As I take a moment between writing and festival planning, my mind is thinking about my band's last rehearsal. The thing I am impressed with is how tight the group is becoming. We are a pretty good sounding band. We just need a few more gigs for the summer. You always want more chances to perform for people.
The other thing is I am very happy with my own progress. When I started out a couple years back, I was super rusty on reading music. (I still am). But you know what? I'm getting better. And that's all you can hope for. Between understanding the nature of Sharps and Flats and other parts of music theory, I can't help but think I am on the right track. Site reading is something that I work on and it doesn't take nearly as long to learn a piece as it did two years ago.
Getting back to Sharps and Flats. Always in between. Half steps. Not full. They weren't always my friends. When I took up piano at the age of seven and when picked up the flute in my thirties, I dreaded seeing them on the score sheet. We had an estranged relationship. I probably just didn't know a ton about them. I do remember that if I just played the black keys on the piano, my music had that exotic asian sound to it. Still, it wasn't until I learned steel drums and found that my music was that much fuller that I began to really appreciate Shares and Flats. To me, they are the details inside of music.
Man, I had just not been intimidated when I was younger - who knows what I would have done with music. Still, the discover at this point is just fine with me. I'm enjoying it. Sharps and Flats. They're A-OK.
