Happy Holidays to all !

 

Hello and happy holidays to all!  2023 was quite a year for me!  This year I shared a lot of my art in several art shows and galleries. That was quite a surprise I did not see coming. It started out by being asked at my church to display my art (collage) in a show and from there, more opportunities and invitations came. 

Last spring I also became a Hospice volunteer and joined the Music at the Bedside team playing for hospice patients. It is some of the most rewarding work I have ever done in my life. 

I also learned to play the conga drums in my jazz band and that has been so much fun! In addition, I joined the percussion team in the Second Wind Band at the Center of Belvedere here in Charlottesville. We did a few concerts this past year and they really brought me a lot of joy. 

I celebrated my 19th year working as Musician-in-Residence at UVA hospital in November. It is definitely my favorite job I have ever had! 

I returned to the stage in a few performances this year as well and probably my favorite was at Rapunzel’s Christmas party. The photo (photo credit: Norm Carter) was from that special evening. Though I look serious in this picture, my friend and I did a comedy routine! It was a routine we did over 20 years ago at First Night Virginia and other places. It’s where we take one Christmas Carol and sing it to the tune of another.  Here is a link for that.  

I wish you all much peace, joy, prosperity and good health in the coming year and always!

As always, thank you for your support of me and for stopping by! 

An unexpected occurrence

 

Hello and welcome! Today I am sharing one of my journal entries I wrote about an experience that happened to me at the hospital where I play music for patients. The photo above is a new postcard I made- enjoy! 

Today I had an extraordinary experience at the hospital where I play music for patients. It was near the end of my shift and was I playing at a nursing station when I was approached by a young girl around the age of 12-13. She was very excited to see me playing the guitar and I asked her if she played too. She said she was a singer and she wanted to sing with me.  So we sang a couple of songs we knew together like, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Here Comes the Sun.” 

Then the girl suggested we make up our own song. So I started playing a chord progression in the key of G. Then with the voice of an angel, she made up a beautiful song for her father who was in the room behind us. She was singing, ‘If you feel sad and down, I am always around.. .I am here for you, here for you, here for you..” She swayed as she sang and was very expressive and I was just blown away by her! 

At one point I worried that we were a getting a bit loud near the nursing station but no one seemed to notice. If they did, I’m sure they were enjoying it. Finally, during another original song her mother called her into the room and brought our impromptu collaboration to an end.  I find myself still thinking of her. That girl has a real gift!

Twilight’s Guardian

 

Hello and Happy October! “Twilight’s Guardian” is a title of a collage I donated to the Wildlife Center of Virginia to raise money for their annual fundraiser. The money goes to help the center for costs of caring for injured animals.  There are lots of great items for sale on this online auction and you can view the list at this link.   My collage is item # 228.  All funds go to a good cause! 

In my musical news, I have been enjoying learning more tunes in Dorian mode. It is such a beautiful tonality to listen to and I find it to be a refreshing blend of mystery and melodic presence. I recently purchased a lovely book by fellow Certified Music Practitioner, Karen Peterson titled, "Enjoy the Dorian Mode."   It is written for the harp but you can also read the melodies on guitar and other instruments. It's a great book that I recommend! 

Virginia is starting with the beautiful fall colors and I am happy because the fall is my favorite season. 

thank you for stopping by and Happy Autumn to all of you! 

 

Hello and Happy September to all! I am looking forward to the autumn season. It has been quite a good summer. This fall I will go back to playing percussion in a local concert band at The Center here in C’ville. I will play snare drum and bass drum and congas and whatever else is needed. It is great fun playing concert band music as that was my first musical experience playing percussion in high school band 50 years ago. I will also continue playing conga and auxiliary percussion with The Flashbacks - also at The Center here in town. 

In addition to music, I continue to do my collage art as well. Attached is a new postcard I made for the “Year of the Rabbit.”  I also recently finished submitting a project to an online artist community called Personland. This show is called, “The Strangers Show” and we signed up and were matched to a random partner to collaborate with. My partner, Fallen Pen is from India . We really enjoyed working together on our project which is titled, “Ancient Future.” You can see the show here. Our piece was an example of combining my old school art method of collage work with Fallen Pen’s futuristic digital art. I had the idea of using one of my Native American totem pole art as that would also be an image of old, historic ways .  Fallen Pen took my Native American image and blended it with a mesmerizing space background. If you look at this show - you can’t miss our piece! 

As always, I continue to enjoy playing therapeutic music for hospital and hospice patients on my guitar. I feel very fortunate to do the work I do. I hope you are all doing well and thanks for stopping by!  

Late Summer Visions

 

I love late summer as it brings us nearer to autumn which is my favorite season. If you think of the sunlight like a musical note, the sound of summer can get a bit loud for me. I prefer the quiet tones fall brings. Having said that, the photo above is my collage titled, "Autumn Celebration."  It is on display at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens' "Fall Flair" art show until October 31st!" I am pretty excited about that. 

In addition, I am working on a collaboration for an online show called, "The Stranger."   We were set up with a random artist to collaborate with and my partner is in India.   I will show you our creation once we have it at the end of this month. 

My music is going well too and I continue to enjoy playing therapeutic music for hospice, hospital and nursing home patients. 

Wishing you all a very nice late summer and thanks for stopping by! 

When Sky Becomes Sea

 

It’s been awhile since I wrote and I have been busy with lots of things! In May I had my first art show at Unity Church and I also had two pieces in the employee art show at UVA hospital where I work as a therapeutic musician.  There was even a story about it in the Daily Progress you can read here. 

