American averages

4.5 hours a day watching TV
1. 4 hours a day staring at media on our phones

It gets worse. According to CNN we spend upward of 50 hours of the 58 hours the average person has available for leisure, staring at some kind of damn screen watching/listening/and doing god knows what. That leaves very little for practicing our instruments, jamming, making music and having fun.

Get all the depressing news here. CNN report. 

The solution is obvious. 

Best, 

David Story
www.davidstory.ca

Getting old can suck. Arthritis can sideline anyone. But my 77 year old student found out there are some work arounds that keep her in the music game. 

She started a webpage of original arrangements of folksongs from her home country of Scotland. She has learned to score the music in finale, create mp3 files, print the pdfs, and put it all together in a lovely website. It's a busy site with hundreds of downloads a week of her easy piano arrangements. She is having a ball. Each week at lessons she has a few new arrangements for class. We review, I suggest, she updates the files and presto up they go. 

My wife, who has taken up the fiddle in her 60's, is enjoying playing some of the melodies. 

What a great example of "staying in the game".

Best, 

​David Story

Cycling home today I passed a house having a BBQ with a live band jamming in the back yard. Band is a generous term. Guitar, bass, drum thingys. It was wonderfully awful: enthusiastic, spirited, sincere, and likely slightly drunk. All I wanted to do was run home grab a drum or keyboard and knock on the door with beers in hand.  I overcame the urge. But it made me think why do we jam. 

1. Keep our social connections alive. As we age this is a big reason. Isolation kills. For the cheery data check out this fine article with footnotes to real data. Loneliness kills more folks than obesity, so the data apparently shows.  Yikes. Here is one study. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
2. Impress the girls, even if at this age they are 60+. Two thumbs up.
   
3. It's fun.

So, in conclusion, it's time to dust off the guitar, get out of the house and meet some folks.

Cheers,

David

It is possible to be doing all the right things to succeed but realise you've planted your garden on the wrong plot of land. To continue the metaphor, the plants look sickly, or worse refuse to show their heads. What then? 

Change your environment. 

It works.

Same effort, different soil=different results.

Five things you can do.

1. Are your colleagues worn and tired? Seek out some younger ones tied to a different scene.
2. Move cities. I left Hamilton with a piano teaching studio of mostly children. In Toronto mostly adults. And much higher wages. 
3. Learn a new instrument. Really. Drumming in my 50's took me to some cool places. Still does. 
4. Compose and present your own music. Why not? If it works, bravo. If it doesn't nobody will remember anyways.
5. Investigate new parallel paths in your own neighbourhood. Maybe the soil in your patch is fertile with a different crop. 

Cheers, 

​David

I’m bored and embarrassed with my musical groups. Time for a shift.
Periodically a musician needs to reassess their commitments and direction. For me that time has arrived. I’m bored of much of what I’ve been doing musically here in Toronto. Some preliminary thoughts and principles to guide deliberations.
1.       No going back to relive past glories. I’ve changed, but the world has changed even more.
2.       It must be congruent with my marriage and work. Not a time to screw this up.
3.       If I’m not proud enough to invite my friends and clients, forget it.
4.       It must make me stretch to make it a worthy use of the precious time I’ve got left on this planet.

This past summer I spent time in New Orleans studying Traditional Jazz with Gerald French which culminated with a performance in Preservation Hall. This was followed up with a trip to Poland to study mainstream jazz with Ali Jackson of Wynton Marsalis fame.  We played at the Vertigo Jazz Club, a beautiful well attended old fashioned jazz supper club. The first group: old, second young. Both group of musicians could really play. It blew me away. I really had fun. It was an endorphin explosion. I haven’t had so much fun playing music since college 40 years ago. It has given me the confidence and desire to try some new things. So, what shall I try?
​
Best,


David

One of the most exciting musical weeks since college 40 years ago. Ali Jackson was inspiring, tough, and encouraging. And, the young musicians I played with challenged me to the limit. Playing with bassist Luques Curtis at Vertigo Jazz Club was a highlight. After hearing him play with us, my wife remarked, "Oh, that is what all the bass players are trying to do". My dignity is intact.  

Poland was beautiful, sophisticated, and friendly.

The jazz scene in Europe is as robust as ever. Young musicians can actually aspire to be jazz musicians. 

Lastly, it was very exciting to meet and play with so many Russian musicians. Who knew there was a thriving jazz scene in Moscow. 

best, 

David

My first time. The pictures say it all. Five stars, thank you Banu

Ten adults and one teen of different skill levels recently participated in  their first "jam" in Toronto. We went to a real jazz club, locked the doors and drew the curtains. We hired a professional bassist and drummer.

They were excited, nervous, and pumped. They'll all be back in the fall for round 2. They learned a lot, starting with "real Jazz" is intense and loud. And, really really fun. 

Good examples for us all on stepping out of our comfort zones. 

Best, 

David

What keeps us going for 40 plus years? Good question. The money? Partly. The attention? Partly. The social community? Partly The challenge of staying sharp, staying in the game? For sure. The shear joy of making music with our friends and colleagues.  Yes, yes, yes.