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, [...]
Hi, friends, and Happy New Book Year! Last year I set no resolutions but chose instead to indulge one of my deepest passions: READING. I decided to let myself read as much as I liked and now, 143 books later, I can say this intention brought me great JOY and satisfaction (and that I'm continuing [...]
Last night I sent in the songs and artwork for my new EP, "The Moon Jig and other dances," and I wanted to tell you how it came to be because I think it's an encouraging story. If you've a mind to create something fast, no waiting - well, this is for you. Over the [...]
It's so lovely to give yourself what you need. And - to quote my big brother Dan - to do it up big. Last night I treated myself to something I've drooled over for a long time: a subscription to "Slightly Foxed: the real reader's quarterly." I first spied a copy in the amazing book-town [...]
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 [...]
I’m so grateful these days for all the places in music that offer us the opportunity to re-group, re-calibrate, and re-commit. What I mean is this: when you’re playing a piece (and especially when you’re performing it for an audience), it’s perilously easy to get caught in some inner story that leaves you breathless and [...]
Can we take a moment to hand it to brothers - and others - who ensure we keep going? Reading Lloyd Goodrich's short, wonderful bio of Winslow Homer, I came across this warming little ancecdote: "His first paintings, begun when he was 26, were of the war. One of the earliest showed a soldier being [...]
Are you multi-passionate? Meaning, do you pursue a lot of interests and sometimes feel like you're swirling a bit wildly in all your eagerness and excitement? I'm definitely in this category. Have been all my life. And I know what it feels like to judge myself as "too much" because my interests and energies don't [...]
Today I'm thinking that DRIVE - that is, love + hunger + determination - is the one essential ingredient to mastering an art and making a contribution. Drive is far more important than what we call "talent." I believe that we all come with a kind of "starting kit." Some people get great ears [...]
When you have been pursuing your passion for a long time - decades, perhaps - the present moment becomes more and more like a piece of intricate music. The more you keep going, the more colors, motifs, layers, associations, allusions, echoes, and harmonies get woven into the song. Let me give you an example of [...]
