A Day of Thanks

On Thanksgiving my deepest thanks are for family, health, passion, opportunity, change, those helping to make a difference for people in need, and my friends and fans, a key source of my creative inspiration.

To Tell a Story

Image via Wikipedia

Q. Must a story be written in prose, meter or rhyme, when so much narrative seeks to be unveiled from strings?

A. Of course not, but I do find many people are prone to think certain instruments as background or solely meant for accompaniment. I encourage these thinkers to discover how much emotion pureness can deliver. Often times as well, it's other instruments and voices that accompany a string, brass, woodwind or percussion instrument. If you're a skeptic, close your eyes and really listen next time you hear an instrumental song.

A little Strings 101 ...

There are three groups of string instruments:

Harps - the strings are contained within a frame
Lutes - the strings are supported by a neck and a bout ("gourd")
Zithers - the strings are mounted on a body

There are also three playing styles:

Plucked - like a guitar or harp
Bowed - like a violin or cello
Struck - like the piano or hammered dulcimer

I'm writing this post in hope to help more stories be told; however, strings are not the only method to tell a meaningful story. Everyone has their own voice, be it in the form of a musical instrument, hand, or spoken exclamation.

In college I took soprano saxophone lessons as well a voice class. I was actually a member of the university choir for two years to add to my 4 years of high school choir. I've also written my fair share of poetry. However, the piano, since my discovery at the age of 5, is the outlet that I can best tell a story.

Who knows, I may actually record while I'm singing along sometime. Only tomorrow will tell. Heck, I just released an electronica album ... but the accompaniment is not the piano. ;)

Courage

Several people on Twitter really inspired me today. Check out those I'm following to see a few of them.

"Remember that when you leave this earth you can taken nothing of what you have received, but only what you have a given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage." ~ Saint Francis of Assisi

Going Mental

Thanks to Jason at the Mental Nomad Podcast for featuring music from Switch On in episode #142.

Check out his site.

Time

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." ~ Abraham Lincoln