I usually don't start a new topic but this is something I've been thinking about before every recent trip:

Once I was at a campsite in the Sylvania Wilderness being entertained by a guitar player at the site next to mine. I wondered what it would be like to bring a guitar along and play while sitting on the edge of the water enjoying the view, or next to a campfire by myself in the wilderness. Now that I have learned to play….er…hack a few chords, I’ve been had an urge to bring along the guitar but always dismissed it thinking about the inconvenience of toting that thing around in a canoe and on portages for a week. For me, playing is relaxation and enjoyment on a personal level, I do it for myself. Similar to the feeling I get while relaxing at the end of the day in canoe country, I can feel the stress flowing away.

Has anyone ever brought their guitar into canoe country?

Would the noise (I call it music) destroy the feeling of solitude if heard by others and be in violation of the rules for a “quiet journey”? Any opinions?

i don't know exactly butt my opinion: no playing after ___ o'clock, no hip hop, rap, or heavy metal, best but not mandatory to stick with music indigenous to the region (gordon lightfoot, leonard cohen, stan rogers). You're pretty industrious jimar, maybe you've just hit on a new product to develop, the pac-guitar.

Hey jimmar you can't lose.......folk will either pay you to play or pay you to stop ;)

Prepare to have your mind blown - there already is such a thing (a pac-guitar) and not some piece of junk either:
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They make some decent   (You need to Login or Register these days.  Go for it.

Sorta on subject....  check out the song, "Can You Canoe?" by the okee dokee boys!

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How about a bagpipe/guitar duet some year Jimmar?  We can get Prouty on the harmonica, db on the spoons, Jimbo on the . . . nevermind.  Canada might revoke our passports if they ever found out.

This will no doubt make me unpopular with some.  I am a retired music teacher and I love most kinds of music, including many kinds of music that are made on, with, or including, guitar.

I do not, however, want to hear it in the canoe country.  If you take your guitar, I hope you are somewhere far away from me (which is likely, since I only travel in the BW anymore and I think you go to the Q), and that you sing and play very softly.

When I am in the "wilderness", I only want to hear the birds and the silence.   ;)

In my case, this also applies to harmonicas, banjos, mandolins, harps, and (sorry PJ)--yes, even bagpipes!   ;D  As for singers--shhhhh--sing very softly!   :dankk2

I'm game for almost anything....

...but what did you think of the Okee Dokee boys? 
They make me smile.


prouboy

them Okee Dokee Brothers got me a grinnin' and a tappin' my toe and yes I do canoe!

Lynda - true... I will likely be far from you so no worries, and no offense taken, I completely understand your point of view, mine is similar. I don't even like to hear loud talking or constant jabbering between partners in a passing canoe. One thing that attracts me to the place is the solitude. I wouldn't want to ruin that for anyone else but I also would like to make my experience as rich a possible and I think a little picking and strumming might add to the richness.

Not sure about the pipes though. I like them, could be interesting, we'd probably drive a few more folks out the park forever, maybe not a bad thing!

I would be really bummed if I was enjoying my camp and then someone's music came drifting across the water. Reminds me of  a day on Tuscarora? in the BWCA when I had to endure a man paddling around singing at top of his lungs "You gotta do what you gotta do."

I like tranquility and quiet as much as the next guy.  I really do!  In fact, I have told boy scout leaders they ought to teach their scouts how far sound travels and respect other wilderness travelers. 

That said, I admit that I sometimes enjoy singing while paddling. On a perfect blue-sky day, with wind at my back, food in my belly, good friends around me, and life seems like it can't get any better, I gotta sing! 

I only wish I knew some of the bawdy voyageurs songs. 

prouboy

jimmar wrote on Oct 27^th, 2013 at 2:07am:

them Okee Dokee Brothers got me a grinnin' and a tappin' my toe and yes I do canoe!

Those boys are Minnesota originals.  In fact, on August 20th, 2013, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton announced that August 20th would be "Okee Dokee Brothers Day" in the State of Minnesota.

prouboy

My opinion?

If it were windy, and I heard you in the afternoon, I wouldn't have much of a problem. Same deal with everyone I hear before I see.

If on a still night and you were on a distant shore, you better be damn good and play one songs and at the most two that fit my mood perfectly.

If you were on a lake all by yourself, oddly enough, I do carry two spoons with me on every trip...

If, oh let's say James Talyor (since he's been in the news) was was musing with his fingers in a canoe on MY lake and within earshot at dusk or after, I'd be very offended but for the (once in a lifetime) novel experience.

After several days in canoe country I am more apt than not to start singing praises to the creator of the beauty which has engulfed me. This has always been a private enriching experience.......another reason to paddle solo (god will forgive my lack of tonality much quicker than my fellow humanoids).

As per the guitar I am picturing a larger group during the shoulder seasons with a nice fire going. Sounds like fun.......but even during prime time I just don't see the sound carrying all that far except during a perfectly still morning. Throw in a bit of wind and some birds and it would blend in quite well I think.

