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What I Practice When No One Is Listening
When I say “when no one is listening,” I don’t just mean an empty room. For me, sometimes it’s music without an agenda.No setlist. No audience. No outcome I’m aiming for.Just showing up with the instrument and seeing what wants to happen. For me, this kind of playing is deeply personal — a choose-your-own-adventure type of practice. It’s also where a lot of my real progress lives. Practice doesn’t always look like drills I think of practice a little differently than I used to. If…
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Five Songs That Changed My Life: La Vie En Rose
This post is part of Five Songs That Changed My Life, a personal series reflecting on the music that guided me back to playing, performing, and sharing songs with others. The songs in this series unfold in order, beginning with Lava and ending with Love Story. La Vie En Rose is the second song in this series. Learning to Be Brave in Front of Others La Vie En Rose has always carried special meaning for me—it was a favorite of my late mother, and long before…
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Five Songs That Changed My Life: Lava
This post is part of Five Songs That Changed My Life, a personal series reflecting on the music that guided me back to playing, performing, and sharing songs with others. The songs in this series unfold in order, beginning with Lava and ending with Love Story. Finding My Way Back to Music Through Simplicity and Aloha The Pixar short Lava, with music written by James Ford Murphy, tells the story of two volcanoes patiently waiting for love, separated by time and distance. On the surface, it’s…
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Welcome to the Living Room Open Mic
When I leaned over to Rob at our weekly ‘ukulele jam and declared to him that we should create our own open mic, it never occurred to me what that would actually mean. I thought I was creating a place where I could play for an audience and I had no idea what kind of identity it would evolve into. And keep in mind that I had very little context around what an open mic even was… Have you ever been to a concert and…
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My Favorite ‘Ukulele
Selecting a favorite ‘ukulele is like picking a favorite child: one shouldn’t do it even if there is one. I have four ‘ukuleles (as of now) and they all have a special place in my heart. But since they are not children, let’s dive in and discover which one is my favorite. In order of acquisition, I’ll introduce you to my ‘ukulele: My First Fender, The Pickup Cordoba, The Carpool Waterman, and the Engagement Kanile’a. It’s called the First Fender because it is the one…
