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 suddenContinue reading “Music 101: Grace”
Category Archives: essay
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,Continue reading “Music 101: Gratitude”
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. ItContinue reading “Music 101: Origin Story”
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,Continue reading “Genius in our Midst: X”
Pity
The longer I live, the less anger I feel toward people who do bad or crazy things and the more I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for the ignorant, the angry, and the apathetic. For the violent and their victims. I feel sorry for everybody. Every copy. Every BLM activist. Every racist. EveryContinue reading “Pity”