I "sing" hymns when I portage.  Always have.  But I sing them silently.  They are the cadence to my steps.  I have several favorites, and have all of the verses memorized, so that it doesn't get too monotonous.  Some examples are "Christ is the King, O Friends Rejoice", "On Eagles Wings", and "The First Song of Isaiah" (which is sometimes called Canticle 9 and is a setting of Isaiah 12: 3-6).  These are slower, for a more "slogging" pace, but the texts are very encouraging.  When I was younger, I used more upbeat marching style hymns like "Lead On, O King Eternal".

So. . .it isn't that I don't sing.  I always sing!  You will just never hear me singing in the wilderness!  I like to think that God hears me, and the cadence encourages me to keep my feet moving.  The outward silence still allows me to hear the rustle of a squirrel (or a moose/bear?) in the woods, or the song of the white-throated sparrow in the trees.  Accompaniment to my inner song!

I wouldn't want to hear it in the parks but at a cabin resort or campground, sure. I think guitar etc. singalongs around a campfire in a campground is a greatr time.  In the BW or Q I think it would be out of place.

I was backpacking solo in Glacier National Park years ago and deep in the backcountry I heard a flute in the distance.  I was headed toward one of the Chalets they have in the park and as I got closer it got louder.  Sure enough I came upon a pretty young woman who worked at the Chalet sitting on top of a boulder playing her flute.

This was 1985 and I still remember her name - she gave me a watercolor of the sunset the next day and signed it "Adele".  Cool chick from Oregon.

I've been able to pick up the distant sounds of the drumming from the Indian Village during their Pow Wows. That was OK by me. Not so loud I couldn't get to sleep.

Hope others wouldn't mind if I tried getting the wolves to howl. That's about the only loud sounds I'd be making.

One year I had "Look on the bright side of life" from Monty Python in my head while I was portaging. You know the song where they're all hanging on a dungeon hall in chains.  :D

I took a long trip in the mid 80's with a friend who is a professional guitar player. We carried it through most of the park. One foggy evening he played slide on Suzanette, long and slow    (You need to Login or Register and graced by the loons. It was worth carrying that damn thing around.

The Python crew were hanging on crosses when singing "Always look on the bright side of Life" - Life of Brian

Interesting...didn't know if I'd even get a response. Perhaps I struck a chord   ;D with some folk who want their own journey to be quiet. I think I'm much more in that camp too,
and I'm not really a Kum Ba Yah, sing along kind of guy anyway.

So for me I think I'll leave the guitar home and get my kicks playing on my front porch and annoying my neighbors.

I've been making music for 55 years (multiple instruments) and there's no way I'd bring an instrument into the BW or Q.  Although there are packable guitars (the Martin Backpacker was, I believe, the first), I would never get one anywhere near a campfire because the radiant heat would destroy it.  And I sure don't want to pack anything I don't need.  If I want music I can use my MP3 player.

I carried that full sized guitar all over the Q, but I wouldn't dream of bringing an MP3 or radio.

How'd this happen?  I put this note in the wrong thread!  Jeeesh.  Well, here it is again, damnit.


So, do you know when Spring arrives?  Is it by some scientific measurement, such as date of ice out, duration of daylight, or average temperature?  No!  It's by singing (oh yeah, and kissing). 

That's according to my favorite poet, ee cummings.

...While you and i have lips and voices which
are for kissing and to sing with
who cares if some oneeyed son of a bitch
invents an instrument to measure Spring with?...

I love that.

prouboy

Great quote prouboy!

I like that quote as well P-boy  :thumbup
On a Allagash river trip years ago one of the river campsites was near some sort of camp.:-/   Even though we couldn't see any signs of one.

That night while watching a glorious sunset, someone played "TAPS".

It brought tears to my eyes and while you can't pick/choose if your for taking/playing music in "quiet" places, I found this particular effort to be a very apt for the occasion.

A bagpipe might be just the thing to keep those pesky bears out of camp...

Spartan2 wrote on Oct 27^th, 2013 at 12:12am:

... I love most kinds of music, including many kinds of music that are made on, with, or including, guitar. I do not, however, want to hear it in the canoe country.  ... When I am in the "wilderness", I only want to hear the birds and the silence.  ...

Agreed 100%

Maybe if you're Tony McManus playing one of his bagpipe arrangements for guitar
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but then it's a choice of would I rather be wilderness tripping or listening to Tony McManus.

Ditto to Joe's 100%.

I reframed from giving my opinion because I was afraid it would be rude.  Others have delivered there preference so here is mine. 
I loved music when I was in high school.  Then I went to college and had a room mate who could not play a guitar but made noise on it while I was trying to do home work and sleep. After I got out of college I had some debt  to pay off so I moved into a house with 3 other guys to save money.  You guessed it one of them could not play a guitar but he had a amplifier so he made up for quality with volume.   With that stated you might think I would request you not play your guitar in the wilderness.  I think that is a ideal place for all guitars to be played as long as they are played solo.  Solo they cant be heard by any one or it would be ok it they were tenor. That should be ten or 20 miles away.

