SONG OF THE SAW
When you write a book, you just hope that you can sell it to a publisher. Once you sell it to a publisher, you hope that readers and reviewers will like it. Then you hope that the book will sell well, which will open the door to more books. But once a book is out in the world, unexpected things happen which even a fiction writer couldn’t imagine. And, because THE SEVEN WONDERS OF SASSAFRAS SPRINGS deals with quirky stories, quirky things have happened since it was published. The most recent surprise was an email from Natalia “Saw Lady” Paruz, an accomplished musician who specializes in playing the musical saw and other lesser known instruments, such as cowbells and the glass harp. In addition to her performances with such diverse groups as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and John Hiat and appearances on MTV, VH1 and Prairie Home Companion, she is a “busker” (street performer) in NYC. Here’s a little bit of what she told me:
“The other day I was playing the saw at Times Square, when a lady and her daughter came to a screeching halt in front of me. They told me they had just read ‘The Seven Wonders Of Sassafras Springs’ and were absolutely sure that the author made up the bit about a saw that can play music. They were sure such a thing doesn’t really exist. So, they were astonished to see/hear me do exactly that - play a saw. I thought it was funny and actually very cool, so I wrote about it in the blog I keep about what happens when I play on the street - www.SawLady.com/blog and I also put an ad for your book there. The lady bought my CD in order to show her book club that saw playing really exists :)”
You can imagine my jaw dropped when I wrote that email. First of all, it’s so cool that book clubs are reading the book. And also, it’s a long way from Lonedell (not just in miles) to Times Square. But I absolutely love both places!
Me in Times Square
Me in LonedellNow I’m sending the book to Natalia and she’s sending me a CD. You can listen to her music on her website, too. I guarantee, it will knock your socks off. You can also learn a lot about busking in New York. It’s http://www.sawlady.com. The Sassafras blog entry is June 15 and that url is http://www.sawlady.com/blog.
I have to chuckle at something else Natalia had to say:
“Just curious - how did you come to know about saw playing? The reason why I’m asking is because in your book you show knowledge of the saw which most people don’t have:
1) The date the story you wrote takes place at - 1923 - was when saw playing was very popular in the USA (it later declined in popularity and almost disappeared. Now I am part of a revival movement to bring saw playing back into popularity).
2) You wrote about crops that grow better when saw music is played to them - a saw player from India claims to have discovered that by chance years ago when he first started playing saw.”
The fact that people play saws is just one of those interesting oddities I have stored in my mind. I suppose I heard about them growing up in Missouri, and I think some places in Missouri and Arkansas, such as Silver Dollar City, feature saw players. I just figured it was popular in the 20s. I wasn’t aware of a revival - but I’m delighted. When I speak at schools and ask students if they’ve ever heard a musical saw, I only occasionally get a raised hand. And when I ask kids to describe the sound, they think hard before saying something like “eerie” or “heavenly.”
I did research on how the saw sounds and how it’s played on the internet while writing the book. As far as Natalia’s second question, I almost forgot that at the very end of the story, Eben speculates that the saw player’s crops grow better because of the music. The core of the story is about the saw and a plague of grasshoppers. But when I was in Middlebury, IN, a saw player, David Vermilyea, gave me an article from the internet about how various sounds might be able to affect the (recent) midwestern grasshopper attack. So the story in the book just might be possible. That’s stretching it a bit, though.
I have to admit, if my story about the saw was accurate, it was more of a result of instinct, general knowledge and good luck! (Although I do always research whatever I’m working on.) And now I want to find out who was the first person who picked up an ordinary saw and a bow and decided to make music!