The Everyday Musician

Sometimes it’s really nice and relaxing to sit (or stand) alone and play my instrument.  I love to do this sometimes as a relaxation exercise, although “exercise” sounds too directed for what I do. I sort of meditate with my music.
However, it’s also a lot of fun to play with others.  I play regularly […]

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I enjoy playing around some with improvisation and composition.  I don’t have aspirations to become the next Mozart, but it is a lot of fun to come up with my own tunes occasionally, or just find new ways to play over familiar progressions.  I also find that by exploring sounds via improvisation, it helps me […]

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Have you ever noticed how many rhythm terms we use, or how common rhythm is, in our everyday lives?
“You’ve got some rhythm going”
“I’m in the groove” (this has special meaning for us bass players)
Habits are more strongly formed by rhythmic repetition (albeit somewhat slow tempo)
Meter (or metre) in poetry and children’s rhymes
Or how many of […]

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By the time I got done writing the following comment to add to Sherry’s good post on “marking music to help us focus”, I figured it was too long to add as a comment.  So, here it is as a second post.  If you have time to read only one, then read Sherry’s instead of […]

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Perhaps it’s the peace-inducing power of making music, or perhaps there’s a very fundamental aspect of our being that the rhythm of music, and especially “participated” music, touches.  After all, if a strong rhythm is present, it’s been documented that listeners’ heart rates will basically start keeping time with the tempo (within physiological limits).   I […]

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Have you ever noticed how music just seems to soothe the tensions of the day away? Especially if you’re playing with friends?
A couple of years ago we had a house fire. We all got out fine, but the ensuing mess not only stunk, but took a long time to get cleaned up, assess the damage, […]

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We have a stone campfire ring in our backyard, and during the summer months we make pretty good use of it (on days when it’s not windy, that is.) A few years ago as we were sitting around it, one of my kids brought out one of their “beginner” guitars (aka, small plywood guitar-shaped-box.) It […]

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Here is an amazing piece of music history unfolding before us.   An everyday musician has instantly, from the world’s perspective, become a star, Susan Boyle. I guarantee that you will be stunned to see and hear this YouTube video, which has already been viewed 11 million times in just a couple of days: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Susan Boyle is an extraordinary everyday […]

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