Guitar Enthusiasts

Check out sales going on right now on instruments and accessories. It's not just back to school clothing sales right now. Many places have guitar center fender guitar parts. We need to find our oldest a new flute for the last half of her senior year (her flute decided not to make it her final year of high school) so I've been looking around. I think we'll end up renting one since she will only need it from November through May and then she'll be done unless we find such a great sale we can't pass it up. We can pass it to our middle daughter who also plays the flute.

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Crystal Sax Mouthpiece

Oh my gosh, this is awesome. I was online window shopping at a music store and came across a Crystal mouthpiece for the sax.  How cool is that?

I played clarinet in junior high school. I don't remember ever having the option for a crystal mouthpiece. I might have played longer had it been made a little bit more cool. It's not a necessity. It's the coolness factor. 

Add a crystal soprano sax mouthpiece to somebody's stocking this month. This would be something nobody else in band class had!

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Birthday Present for Him: Guitar

I just bought my husband a new guitar for his upcoming birthday that puts him into the high 40's now. I'm low 40's so I can say that.

I'm sure it won't be the last guitar. He goes through them like...babies go through diapers.

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Guitar Playing Fool

I first saw my husband up on stage, playing guitar and singing.  16 years of marriage later, he sits across from me right now at the table playing one of several guitars in the house while I tinker on my laptop.  Every once in awhile, he'll look up at me and I'll stick my tongue out at him and go back to my tinkering and he'll go back to his strumming.  We might be a little weird. Maybe.

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Dharmic Dance by KO

Dharmic:  is an Indian spiritual and religious term that means one's righteous duty, or any virtuous path.

I was just listening to Dharmic Dance by Kevin O'Connor of KO Guitar and thinking about the definition of "Dharmic" and the dance we do through blending our families.  The definition (of "dharmic") changes slightly depending on which religion or culture is defining it but I liked the one I found above.  It made me think.  Do we always do the right thing as a step-parent?  If so, is it right for us or right for the kids, or both?  How about when there is a difference between right for "his" kids and right for "your" or "our" kids?  How do you make a decision then?  Are we always doing the Dharmic dance, do we take the right path for the right reasons?

It's funny how a song can touch you in some way, bring back memories, or make you think.  The song title did that.  Being a part of a musical family, I am always interested in hearing new sounds like KO and will share this artist with my husband after work. 

KO is an original in an age of cookie cutter "talent" - worth listening to.  He writes songs from his own experiences, sings original music, and is a gifted guitarist (as well as a producer and engineer).  His songs are like short stories about "man, woman, nature and the geography of the soul." 

Being married to a guitarist and vocalist myself, I appreciate the imagination, talent and drive to do what you love.  Kevin O'Connor is doing what he loves.  He can be seen and heard in the New York area (where he's been for 25 years - check him out!) or you can pick up his CD.  To do it for 25 years - definite drive to doing what you love!

You can find KO at iTunes, CD Baby, and on Facebook!

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Beatboxing Flute

My oldest wants to learn how to do this with her flute:

Cool huh? I love the way a flute sounds but beatboxing flute just makes it sound so FUN! Gives it a great beat to move to (never thought flute would get me wanting to move my behind and tapping my foot).

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Birthday Shopping

I took my three year old shopping yesterday so she could spend her birthday money. She picked out a pink guitar (not the little plastic ones like at Wal-Mart...an actual pink guitar from a music store). It even came with its own pink gig bag. She loves it. It's sized for kids, but even she has to grow into it still. She also insisted on her own pick "just like daddy" so I dug through all the picks to find one that was large enough that she couldn't choke on. She's so proud of her purchase, lol.

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