This morning, I taught a ukulele lesson to my 86 year old student, we played “For The Good Times”, “What A Wonderful World” and “San Antonio Rose.” He asked me about how music is written, what makes up a chord, as I explained his eyes glazed over, his response was, “Wow, that’s hard.” I…
It’s early and I’m waiting for my Muse to show up, usually she’s nearby sitting upon a tree branch, under my bed or knocking on my window. If I’m quiet, she usually comes in and fills in the spaces between thoughts, but not recently. I miss her; she’s the delightful…
I’m always in wonder at my students, their bravery, commitment, and honesty. They range from 6 years old to 85, guitar, ukulele and piano, mostly guitar as it’s my main instrument. The kid’s are sometimes more of an entertainment lesson, their attention span wanes, so we go from one instrument to…
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…
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…
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…
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…