Just a little story today to cheer you. My mother told me that she went out for lunch recently and met a woman who, at age 90, fairly crackled with life and creative spirit. "If you lived here, you'd be friends with her for sure," she told me on the phone. Turns out, the woman's [...]
Have you ever been rejected from a festival, gig, journal, or contest - and then felt the burn and sting of that "no"? I sure have. I've just made a video with four strategies that help me deal with the rejection that is part and parcel of being an artist in the world. Happens to [...]
Here is my humble harp hospital - a perfect place for a lovely little harp to heal. I’ve been doing harp rehab for a friend’s lap harp this week, bringing this beauty back up to pitch and teaching her to make music again. She’s been stowed in a closet for many years, which is the [...]
On my Lake District adventure, I visited a small church that boasts a beautiful stained glass window designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris. I was so moved by the experience and so grateful to the parishioners that I wrote this poem and sent it to them. I got word this week that [...]
This is a story of how life conspires with us to fulfill our dearest dreams - especially when we are willing to follow good feeling and trust our hearts. For years, I dreamed of visiting the Lake District in the north of England - home of English-language Romantic poetry and a hotbed of artistic creativity [...]
Quick tip for you awesome creators and teachers and musicians today. There's a quality I think of as "sticky" that we human beings sometimes demonstrate. It involves clinging, complication, innuendo, subtle and not so subtle manipulation. Some call it passive aggressive. I just know that it feels - well, sticky. My suggestion: get a bead [...]
There are many kinds. One example: Just after Christmas, I saw a person in ripped sweatpants and a stained jacket shambling along a main road in Biddeford, Maine. It was the quality of motion that caught my eye – a trudging, struggling forwards movement that conveyed resentment and defeat. And held out at a purposeful, [...]
Cork singer-songwriter John Spillane (pictured) writes: "On my 18th birthday I got a full-time permanent and pensionable job in Bank of Ireland, and two years later I left it to become a full-time professional musician. My mother nearly killed me. 'If you leave your good job in the bank,' says she, 'don't ever come back [...]
This little poem was inspired when my friend's beloved daughter graduated from a three-quarter-sized instrument and into a full-size instrument and a full-size life. The two are, I think, intricately entwined. In Her Hands for Sophie The three-quarter cello, breast-height and smiled-upon, a maker of child-music in clumsy quavers and slurs in pieces adapted [...]
Change the course and momentum of your energy! What I mean when I talk about "natural magic." No need to purchase a broom or a black cat, I promise. Click HERE to see the video. Uplifting and practical, I also promise!
