Holding Hands

When I was in elementary school, I had a very best friend. We had two things in common. Number one, we lived right next to each other; and number two, we both liked horses. Other than that we were fairly different. I found joy in practicing the piano and she found joy in running. She was fast -- she was the fastest kid at school. In a foot race, she could even beat the boys.

We walked home from school together, but a lot of the time she wanted to run. I told her I couldn't run. Even if I did run, I ran slow. One day she told me, take my hand and we'll run home together. I never ran so fast in all my life. It was as if she transferred all her powers to me through her hand.

Sometimes I think music is like that. I preach a lot that music is a skill, not a talent -- that anyone can develop a level of proficiency, if they want to. But that's not exactly the truth. That belief has two addendums. First, some people are blessed with a propensity. Some people have beautiful voices and some people have interesting voices while other people have mousey brown voices. Second, is the want clause. Not every one wants to develop a musical skill -- others are blessed with a burning desire.

The burning desire and the gifted propensity don't always coincide, but it can be magical when they do. For my part I am just grateful that I have friends who will grab my hand and pull me along at lightening speed.

Southwest Fretted Phillies

Yes, that's right. In my head I accidentally called the Southwest Fretted Philharmonic, the "Fretted Phillies" and I'm pretty sure it's because of this song.



Yeah, ok, Hurricane was fun. The audience was great and they even acted like they liked us :)

The only one who choked was me, so it's a good thing Becky has a cool head -- she pulled us through.

Jenna was in rare voice -- a total rock star.



Bobo and Tessa, our angelic sopranos, really came through for us. Especially on our Hymnal selections.



Bobo even threw in kazoo solo for us. Yep we totally psyched the listeners. They thought they were going to get some good ol' Woody Gutherie (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Jitters + Bug = jitterbug?

Let's hope my jitters (plus whatever kind of head cold I've got going) will come out all jitterbuggy cause the jitterbug equals a real good time for the older generation. Tomorrow (Creator Willing) the Southwest Fretted Philharmonic will make its folk debut at an old folks home in the down and folky town of Hurricane, Utah.

 

Bobo made us a flyer so we can be a cool as the Black Eyed Susans 

(not that this is a competition). 

Here's our 45 minute set

Count Your Blessings

Horsey, Horsey

Jambalaya

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Hallelujah

16 Tons

Harvest Moon

When the World's on Fire

Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby

Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn

Nearer, My God, to Thee

Ring of Fire

Hey! It looks real good on paper :)

The Mother's Day Roller Coaster

What did you get for Mother's Day? I got Portal 2 (for the Playstation 3)  -- well not really, but kinda.

The unseasonal rain in Southern Utah reeked havoc on my yard -- because my yard is rocks. Apparently when the wind blows and and the autumn leaves fall, they can create a layer of fodder below the rocks and above the weed blocker tarp. My front yard had grown unsightly due to milk weed and dandylions, but it was nothing compared to the field of foxtails that sprung up in the back yard. I couldn't even see the rocks for the vegetation. It looked like a Kansas wheat field. After church one day, my youngest announced that my backyard was not wheat -- it was what his teacher referred to as "tares".

But how to motivate my boys to help weed something that could have been mowed if not for the landscaping rocks?

This is where music comes in. After watching the following video, I asked my boys why they didn't want the game "Portal 2'



They assured me they did. So a deal was struck. If we got the weeds taken care of, Judea would buy me Portal 2 for Mother's Day. So five Saturday morning hours and two trash bins and 10 garbage bags later, Judea sprung for Portal 2 and Pizza (bonus). Of course late that night Ben beat Portal 2.

Still it has hours of coop fun to offer -- and once the Playstation Network is back on line, the kids may be able to play online.

Of course working your kids to death and then letting them stay up all night to conquer a video game is not a good recipe for a happy and harmonious Mother's Day. But after a tense barbque'd lunch by Joe, everyone hunkered down for angry naps, and we woke to a call from Macy and a rescued Mother's Day.

I also had the best ol' lady band practice ever on Mother's Day. We went through all of the songs we intend to play at our first gig (this Thursday). It is great to see how far we have come and how many songs we actually have under our belt.

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Too Cool, or not Too Cool -- That is the Question.

Last night was the dinner celebrating the Washington County School District's Native American graduates. Of the 32 seniors that began the year, 20 completed the requirements necessary for graduation. That's a 2/3rds success rate. I guess it is higher than it has been before, I just can't help but think in this day and age it should be 100%. The seniors in attendance were amazing. It is always cool to see that much raw potential.

Our family was asked to provide the entertainment. It was an exciting opportunity for us as it was our first chance to sing powwow songs around a drum since -- well since our prior lives. We sang as Naji danced. We sang as Judea and Bobo danced. You will have to take my word for it as "Ben" is too "cool" to shoot video from a huge ol' iPad.

I am not cool, however, and so I was able to video tape Sam and Joe and Cameron singing Rocky Point.





Apparently, I am not the only one not concerned with what others think of me. Here are a couple of BoBo's self-portraits (that she took during the nicely catered event).

On the plus side, Joseph gave me a rose and told the audience how grateful he is for his mother. I guess motherhood has its perks. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Who's Raising Who?

As hard as I try to be a good mother, there are times when I am tired -- "pooped" (as Wanda would say). And I wanna stay home. maybe take a nap, read a book, or just curl up in front of a nice warm television. Fortunately, raising a brood of musicians and performers has it's perks. I am forced to leave the house and live a little.



The last month of any semester is what I like to call concert season. I've only got four children left in public school. Next year I'll only have three. Still, this concert season did not disappoint.

I truly love attending these activities. I am the kind of mom who tears up at performances -- tears of gratitude mostly. I am thankful for all the teachers and staff and public school volunteers who go the extra mile to give our students extraordinary experiences.

The Fossil Ridge Intermediate School put on a Fine Arts Night in which the orchestra, band and choir did a combined number!



and the Indian Parenting Action Committee hosted the Spring Powwow again this year and honored the graduating Seniors.



What can I say? It's a great year to be a Mom.

The trouble with raising musicians

Wow, If you haven't checked out Whistling Prairie's post of Jambalaya, you need to go there.

I've spent some time on my blog discussing the pro's of using music to raise a family. I mentioned that it is an excellent tool to teach family members to communicate, get along, work together as a team, and multi-task. Today I'd like to throw out a disclaimer.

If you instill in your children a love a music, at least one of them will get the idea that they should go on to study music in college and eventually pursue a career in music. Unfortunately, music is rarely a good career move. In fact, up until the 20th Century there was no money to be made. Traditionally music was a sponsored or patroned appointment with the rich patron controlling the musician's strings.

In the 20th Century, corporations (record companies) figured out how to make money in the music field. Record companies specialized in distribution and conditioning a public to like what they offered. This is waning. With the advent of the internet, distribution is no longer a problem -- and independent musician's are regaining control over their music while being satisfied with the lower income.

That said, I have a video here from Bobo about her new interest in biology. Jojo is playing the backing score.




I have a video of Sam in the Dixie College of Utah Guitar Ensemble playing a Bach piece that they should have played at the Bach Festival.



I have one last video, just because Joe (Jack) was so jealous of the dancing baby in The Black Eyed Susan video "Jambalaya" he insisted that I include this video where he inadvertantly filmed a random dancing baby.