It’s Christmas time, here in San Antonio, the weather changes minute to minute. I have to keep an array of outfits at the ready, sweater to shorts, like fat to thin. It’s a special time with my students, trying out Christmas songs as I hope they gather round and sing together…
This past Wednesday, I went to the Cher Concert at The AT & T Center. I’m not much for concerts, as I was a radio DJ for 23 years and went to a lot of shows for free. It was the concert promoter’s way of promoting the concert; I’d promote…
I’ve been part of an online Songwriting group for the past 4 years, we write a song a week some years, others a song a month. I guess that means I have at least 128 original songs, more actually because I’ve dabbled with songwriting since I was 15. I remember…
Recently, I ran into a situation with a student who has been canceling last minute, sometimes even after the lesson has started. I’m extremely flexible when it comes to cancelations, I get it, life happens. But when someone simply blows me off, not so much. You have to give notice…
At the end of every lesson, I ask the student if they have any questions, usually it deals with music, but this lesson ended with her asking, “What is our purpose in life?” It stopped me in my tracks, knowing that teachers can have a huge impact upon their student’s…
Salute, Recently, I’ve been submitting my original music to several places, songwriting contests, college radio stations, song promoters, etc. and nothing has stuck to the wall yet. The most important word in that last sentence is “yet”. I did get some good feedback, which has me rethinking my approach to…
Recently a struggling student said that he’s never been successful at anything in his life. He looks at others and compares their achievements against his, including playing the guitar. Over my years of teaching, I find that the biggest challenge for adult students is self doubt dancing with regret. They’ve…
Recently a friend tried to help me get a gig, she said the restaurant owner wanted to meet me and chat. His place is just up the street, so I thought, why not? We met, he was busy and asked me to come back in a couple days and…
I was setting up to host a Kid's Open Mic when a guy walked up and said, "I know who you are and I know what you do..." I quickly scanned my brain trying to find a reference, when he said. "It's about what you do for kids and music,…
I am a piece of wood, carved by man into a shape that rests upon your lap, close to your heart. At first, I was part of a tree, rooted in place, passed by, by man rarely noticed. Then one day, I was chopped, laying useless upon the ground. I thought this was…