The above photo is one of my newest collage that was quite a learning process. It was made from a rejected painting and it was originally a sunset. I started the piece by thinking of it as a sky and got two owls ready to use only to find it did not feel ‘right’ for the pieces. Weeks went by and somehow it transformed into my first seascape. I just finished another one called, “The Octopuses’ Garden.” 

In addition to my art, I also have new directions going on in my work as a Certified Music Practitioner. In April, I trained to be a hospice volunteer and in May I began working in hospice units playing therapeutic music for patients. I love it! 

Now here we are with half of the year over and I am looking forward to seeing where the second half takes me. 

Thank you for stopping by! Happy Summer to all of you! 

From My Heart to Owl’s Hollow (art show)

 

A little over 4 years ago, some friends took me for a surprise birthday gift to a “paint and sip” studio where everyone paints the same scene. I loved the experience but I did not like my painting and planned to discard it.   Some months later, I saw some collage hanging at the hospital where I worked and I got the idea to make my painting into a collage. After that, other friends began giving me their unwanted paintings.  My collage became a “thing!” And now at the end of April, I am getting ready to have my first art show at Unity church of Charlottesville.  The image above is one of 7 I will be showing. As you can see, Owls are among my favorite things to do.  

All of my collage feature nature, wildlife, color and rhythm. I plan to donate a portion of any sales (should anyone wish to purchase ) to the Wildlife Center in Waynesboro.  In addition, I will have two pieces hanging at an employee art show at UVA hospital until July.

My music is also going very well and I played percussion in a concert with the Flashbacks and Second Wind Bands at the Center of Belvedere. It was a busy month and I am excited to share my art with others! 

A blast from the past

 

It was 50 years ago in 1973 that I started drum set lessons and playing percussion in my high school concert band. I started thinking back to this time when my church where I play djembe in the band told me they are thinking of purchasing an electronic drum set for me to play. Above in the picture, is my first music book I worked with and would you believe it is still in print? Originally published in 1968, you can see by the cover the hippy and mod influence from that era. I bought it online and received it last week. Wow! How fun it is to look back on those old coordination drills I did. 

In 1975  my teacher encouraged me join the Percussive Arts Society and participate in an event called the “Un-Contest.” For this I played a drum set solo called, “Wipe In” (a play on the famous solo “Wipe Out.”) . I even ended up winning an award for my performance of this!  However, it was all such a long time ago, I don’t remember many of the details. For years though, I did google searches for this drum solo and never found anything until last week it came up in a YouTube tutorial for this solo. It was notated that this solo was from a book “Drum Set Music” by Roy Burns and Saul Feldstein published in 1971. It turns out this book is still in print too! So I will receive it soon in the mail. I cannot wait!! 

All if this is so inspiring for me. The other day I decided to join the Percussive Arts Society again and as a member, I have access to the archives of old Percussive Notes publication they had going back to 1969. Yesterday I found the write up about the Un-Contest event I was in but it did not go into detail. However, I did find a funny article from a drum teacher who said that the cassette tape recorder has “revolutionized his teaching!” He went on to say that students often forgot the details of their lessons and now, thanks to the newest technology of cassette tapes and recorders, they can be recorded for the student. I thought that was amazing to think that the cassette was considered cutting edge back then! To think I lived though this time? ! Am I that old? :) 

So in the long run, I may not have become a famous or virtuoso musician but I certainly have had a lot of fun over these many years. I think it was Kurt Vonnegut who said, “Go into the arts. It may not be the best way to make a good living but it is the best way to make a good life. “ Enough said! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

February is here!

 

Hello everyone! February's presence brings the promise of longer days and getting closer to spring! The other day I saw some crocuses coming up. That's a bit early but still a positive sign  I will gladly take note of. 

I wanted to share a story with you about  an experience I had playing music for patients at the hospital. Our music team got a request to play for a patient who has been in the hospital since last summer. (that's a very long time!) So, I went up there and introduced myself to the patient and spouse and they were happy to see me with my guitar in hand. Since it was a Sunday afternoon, I thought I'd start off by playing a favorite gospel tune in this region, "I'll Fly Away." 

Soon I heard singing from behind me - it was the nurse! He has sung with me before and his beautiful voice really delights all who hear him. Then the patient and spouse began to sing along too and a joyous feeling rang out. We then did, "This Little Light of Mine, " "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and others.  I could see this really brought  needed joy to the patient and family. 

Above is a picture of the Valentine tree in the Volunteer office at the hospital. I wish you a happy Valentines' day and a good new start of a new month! Thanks for stopping by!

A New Year is upon us!

 Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I like the sound of 2023. That is because number 23 is my favorite number.

I'd say 2022 was a pretty good year.  Something I loved that happened is that I started playing djembe in a church band and I'm loving it! As some of you know, my musical training began as a drummer and percussion player in my high school band. I did not take up the guitar until my senior year of high school.  

Over the years, the guitar became my main instrument but at times my drums come back full force and I am always happy when that happens. There is no more joyous feeling than drumming! 

Over the summer I also got to visit some old high school friends in Chicago. I had not been there in many years (over 30 years) and I also made a visit to Nina Kraus' Brainvolts lab and participated in some CI (cochlear implant) research studies. That was fun! 

I also took a training course to learn how to become a Certified Interpretive Guide. CIGs work in museums, state parks, historical sites as tour guides. I have yet to do anything with this training but I think 2023 might be the year for it! 

I also started playing percussion in a local jazz band called the Flashbacks and that's been fun too. 

I just wanted to say hello and wish everyone a Happy New Year!!! 

The above picture was taken at a nursing home that closed its doors this past year after 40 years of service. The hat was made by a friend where the proceeds went toward helping the Ukraine people during this war. 

Thanks for stopping by!