a violin-uke and sometime in the past–circa 1930–my husband’s great aunt and great uncle purchased it. As you can see it’s almost in perfect condition even after all these years.

We had some idea how it is played, because it bears a slight similarity to the bowed psaltery, an instrument I’ve learned to play, yet it also has strings in chord groups at the center. After a bit of sleuthing and experimentation, we decided that the center chords are played with a thumb pick on the left hand, and the strings on each side are played with a small bow that contacts the strings between the tuning pegs on each side. It’s not a pick-it-up-and-play-it-immediately kind of instrument, but with a little work, I believe we can produce some music!

We are so very grateful to our cousins who gifted it to us. We will play it in honor of them and their family, and (my husband’s) Great Aunt Carrie and Great Uncle Alex, who was a violinist, or if you prefer a fiddle player. We will pass the violin-uke down in the family as a treasured heirloom.

Do you have the joy of “caregiving” a family heirloom?

Joy!

Sue