This past weekend, I visited the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire — mainly to see what was happening in the way of medieval musical instruments and also because I’d not been before. There were a range of activities and several wandering minstrels among the booths of crafts and food. The predominant item for sale seemed to be wooden swords […]
Whenever the Sandhill Cranes fly overhead, you can hear them. But you can’t always see them. This is what they sounded like on the day that I took these pictures. Since November I have been hearing the cranes with their distinctive call flying high over the yard. They circle for about 15 minutes, then head in the […]
Several years ago, in a bookstore that no longer exists, I found a wonderful book. “The Ukulele as a Solo Instrument, C Notation: A Collection of Ukulele Solos” by N.B. Bailey and Keoki E. Awai with its 1916 copyright was an expensive purchase. But 99 years ago, the book was only $1.00 US. I scanned a few songs from […]
What sparks your creativity? One source of creativity for me is a visit to Satchel’s Pizza – and, of course, having a Satchel’s pizza. The wall paintings, the mosaic floor tiles, the hanging decorations are an array of color and pattern. The visual creativity designed by Satchel and his employees promotes my own creative thinking. […]
Like many people I no longer make New Year’s resolutions. But I do set goals for the year. Do you set goals for the year? My strategy for goal-setting, taken from my cat, simplifies the process. Recently I was able to photograph my cat moving from her lookout on top of the house (yes, the […]
I’m often improvising and developing music for my Native American-style flutes, my kanteles, my ukuleles — or for all of them. So I was interested in the NPR interview with Thomas Newman, who writes movie music scores, including the music for “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Saving Mr. Banks” and animated films “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E.” Newman talked […]
The December meeting of the Gainesville Flute Circle provided us the opportunity to play our Native American-style flutes and get into the holiday spirit by playing some Christmas carols including “I Saw Three Ships” and “Silent Night.” We had fun with flute dialogues and conversations. We had partners and developed a storyline and then played […]