My first trip to the BWCAW involved a bear eating most of our food on the third day of a seven day trip. That lit the fire and we decided the next year we would really experience wilderness. We didn't know enough about the Q so we opted for the LLC fly in and work our way back to Mudro. Within 30 minutes of the plane departing we were being 'entertained' by a camp full of people with musical instruments singing (honestly) Kum Ba Ya. That is when we knew we needed to go further north.
Sorry, not a fan.
My wife puts catchy outdoor quotes on our business' Facebook page every day. This one came up last week:
"When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant."
~Author Unknown

Probably one night every trip, one of the guys I travel with in Quetico breaks out an I-pod and some speakers and he and the rest re-live their high school days with some Neil Young, Beatles, Jesse Winchester, John Prine, Dylan and the like.

It drives me crazy. Oh I like me some Neil Young ... but I go to Quetico to get away from phones, Blackberries, speakers, I-pods, I-pads, wires etc. I don't want ANY more reminder of civilization than there needs to be. And I'm always fearful that the music is carrying off to some other campsite (even tho we typically see very few others).

So I vote "no."

I love music, and under certain circumstances the right song played on a guitar or a harmonica would enrich an evening by giving a haunting, mournful feel around the flickering fire. No doubt.

But what if the dude starts singing, too? And the whole group decides to join in? Off key. Loud. And it was such fun, they decide to repeat? And karaoke night breaks out?

And shoot, since we're encouraging people to bring their instruments, how about a trumpet? Cuz a buddy of mine who played in the marching band way back in high school (and was hired by the local cemetery to play Taps at veterans' funerals) is still hung up on that kind of music, and he'd much rather bring his trumpet. He'd be a little rusty, but hey ...

Or drums? Someone could easily carve a few birch drumsticks, flip over an aluminum canoe and some soot-caked cooking pots and give a whirl at a pretty good Neil Peart impression. boom boom BAM boom boom RING BAM. (Let's not discriminate against drummers.)

Another good friend likes to rap to himself, or rather, out loud to himself.  Or could you imagine waking up to a singer practicing the same aria over and over and over and over at the next campsite?

What's music to some of us doesn't translate to others. We can't assume it does.

And with the music playing I can't hear the loons, owls, gulls, eagles, humming pine needles, clicking birch leaves, crackling fire and rustling waves.

Music creates a party atmosphere, and to me, that's not what canoe camping is about.

(That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.)

8-)

-- kypaddler

Tripping with a guitar? Kindling...

It's just really hard to find campsites with currant bushes, to plug in the amps....

Those who have taken the time to learn the songs of the Voyageurs and sing them while paddling are appreciated. All other man made music in canoe country is inappropriate at best. I go there to get away from it. I find videos of canoe trips with a rock and roll sound track attached ruined by the music. Many years ago an old friend insisted on bringing his guitar. He was too tired to play it the first night and it was too trashed by the next day to be functional. He dragged it over ever portage though.
Jon

Well, Jon, I am glad that your friend dragged his trashed guitar over every portage, because the alternatives would have been to throw it in the lake, hide it in the brush somewhere, or burn it up, right?  None of these are good environmentally sound options.   ;D

And I TOTALLY agree with you about the canoe trip videos!  To the point that I now watch canoe trip videos, if I watch them at all, with the sound turned off.  If I ever made a video, or even a slide show, I don't think it would have any music.  It just distracts me from the beauty of the photos.

At one point, when I was younger, I knew a couple Voyageur songs.  I didn't even sing these out loud--just in my mind.  Silence is, indeed, golden.   :)

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind...How many years...?

Is there anyone out there -- some historian perhaps -- who has researched and collected the old voyageur songs? 

I once heard somebody from North or South Dakota had collected a bunch of the old songs...but if I had his name I lost it.

prouboy

Somewhere I have a CD, but if I could find it, it would take more looking than I am willing to do right now.   Sorry.

Most of them were in French, and it isn't a language I am comfortable singing in. . .even when I was taking voice lessons in college I was always more easily able to sing in Italian or German than French.  So when I sang them, it was very badly.   :-[

But yes, there are collections of them.  And if you do some research, I am sure you could find them.

Thanks Lynda. 

If this winter drags on like I think it will, I'll certainly have time to do some research.  I think my first call will be to the Grand Portage National Historic Site. 

prouboy

Just a couple that I found when I googled it.  I thought I would find more. 

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There were some links to some youtube videos, too, but I didn't follow those.

Thanks again Lynda.  I promise not to sing them if I ever meet you on the water or on a portage.  :)

prouboy

:dankk2 :D :D

I found a slew of voyageur songs.  I'm going to take this up to my old friend whose wife teaches piano.

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I promise to be respectful.  If you hear someone poorly singing french/canadian folk songs in the QP, just holler and I'll stop.

prouboy