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Music 101: Patience
One of the essential elements of music is timing. The space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves and most songs can benefit from a little silence here and there. There are thousands of great actors for every great playwright, or screenwriter. There are thousands of great guitarists for every great drummer.… Read more
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Music 101: Humility
There are four cardinal virtues, first recognized by Plato, and later by Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas (and probably by people further along in the alphabet): Prudence – the ability to let reason dictate action Justice – the ability to interact fairly with others Fortitude – the ability to persevere circumstance with dignity, and Temperance –… Read more
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Music 101: Grace
You might try to make music without grace but I can tell you from experience that whatever it is you are creating without grace, it is not music. Grace is a bit of a tricky concept. We have all watched someone move gracefully and felt the calmness of soul that accompanies such movement. That sudden… Read more
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Music 101: Gratitude
One of the most valuable lessons I learned as a musician came from Carlos Santana. He said that when you work on your instrument – learning scales and patterns, working repetitiously until your playing flows naturally – you should not think of it as ‘practice.’ Practice is a chore. Instead, you should think of it,… Read more
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Music 101: Origin Story
The music of our lives begins with the beating of our hearts. One day it will end with the final beat. Since everything has its beginning, I wondered: when did music start? Was it invented or discovered? Music has been around for so long that it cannot be traced back to a specific time. It… Read more
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Genius in our Midst: X
2020 is a tough year. Tough, tough, tough, tough, tough. In the middle of a year that rivals the insanity of 1918, 1941, and 1968, something unexpectedly wonderful happened. In April of this year, while people were dying in New York at the rate of 1,000 a day, four people in California – John Doe,… Read more
Words & Music 