Live music, lesson, course, and Kerrville Folk Festival

I went to hear Richard Berman at a house concert on Sunday. He reminded me of my grandfather – not age, but wit, thoughtfulness, and appearance. He was much different from some of the singer/songwriters I have heard in the past couple of years and somewhat of a mystery. I will have to listen to the CDs I got for a while before I can say more about him. I was going to stay for the music circle after the concert – I have been longing to do that – but there was a storm brewing and I had an hour and a half to drive so I went on home. Maybe next time.

I have my second lesson with Suzi this afternoon and I am really looking forward to it. I am hoping we start working on my high range, but I am ready to work on whatever she wants me to work on. I have been practicing my breathing and trying to me more mindful of it when I sing. I am hoping that if I take lessons long enough, some of this will become like muscle memory so that I can think about other things – like the song.

I am also going to take a course on spiritual music and our culture – jewish, hindu, islam, native american. Should be interesting and fit right in with my cultural studies. It will be one night a week for 4 weeks at a community center.

And last, but not least, I am finally going to go to the Kerrville Folk Festival. How many years have I said I wanted to go? I am just going to the first weekend because of my trip to Scotland, but it should be fun.

I have not been learning my song a week, formally, but I feel like I actually have. I haven’t learned any new song on the guitar, though, but maybe after this week (been making some gifts the last few weeks), I can get back into the habit of playing every night.

Voice lesson tonight

I’m pretty excited about my voice lesson tonight. I got a name from my group director (did I mention I sing in an a Capella group each Thursday – I must have mentioned that) and sent her an email on Monday. She got back to me and we set up a lesson for this evening. She is a jazz singer and I will just call her Suzi. Of course I’m nervous, but really, really excited. I will let you know how it goes.

Learning my way around WordPress and a new song

WordPress (this blog) is getting a little more natural. Still making some stumbles, but I am getting to know the tabs a little better.

One of the things I am always self-conscious about is that I am not Scottish, but I love Scottish songs. Because I learn them from records or Scottish friends, I tend to try to say as many of the Scottish words as possible. I have had other singers and folklorist “suggest” that Americans should not try to do that, and that in fact, we should not even be singing Scottish songs (well, that’s rubbish). I will be taking a trip to Scotland this June and will have a chance to talk to more Scots about this. I kind of hate the idea that I shouldn’t try to sing them as authentic as I can. A friend of mine suggested that I stick with Cowboy Songs – but you know, I just don’t really like singing them that much :-).

Are we ever too old to learn a new instrument?

I had promised myself to start keeping track of my musical re-journey, and here I am months later with my first real post.

I have been in my a Capella singing group for about 4 months now and although I can feel myself singing better and gaining some confidence, I still like singing by myself better – with or without an audience. But I do really like singing with the group as well. As far as my goal of learning a new song, completely, every week, I’m not there yet. There always seems to be too much to do and when I do sit down to play my guitar or violin, I still feel discouraged. My violin lessons with Katy Rose did not work out so good. I don’t know if it was me not being able to practice as much as she expected or if it was just not a good fit. I always felt too rushed at the lesson and unprepared at the lesson. I will keep looking for a different teacher, but not right now. I want to get back into singing, playing, or both a little each day and make it a habit. But I have so many new habits I am trying to achieve right now, I need to be practical. I think I can reach a balance with a little work on the house each day AND a little music practice each day.

Goals for this week. Learn “The Shearins No for You” very well. Voice only for now and then work on the guitar accompaniment.

Just setting it up

Either right before I am getting ready to practice or right after

So this is day one and the look will change as I learn more about WordPress.  Part of this is also an experiment comparing WP with Google blogs.  For now I am talking into an empty room, and that is a good thing.  I added a picture of my violin just to see how to do it and what I could do with it.  She may not look like much to some, but she’s my baby and I’m happy to have her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello world!

I’m getting there.