LJP Journal: Whacky

  • So another year goes by...I'm now playing more and teaching less. I think I'm happiest when I have this balance....although, sometimes I'd like to go back to playing full-time...not sure that's an option at this stage of the game... I've been fortunate to be offered a variety of types of gigs - mostly pop and jazz, although I'm earning considerably less gold than I did back in the day, but to be honest, I don't really care....perhaps that's why? :) I still hack through Bach, Chopin, etc for my own e...

  • hmmm...I haven't blogged in a few years. For what it's worth I'm playing gigs again. I think I was inspired by my my father's declining health and his love for playing. Knowing that he wanted to play but could not, caused me to stop taking for granted that I still had my health and was able to play. I began by subbing for the keyboard player in my wife's variety dance band. I realized how much I do enjoy playing. I had allowed the business and head crap to ruin it for me. Shortly after my da...

  • I haven't blogged in a while...It hasn't seemed right since I gave notice to the forum that I would no longer be posting. I have been lurking though. I always enjoy seeing what others are doing and I usually pick up a tip or two. Sadly a dear friend of mine (keyboardist, composer. arranger, producer, etc...) passed away suddenly a few days ago. This kind of thing always seems to smack me upside the head and fill me with mixed emotions; a strange mix of sadness, loss and inspiration. Each day is a gif...

  • Last night I played my last gig with the band I was with for 23 years...it was weird...uneventful, non-emotional - other than the usual "I wish I wasn't here right now" - it was all the reasons I needed to quit. So now I have to de-tox a bit...I played for a while this morning, got a dose of inspiration from somewhere, got kind of emotional and very thankful - like I'm finally home again:) Maybe I can get back to the business of learning how to play the piano...

  • I read through Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante défunte" the other nightfor the first time in about 20 years. What a beatiful piece of music!...

  • I just finished an 8 week session teaching my first grad student. He is working on a Masters in Jazz Ed. He's currently working as a music teacher in a local school district. I was a bit uncomfortable taking him on since I never finished my degree. I told him I try hard not to think while I play so I'm not sure how much I can help him. I also told him that I would likely learn as much, if not more from him, but he felt confident that this was what he wanted. We were both right! What a great exp...

  • Well, it's working. I've been really getting into practicing more and more. I still have two more gigs (next two Saturdays)with that band I quit, and I'm really getting excited! I kinda feel like I'm starting over with a clean slate! I picked up Quincy Jones' autobiography "Q" and the "Oscar Peterson Trio '77 - Jazz In Montreux" dvd. A double dose of inspiration for sure. I've been playing tunes from the dvd at various tempos and keys and having a blast - old tunes like "Indiana", "Sweet Georgia Bro...

  • 02/23/2005 - Moving on

    Well, I gave notice of retirement to a band I've played with for 23 years. I've been in the process of playing less and less, getting pickier about jobs I do, and trying to figure out why I'm a musician. I realize that nearly all of the gigs I've played, I took because they were easy money. I actually avoided gigs that could challenge me to a higher level, musically. Now, I'm teaching 45-50 students a week and earning an adequate income. This has enabled me to shed myself of all gigness in hopes of "...

  • 02/16/2005 - bolg??

    So....what's a blog? Is that short for web log? a sort of rant? In the upper left hand corner of the screen I saw under my name, Help * my blog * logout Out of curiosity I clicked on "my blog" to see what my blog was. I guess since I had not yet created a blog, I got the following error message: Runtime error in lib/userlog.mvc @ [0000002f:00000094]: Line 1356: MvIMPORT: Error opening 'scotcit/weblog/14': No such file or directory So now, I've created a blog. It's kind of fun. I think I'll ad...


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